Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer is one of Capitol Hill's strongest voices for walking, biking and transit. Soon after arriving in Congress in 1996, he started the Congressional Bike Caucus, now more than 160 members strong, and he's the founding chairman of the House's new "Livable Communities Task Force," which he announced two weeks ago here on Streetsblog.

Blumenauer's bike commute to the Capitol has become as much a personal hallmark as his predilection for bowties. So when he came to New York this weekend to stump for a progressive federal transportation bill, the congressman didn't pass up the chance to tour our city's evolving bike infrastructure with Paul Steely White and Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives. Clarence Eckerson and his camera were there too, of course.

Watch this Streetfilm to hear Blumenauer's thoughts on the big federal transportation bill, the emergence of a national movement for safe biking and walking, and the difference between protected bike lanes and regular old Class 2 facilities. Then ask yourself: When will we get to see a rep from New York City walk, bike, or ride the bus with Clarence?

Dr. Christopher Thompson is taken away in cuffs Monday. Photo: Los Angeles Times

Following a highly-publicized, intensely-followed trial, Christopher Thompson, the physician accused of using his car to seriously injure two cyclists in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, is behind bars.

Thompson was convicted yesterday of six felony counts: two counts each, according to VeloNews, of assault with a deadly weapon, battery with serious bodily injury, and reckless driving causing specified injury and mayhem.

On July 4, 2008, Thompson passed cyclists Ron Peterson and Christian Stoehr as the pair rode through the emergency room surgeon's upscale neighborhood. Angry after a verbal exchange with the men, Thompson slammed on the brakes of his red Infiniti as Peterson and Stoehr rode behind. Stoehr ended up in front of the car, wounded with a separated shoulder. Peterson hit the rear window, suffering severe facial injuries. Thompson told police on the scene that he was tired of cyclists in his neighborhood and wanted to "teach them a lesson."

At trial, Thompson denied making that statement, claiming that he had been attempting to get photographs of the cyclists, who he said had frightened him. But the jury didn't buy it, possibly because of Thompson's history of hostility toward people on bikes. He was also convicted Monday of misdemeanor reckless driving, a charge stemming from a prior encounter with two other cyclists.

Prosecutor Mary Stone urged that Thompson be remanded to jail, saying: "In terms of public safety, there isn’t a cyclist in Los Angeles who would be comfortable if he were out on the streets." Judge Scott Millington apparently agreed, ordering Thompson held without bail. Sentencing is set for December 3. Thompson faces up to 10 years in prison.

Thompson could very well get off with a light sentence. But to have prosecutors, a judge and jury members agree on the heinous nature of this crime, and to deem its non-driving victims worthy of justice, can scarcely be interpreted as anything other than a positive development -- one that will hopefully be noticed by law enforcement officials nationwide.

Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA has followed this case since Thompson's arrest last year. You can catch up on the coverage here.

Fresh markings are going down on the revamped approach to the Williamsburg Bridge at Delancey Street. Courtesy of Adopt-a-Bike Lane volunteer leader Marin Tockman, here's what the site looked like as of yesterday afternoon. Seems like a marked, one-block connection to the median at Suffolk Street is imminent.

Another reader informs us that Suffolk, which runs one-way north to south, is set to receive a bike box at the point before it crosses Delancey. So riding to the bridge from the north should feel a lot more convenient, safe, and "normal" than before.

I'm also digging those continuous zebra stripes across Delancey.

A hot topic on Streetsblog the past few weeks has been the massive numbers of pedestrians and cyclists using the Brooklyn Bridge walkway during rush hours and weekends. Since many folks don't have the chance to experience the promenade day-in and day-out, I decided to capture the conditions on a recent ride home from work.

I shot all the footage you see here in about half an hour, starting at 4:15 p.m. -- it doesn't even show rush hour, when there are usually far more cyclists. I would say these scenes capture typical conditions on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., as long as it's not rainy.

So, you can see the Brooklyn Bridge promenade is popular. Which is good! It's a wonderful place to experience the city and an important transportation link for many New Yorkers. But all those commutes, workouts, and sightseeing expeditions are increasingly uncomfortable for pedestrians and cyclists. Ten years ago I would have been amazed to see this many people using the walkway. Today, the Brooklyn Bridge promenade needs some relief.

NYC bike-share on the horizon? DOT says it will explore a "large-scale" public bike system for Manhattan and environs. Image: Department of City Planning.

