Streetsblog New York City

This email alert from Transportation Alternatives just hit our inbox. The Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871, sponsored by David Yassky), is scheduled for a City Council committee hearing tomorrow and possibly a floor vote if it can get that far. Despite the support of the mayor and 29 co-sponsors, we're hearing rumblings that the City Council might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory on this historic piece of legislation:

We Are Not There Yet -- Bicycle Access to Buildings Bill in Jeopardy

Your voices are needed. Now! With the expected passage of the Bicycle Access to Buildings Bill slated to take place at tomorrow’s City Council meeting, we are concerned to learn that there still may be some strong opposition to the bill. Please immediately call Council Member John Liu, chair of the Transportation Committee, and let him know that you support this bill and that we need his support too!

Information:
Council Member John Liu
Chair, Transportation Committee
City Hall office: 212-788-7022
District office: 718-888-8747

Advocates have been fighting for this legislation for years. Its passage would make it much easier for thousands of cyclists to ride to work -- boosting bike commuting by as much as 50 percent -- and one last push from supporters can help put it over the top.

So, I've done a lot of posts about the Bicycle Access Bill the past few months, and I try to include one or two nuggets of information every time that get at why the bill matters and what a big difference it would make. I never got around to posting a real good story about having one's bike rejected from one's place of work. Luckily, Reuters blogger Felix Salmon has that covered:

I did end up buying a folding bike this weekend -- a Montague DX -- and proudly carried it, folded in half, into 3 Times Square this morning, after having been told by a security guard that folding bikes were OK to bring in to the office. Except, it turns out, they’re not. The only way you’re allowed to bring a folding bike into the building, it turns out, is if it’s packed up into a bag. Otherwise, no dice.

I suppose my next hope is that NYC's bike-friendly new transportation commissioner will install some permanent bike parking in the acreage of Times Square she recently pedestrianized.

I'm sure the property managers at 3 Times Square have concocted some far-fetched safety-related pretense to explain why folding bikes have to be in a bag to get inside the building. But let's get real. This is about appearances. There's some notion of office building propriety that the mere sight of a bicycle would violate.

At this point, the best hope for Felix Salmon and other cyclists rests with the New York City Council, especially transportation committee chair John Liu and Speaker Christine Quinn. How much longer will thousands of New Yorkers have to wait before they can ride to work without worrying about theft?

Never one to pass up a moment in the spotlight, City Council transportation committee chair John Liu delivered some choice theatrics at this morning's hearing on the Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871). At a committee meeting ostensibly devoted to easing the way for New Yorkers to commute by bike and bring their rides to work, Liu seemed more intent on confronting DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. There was no vote, leaving some to question whether the bill, which enjoys the support of 29 co-sponsors and Mayor Bloomberg, would become law before the City Council's summer recess.

Before I get to that, a little explanation is in order about the current status of the bill. This is the second committee hearing on Intro 871. It's been reworked substantially in the seven months since the first hearing, with both transportation advocates and the real estate industry weighing in. The bill has also been tweaked since Streetsblog posted the revised text earlier this month. I don't have the most up-to-date version available, but based on today's testimony, there are two notable changes:

• The bill now clearly states that building owners can claim an exemption if "secure" bike parking is available nearby. This should close a potential loophole in previous language, which granted exemptions for buildings near "sheltered" bike parking. That's the good news.
• The bad news: The bill no longer requires buildings that have a passenger elevator but no freight elevator to provide bicycle access. Previously, any building with a passenger elevator big enough to accommodate a bike had to comply.

The current legislation is still strong enough to merit the support of transportation advocates, but the loss of passenger elevator access is significant. Said bill sponsor David Yassky, "My hope is that at some point in the future, the bill will be amended to include passenger elevators." We have a request in with the Department of Buildings to determine how many buildings this exemption would affect.

Read more...

On Monday, the City Council transportation committee will hold its second hearing on the Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871). There's a lot at stake: For many would-be bike commuters, the lack of a secure place to lock up is what keeps them from riding to work. A law that requires landlords to let bikes inside if a tenant requests access would go a long way toward eliminating that barrier.

The last time we checked in, the bill had some worrisome provisions in its exemption mechanism. Building owners could skirt the requirement by providing "sheltered bike parking," which doesn't necessarily mean "secure bike parking."

The hearing gets underway at 10 a.m. at City Hall. If you'd like to speak up about the need to make this bill as strong as possible, Transportation Alternatives is organizing testimony. Check the latest issue of TA's StreetBeat for details.

This is a nice change of pace from all those evening news segments about how to beat parking tickets (some of which may have been written by this road-raging sociopath).

Howard Thompson, of "Help Me Howard" fame, filed an item on last night's PIX news about how hard it is to get the police to take bike theft seriously. The victim he profiles, Tadree Coppedge, was able to obtain security cam footage of the theft after cops at the 9th Precinct rebuffed her request for help. Now, Thompson reports, two detectives are looking into it.

Good to know those cams are trained at the right angle, since it seems no one on the street notices this stuff.