In an update to the strategic plan released this month, DOT lays out several new benchmarks, including some glimpses of the agency's goals for the rest of 2009 and 2010. The document isn't available online yet, but Streetsblog has a hard copy so I thought I'd share a few highlights:

• Bike modeshare targets are more ambitious than before. The goal is now to double bike commuting by 2012 and triple it by 2017 compared to 2007 levels. The previous goal was to double cycling by 2015. If annual increases stay close to last year's 35 percent clip, the new target should be easily achievable, especially if the next item turns into something concrete...
• DOT will "explore opportunities for a large-scale public bicycle system in Manhattan and surrounding areas." The agency had previously signaled its interest in launching a bike-share network, but I believe this is the first official hint of the scale they're contemplating.
• 8-10 new rapid bus corridors will be selected by the end of this year. (DOT had already posted a timeline for this process on its website.)
• DOT will increase the number of 20 mph zones around schools from 25 to 75.
• More templates from the Street Design Manual will take shape on city streets. "Shared streets" are mentioned as a potential new design treatment.
  
• Summer Streets will expand "to additional days and areas."
• To keep cabs out of bus lanes, the city will make greater use of bus-mounted enforcement cameras. (The city launched a pilot enforcement program along these lines on 34th Street back in February.)
• Some single-space parking meters, which are being decommissioned by the thousands as more muni-meters are installed, will be converted to bike racks.
  
• PARK Smart, a performance parking program that DOT has piloted in Greenwich Village and Park Slope, will help manage the curb crunch in more neighborhoods.
  

Transportation advocates welcomed the new goals. "Increasing 20 mph zones around schools is really exciting," said Transportation Alternatives' Wiley Norvell. "It's a good, concrete metric for boosting Safe Routes to School. That's definitely something that's lagged and needs acceleration."

Norvell also applauded the accelerated timetable for boosting bike modeshare. "It's great to see the DOT setting more ambitious targets, given that the installation of bike lanes has ramped up cycling significantly," he said. "New York City needs to keep moving the goalposts when it comes to bicycling. The goals of 2006 were rendered obsolete by 2008. The goals of 2009 will probably seem obsolete by 2011."

Photo: City Room

[F]or the moment, electric bicycles occupy a nebulous legal lane on the road. Not quite a scooter, not quite a bike, e-bikes are considered "motor-assisted bicycles" under New York State law and are banned from state roads and city streets.

Sellers and riders are hoping state law will be amended soon, but is that a good idea? At the recent Upper East Bike forum, Council Member Daniel Garodnick said he is authoring a bill to increase penalties for riding motorized bikes on sidewalks, which he believes is occurring more often.

Weighing the possible pros (increased mobility for those who can't ride regular bikes) and cons (potentially dangerous pedestrian conflicts), do motorized bikes capable of traveling 20 mph have a place in the city's transportation mix? If so, where do they belong?

According to Dept. of Transportation statistics, accidents of all types are down by nearly 30 percent on Grand St., but Thompson said those were not enough reasons to keep the lane.

“Then you move forward,” Thompson told the Express. “So you'll have a safer street where the businesses are going to wind up closing? That's not what you're looking to do. You're looking to strike that balance so it works.”

He said last week that he would have his transportation commissioner take a new look at any lanes that seemed to be problematic, such as along Grand St. and in Astoria, though he did not promise to definitely close any. He favors bike lanes and suspects ones on wider streets such as on Eighth and Ninth Aves. are working better.

So in Thompson's view, safety gains on Grand Street, proven by measured reductions in injuries, are no match for unfounded accusations that, all evidence to the contrary, bike lanes are bad for business. The implication: car traffic propels commerce even in dense, walkable lower Manhattan. Also, let's not forget that the vast majority of Grand Street's curbside parking has been retained. Eliminating the bike lane would simply allow motorists to resume driving faster and double-parking without blocking vehicles behind them. How is that good for business?

I'm not sure whether candidate Thompson can be swayed by studies, common sense, and the vision of a city where better streets for pedestrians and cyclists attract more foot traffic for local businesses. At this point, it seems pretty clear that his ear is more attuned to whoever whines the loudest.

Cyclists and pedestrians have uneasily shared scarce space on the Brooklyn Bridge promenade for years. As people use the walkway in ever greater numbers, it only becomes more crowded for pedestrians, more stressful for cyclists, and more dangerous for everyone involved. Is there an end in sight? In a Times op-ed last month, Robert Sullivan suggested that the upcoming overhaul of the bridge would provide a good chance to disentangle the promenade by giving cyclists their own space. The rehab plan that's moving forward now, however, includes no such solution.

The shared pedestrian-cyclist walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge. Photo: PIPERPILOT84.

New York City DOT is scheduled to begin a massive renovation project on the Brooklyn Bridge in December, with the contract awarded to Skanska Koch. The overhaul has been in the works since the state DOT listed the bridge in bad condition in 2007, and it will give the bridge some long-needed repairs, taking care of cracked concrete and other structural issues. But there's more to the project than just maintenance:

• Arguing that the on- and off-ramps for car traffic are too narrow, the city will widen many of them from one lane to two.
• Steel safety barriers will be added to the bridge's roadway, to prevent cars from crashing into the East River. These barriers are required for the project to receive federal stimulus funding.
  
• A side project, set to start in 2012, will revamp the gateway to the Brooklyn Bridge on the Brooklyn side by reconstructing the entryway at the crossing of Tillary and Adams Streets.

Overall, the rehab project (which doesn't include the revamp of the Brooklyn-side gateway) is set to cost $365 million, of which about $30 million is coming from federal stimulus funding.

None of that money is slated to improve the bridge for the thousands of pedestrians and cyclists who use it every day. DOT has no plans right now to address the crowding on the promenade, but the agency does say it will act accordingly if a crash proves that safety enhancements need to be made. Update: DOT contacted us to clarify their statement, saying they were speaking about monitoring street safety in general, not the specific condition that exists on the promenade. "The agency is always looking for ways to improve safety," said spokesman Seth Solomonow. "We take appropriate actions no matter where they're needed in the city. We're not waiting for a crash to prove that improvements need to be made."

A walkway overhaul, he added, would not be a natural fit for the rehab project, which is limited to structural problems with the ramps, not the whole span. "We are not rehabbing the whole bridge," he said. "What you drive on and what you walk across is not going to change."

It's only a matter of time before some poor tourist gets hit and injured (or worse) by a cyclist trying to navigate through the crowds that the bridge attracts. And when the revamped Brooklyn-side gateway starts enticing more cyclists and pedestrians onto the bridge, the problem is only going to get worse.

There's no shortage of ideas to fix the problem. The city could, as Sullivan suggests, install a protected bike lane on the roadway. Or they could construct a bike path over one of the road beds. It is not out of the ordinary for New York City's bridge reconstruction projects to improve bike-ped infrastructure. One phase of the Williamsburg Bridge reconstruction, completed in 2002, included the addition of a new 18-foot wide footpath/bikeway in addition to structural repairs. With hundreds of millions of dollars now targeted for the Brooklyn Bridge, there's got to be a better way to allow cyclists and pedestrians to safely use it.

New Yorkers can use Ride the City to plan bike trips. Cyclists in most other American cities don't have the option.

College students will be pleased to see maps of many campuses; and cyclists will now find many more trails and paths to explore. Soon we even plan on providing you with biking directions to take advantage of this new data.

The technical hurdles to creating online bike route planners are substantial. Right now, cyclists in only a handful of cities can take advantage of such tools. New Yorkers have Ride the City, as do residents of Chicago, Austin, Louisville, and San Diego. If you're in Portland, Oregon or Milwaukee, you can use Bycycle.org. As far as I know, that's about all we've got in the USA. Think there's an appetite for more? Peter Smith, the man behind the "Bike There" campaign, has collected 50,000 signatures asking Google to add bike trip tools. You can sign on here, just in case.

Livable streets prodigy Elli Giammona. Photo: The Missoulian

Elli is a 9-year-old in Missoula, Montana who a couple of years ago began to question why she couldn't bike to school. When her mother explained that it wasn't safe because the road leading from their home to Hellgate Elementary -- a typical suburban arterial, from the looks of it -- didn't have a sidewalk, Elli took action.

With encouragement from her mom and the help of her younger sister and older brother, she petitioned Missoula County, gathering signatures and composing a letter explaining the benefits of a walkable Mullan Road. The Missoulian reports:

The letter is dated Jan. 14, 2009, around the time [county public works director Greg] Robertson was looking for a project eligible for American Reinvestment and Recovery Act dollars. Criteria? A quick turnaround, a project in the urban area, and one uncomplicated by problems like right-of-way negotiations and extra environmental reviews.

"Honestly, I didn't have any other projects for consideration at the time that would have met the criteria," he said.