Without a secure place to put your bike, riding to work is a lot less appealing. In fact, as multiple studies have shown, fear of theft is the number one factor that keeps New York City cyclists from commuting by bike. So you could say there's a lot riding on the Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871), which would make it much easier for cyclists to bring their bikes inside the workplace.

After an initial hearing in the City Council last December, the different parties -- including transportation advocates and the real estate industry -- headed to the negotiating table. The revised bill is now scheduled for a second hearing later this month, and you can peruse the latest version online.

This iteration of Intro 871 includes several new provisions, but the basics are intact: office building owners would have to grant access to bicycles if an employee or tenant requests it. Crucially, landlords won't be able to skirt the requirement simply because their buildings have only passenger elevators, not freight elevators. As long as the passenger elevator is big enough to accommodate a bike, cyclists would be able to bring their rides inside.

Mayor Bloomberg's office voiced support for the bill, which takes a page directly from PlaNYC. "It's something we want to see move forward very quickly,"  spokesperson Marc LaVorgna said. "We're working with the City Council on putting a final bill together that can be passed and that can work." LaVorgna confirmed that some aspects of the bill are likely to change before it comes up in committee, but declined to specify which provisions might be adjusted.

A spokesperson for Christine Quinn's office said it's too early for the Council Speaker to comment on the draft legislation.

One thing to keep an eye on as the bill progresses will be the exemption mechanism.

Read more...

Via the Facebook news service (subscription required), WNYC's morning radio host reports that thieves have spirited away his bicycle, and he's thinking about how to secure his next ride. If you're Brian Lehrer's Facebook friend, you can now follow what promises to be an encyclopedic discussion of bicycle locking. Do we sense an opening on tomorrow's show for the master of bike theft prevention, Hal Ruzal? Or perhaps a hard-hitting segment about why it's taking the City Council so long to move the Bicycle Access Bill?

With Bike Month well underway and lots of new cyclists hitting the streets, we need a sage to remind us how easy it is to roll your bike. So, once again, I'm pleased to present immortal Bicycle Habitat mechanic Hal Ruzal in the last chapter of his exclusive Streetfilms trilogy on proper bike locking. Hal is calling it "your final warning."

This time around Hal not only grades the ability of anonymous locker-uppers, but also shows you how he secures his own bike, so you too can score an "A" (or at least have a decent shot at an A- or B+). And if you can't get enough of Hal's stories and musings, don't miss our first two chapters: "Hal Grades Your Bike Locking" and "Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking."

Yesterday the City Council approved a zoning change that mandates secure bike parking in new construction, putting the rule into effect. The amendment will help cyclists avoid the risks of locking up on-street by requiring new apartment buildings and offices to provide space for people to put their rides. (Check out this table from the Department of City Planning [PDF] for details.)

We've said it before and it's certainly worth repeating: This zoning change is a good step forward that will bear fruit in the long run; the missing piece -- and it's a big one -- is bike access to existing buildings. To that end, the Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871) would provide a much more substantial and immediate benefit to bike commuters by allowing them to bring their rides inside the workplace, if their employer consents. The legislation aims to reverse the policies of New York City landlords and property managers, most of whom don't allow bikes inside. By drastically reducing the risk of theft, the bill could boost bike commuting by as much as 50 percent.

After holding a committee hearing on Intro 871 last fall, legislators are currently tweaking the bill's language. We have a request in with sponsor David Yassky's office to determine when the revised bill will come up in committee.

On Wednesday, the City Planning Commission approved a zoning amendment to require bicycle parking in new construction. The City Council now has a 50-day window to vote on and finalize the measure. 

Should the zoning amendment pass, it would be good news for New York City bike commuters in years to come. The lack of a secure place to put your ride is one of the main obstacles to commuting by bike, and the zoning change will gradually alter the equation as new housing, workplaces, and commercial development get built. (The amendment now includes exemptions for low-income housing, but not the bike parking-for-car parking swap proposed at a previous hearing.)

A related measure, the Bicycle Access Bill (Intro 871), could deliver immediate benefits to nearly all bike commuters in the city by improving access to existing workplaces. As things stand, most landlords and building managers simply don't permit people to bring bikes inside. Intro 871, sponsored by David Yassky, would help remedy the situation and has already progressed through one hearing in the transportation committee. A revised version of the bill is expected to be released in the next few days, and Yassky's office is "very optimistic" that a second committee hearing will take place within approximately six weeks, according to spokesman Danny Kanner.

Intro 871 is one to keep a very close eye on. While a majority of the council has signed on as co-sponsors, the Real Estate Board of New York has signaled its opposition the bill. Not that the pro-bike side is without its own heavy hitters. A group of high-powered business leaders and lawyers sent this letter [PDF, or follow the jump] to Council Speaker Christine Quinn, asking her to continue the "championing of sustainable, healthy and cost effective transportation modes" (disclosure: Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton is one of the signatories). Quinn's office has not returned inquiries about her stance on the bill.

Read more...