Long story short: A new trail is expected to be finished in time for Elli to ride it to school next fall.

Not only has Elli made it safer for herself and her neighbors to ride a bike or take a walk, she's also made plain how completely the stars must align for something as simple as a car-free ribbon of asphalt to become reality. (Even now, the planned Missoula trail won't connect with the school because of right-of-way costs.) Just a few decades ago a kid riding or walking to school would be considered the epitome of American wholesomeness. Now it's a symptom of child neglect, in part because of infrastructure so obviously inhospitable that even a 7-year-old gets it.

Maybe, above all, Elli Giammona and her family have given us hope for a future in which full-grown adults get it too. One where it won't take an act of Congress to get a child to school safely.

WHEREAS, Manhattan Community Board 8 is concerned about the safety of all people who use our streets and sidewalks,

WHEREAS, protected bike lanes have brought measurable safety improvements to other neighborhoods in Manhattan,

WHEREAS, many members of the Upper East Side public, business community, and elected officials have all expressed support for protected bike lanes in petitions, surveys, letters, and public testimony,

WHEREAS, Manhattan Community Board 8 wishes to encourage safe, responsible cycling in, to, and from this district,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that CB8 supports the DOT's initiative to create protected bike lanes and requests that DOT prepare a study for a neighborhood bicycle network that includes Class 1 protected bike lanes (including information on projected impacts on pedestrian safety, bike safety, parking, truck traffic, and neighborhood business) that would be subject to review and comment by Community Board 8.

The resolution passed unanimously.

Though there were glimmers of hope at CB 8 forum last week, given the board's history when it comes to bike infrastructure, this is an amazing development. We'll have more coverage later, but for now cycling and pedestrian advocates, and anyone interested in safer Upper East Side streets, should mark their calendars for the big day: October 21, when the resolution is scheduled to be taken up by the full board.

In the meantime, congratulations to everyone who made this happen.

Manhattan Community Board 7 approved a resolution Tuesday in support of protected bike lanes for the Upper West Side. According to Streetsblog readers who attended and the Westside Independent web site, a mostly positive discussion on the merits of such improvements -- in front of a packed house of residents wearing "Protected Bike Lanes Protect Everyone" stickers -- preceded a 28-7 vote. Here's the reso in full:

Protected bike lanes have brought measurable safety improvements to other neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Many members of the Upper West Side public, business community, and elected officials have all expressed support for protected bike lanes in petitions, surveys, letters, and public testimony.

Community Board 7 wishes to encourage safe responsible cycling in, to, and from this district.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT Community Board 7/Manhattan supports the Department of Transportation's initiative to create protected bike lanes and requests that DOT prepare a proposal for Class 1 protected bike lanes on Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue (including information on projected impacts on: bike safety, pedestrian safety, business operations and interests, parking, truck traffic etc.) that would be subject to review and comment by Community Board 7.

We also have word that Community Board 8 unanimously approved a "pro-bike" resolution last night. More details on this jarring development as they become available.

Photo: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine

It's probably a good sign that New York Magazine just published "The Everything Guide to the Bike Commute." When New York tackles a topic, it means it's becoming more mainstream for their own particularly affluent slice of the city's population. And the more people safely taking sustainable, clean forms of transportation to work, the better.

The guide is far from comprehensive, and is geared for the most part to those who are relatively new to biking the city's streets, offering basic safety tips and recommendations on stuff to buy (this is New York magazine, after all). Perhaps the most useful item is a step-by-step guide to the city's new Bicycle Access Law, for office workers who want their employers to offer bike parking.

And even the most dedicated bike commuters will likely be impressed by the magazine's profile of Joe Simonetti. He's a clinical social worker who for 10 years has been bike commuting 44 miles from Westchester to midtown -- a three-hour ride he does twice a week, complete with illegal scenic shortcuts and a breakfast stop.

The average commuter in São Paulo, Brazil spends nearly three hours a day stuck in traffic. Gridlock is so prevalent and stifling that the wealthy prefer to get about via helicopter. But the recent São Paulo Intermodal Challenge suggests that human-powered ground transport may be the way to go. PSFK reports:

The means of transportation chosen ranged from cars, bikes, motorbikes, and a helicopter to buses, metro, their own feet and even a wheelchair. Contrary to all forecasts, a biker won the challenge, with a total time of 22 minutes -- more than 10 minutes faster than the person on the helicopter, who spent a total of 33 minutes and 30 seconds between going to the heliport, waiting for takeoff clearance, flying and landing. The car came way behind, with a total time of 1:22 -- slower than the runner, who took 1:06, the bus (1:11) and just 10 minutes faster than the person who chose to walk the whole path (1:32).

Maybe Mayor Mike could save his next chopper ride for next year's TA commuter race.

(h/t Brooklyn)

New lane markings split up an already-tiny space for pedestrians and cyclists on the Pulaski Bridge. Photo: New York Shitty

There's been some discussion recently on the issue of cyclists and pedestrians unhappily sharing the Brooklyn Bridge's crowded promenade. Similar ped-bike conflict is heating up on the Pulaski Bridge, linking Long Island City and Greenpoint.

The Pulaski's eight-foot wide greenway is about half the width of the Brooklyn Bridge promenade and accommodates cyclists and pedestrians traveling in both directions. With bike commuter rates soaring in North Brooklyn, the pedestrian vs. cyclist shouting has begun. Local Brooklyn bloggers Restless and New York Shitty both recently published posts on the issue.

As on the Brooklyn Bridge, DOT recently striped in some new markings but that doesn't really seem to be solving the fundamental problem: Plenty of space dedicated to cars and trucks while the cleanest, most efficient and environmentally-friendly modes of transportation -- biking and walking -- are largely squeezed into the margins.

Pulaski Bridge motorists, meanwhile, seem to be oblivious to the whole thing, content to speed along their free-flowing, six-lane right-of-way. 

CB 7's transportation committee will host DOT staffers to discuss future bike facilities on the Upper West Side -- specifically, potential locations for protected bike lanes. We're trying to confirm, but we have word that Manhattan Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione and bike coordinator Josh Benson will be there. [Update: Hayes Lord will be representing DOT.] Either way, this has the makings of an important opportunity to weigh in on UWS livable streets improvements. The DOT segment of tonight's meeting begins at around 8 p.m.

Across the park starting at 6:30, the CB 8 transpo committee will hold a "bike forum" that, based on its description, will focus mostly on cyclist behavior. Given CB 8's tendency to oppose bike infrastructure almost by default, Upper East Side cyclists may want to make their presence felt.

Update: The UWS Streets Renaissance Campaign has put together a white paper on the benefits of protected bike lanes for community board members. Here's the PDF.

A reader sent in this photo from Park Slope, where restaurateur Irene Lo Re has been railing against the Fifth Avenue bike lane.

It is in Aunt Suzie's window now, along with the sign for free bike air.

Is this just another salvo in AAA's war against people-friendly city streets -- or maybe a small token for taking up the cause? There's no way to be sure, but it might call for raising the profile of the Bike-Friendly Business awards.

East River bridge traffic counts and configurations through 1989. Source: FHWA [PDF]

Sullivan notes that, about a century ago, when it carried over twice as many people per day, horse-drawn trolleys and buggies once shared the Brooklyn Bridge with trains and pedestrians (and no creature, human or animal, crossed for free). Despite efforts by DOT to accommodate cyclists and pedestrians on the narrow elevated path, Sullivan says, "with more people walking and more people biking (both good developments), chaos quite naturally ensues."

Rather than ban bikes from the bridge, a proposal he says he hears "all the time," Sullivan writes:

If we bicyclists cede the Brooklyn Bridge walkway, then it might be a step toward winning the public’s respect. Then, just maybe, pedestrians would call a truce and recognize that their real enemy is the car, that bikers are like pedestrians in that they are just trying to get to work without the use of a gurney.

[Cyclists] are full-fledged New Yorkers now, not maniacs who need to be banned. We are all fighting to make the streets safe for something other than driving and parking. The livability revolution has begun. There is no turning back.

With a four-year rehab project coming up, Sullivan suggests new bus routes on the bridge to lay the groundwork for the return of rail.

What do you think? Is an exclusive pedestrian walkway, with separated bike lanes below, the way to go? And what about bringing back rail? Who should be tolled? In short: What does your ideal Brooklyn Bridge look like?

Image courtesy of Howard Frumkin [PDF].

Livable Streets Education was among the presenters, and we learned quite a bit ourselves about the safe routes to school movement. We wanted to share with Streetsblog readers some insights that we picked up from two of the headliners at the conference.

Graphic: Richard Jackson [PDF]

It can all seem overwhelming. But as Jackson pointed out, there are plenty of ways to make these problems feel more manageable. As he said, it really comes down to asking yourself: "Can I walk to buy milk?"

Another keynoter, Howard Frumkin, director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, elaborated on the same theme. Rather than generate fear, despair, anxiety, he said, we need to communicate the changes we must make with accuracy and balance. We don't want people to mentally check out or give up when they hear the facts -- we need constructive engagement.

That's where "Safe Routes to School" comes in: It's a solution that's easy to grasp and feels like something we are capable of achieving. We can demand sidewalks, we can set up “walking school buses” to get kids to school. These are doable steps with benefits ranging from improved cardiovascular health to reduced carbon emissions. And it will help raise a new generation to appreciate the experience of walking, biking, and meeting your neighbors.

You can learn more about how to support the Safe Routes to School movement by checking out the National Center for Safe Routes to School and the Safe Routes National Partnership. You might also want to consider asking your senator to support Senate Bill 1156, the Safe Routes to School Reauthorization Bill.

If you know of New York City teachers who want to get their classes directly involved in these issues, check out Livable Streets Education’s fall project, We’re Walking Here NYC. New York is a city of walkers, a fact that students can celebrate on Walk to School Day, coming up on October 7. Look for a post with further details next week.

The occasion was publication of Bicycle Diaries, Byrne’s idiosyncratic meditation on cities, urban form, culture and fashion, distilled through his three decades as touring musician and bicycle tourist. In the introduction, Byrne writes of navigating New York and other cities a velo, as both a smart way of getting around and a means to a fresh vantage point:

This point of view -- faster than a walk, slower than a train, often slightly higher than a person -- became my panoramic window on much of the world over the last thirty years -- and it still is.

Byrne "came out" as an urban bike advocate a few years ago and periodically does events with Transportation Alternatives. Over the years, too, his artistic focus has branched out from art-rock innovator to world-music collaborator and design philosopher. Inviting DOT Commissioner Sadik-Khan and TA head honcho White on stage allowed Byrne to serve his twin impulses of advocate and curator.

Byrne’s presentation drew on his mordant photos of dreary cityscapes drained of human activity. “Most of America is like this,” he intoned over scenes of empty boulevards and ghoulish strip malls, mixed with design images from brutalist architect Le Corbusier (“We must kill the streets”), which Byrne likened to termite mounds. “We’re not termites,” he insisted, invoking livable streets deity Jane Jacobs before turning over the mic to the professionals.

Sadik-Khan’s affectionately titled slide show, “NYC’s Bicycle Diaries, 2007-2009,” offered a stirring response to Byrne's plea to city shapers to stop “separating everyone in separate pockets.” Insisting that streets be “places of social exchange” as well as of movement, Sadik-Khan located cycling infrastructure in a larger context of World Class Streets that includes walkability, better transit and fewer cars. Her parade of heartening statistics on new bike lane miles, burgeoning cycling volumes, and fewer pedestrian injuries on bike-laned streets flew by too quickly to jot down. What lingers is Sadik-Khan’s passionate regard for cycling as key to a more humane city, and her zeal to grow and defend all DOT has wrought in her two-and-a-half years at the helm.

White picked up Byrne’s riff in Bicycle Diaries about “the aura of uncoolness and the danger” of NYC cycling in the punk era, and traced cycle culture’s progression from “freak” to “geek” to today’s nascent “chic.” With cycling finally entering the mainstream, it’s time, White declared, for cyclists to retire their outlaw persona and adhere to the pedestrian-friendly street code in TA’s Biking Rules. He also exhorted the crowd to defend the embattled Grand Street bike lane against grandstanding politicians: “Call [Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate] Bill Thompson (212-608-6555) and tell him that safety is not negotiable on NYC streets.”

The audience questions -- all earnest and mostly from women -- brought out the visionary in Byrne. (From the next seat, my middle-school son made me promise not to sing out, “My building bike lane has every convenience / It’s gonna make life easy for me.”) To a recent arrival from Amsterdam (“I’m really amazed that in a short period of time, so much positive change has been made in the City of New York... What’s to prevent a new mayor from taking that away?”), Byrne replied, “If we can get a third of the people biking to work, like in Amsterdam and Copenhagen, it would be pretty hard to turn that around.” To a questioner worn down by internecine cyclist-pedestrian conflict, Byrne offered this: “We’ve gone through eight or ten years of a bully culture -- on Wall Street, in politics. I think we’re turning a corner.”