Streetsblog New York City

The Manhattan DA's office is filing charges of criminal mischief against a cyclist, Ray Bengen, because he allegedly caused property damage to a multi-ton SUV in the process of getting doored by the driver. Too ridiculous to be true? Sadly, no. Here's how it happened.

Bengen, 63, was riding down the Ninth Avenue bike lane on May 21 when he encountered the Ford Excursion you see in this photo (curb weight: 7,190 lbs). A long-time city cyclist, Bengen had a green light and wasn't quite sure what to make of the vehicle in front of him. The car wasn't moving and its brake lights were off.

The bike lane on this stretch of Ninth Avenue is part of the city's first on-street protected bike path. At the 20th Street intersection, where Bengen came across the car, there's a left-turn bay for vehicles and an exclusive green phase for cyclists. The Excursion, as you can see below, was in the bike lane, not the left-turn bay.

Bengen rode slowly by on the left. Then he sensed the car start to move as he was passing. Alarmed, he slapped the side of the car with his palm in an effort to alert the driver as to his presence. A witness, who Bengen says has agreed to testify in court, snapped three pictures of what happened next. We'll let Bengen describe it:

The driver then went berserk. Talk about road rage. He threw open his door forcing me and my bike to the ground giving me some awful bruising down my leg. As I was now on the ground yelling at him that he's in a bike lane and was just about to run me over, he started to scream at me "Don't even think about it, don't even think about it." I'm still not sure what he meant by that. With me lying on the ground quite shaken, he suddenly stopped his assault and did something very unexpected. He moved away from me, picked up my bike where it was nearly underneath his truck. He then stood it up on its kickstand, and got back in the truck and drove away left into 20th street.

If the episode had ended then and there, one might assume that the driver, who remains unidentified, had counted to ten and wrestled his anger under control. But it looks like the guy may hold a grudge.

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On Saturday, over 50 people, including several local electeds and candidates, joined bereaved family members for a memorial march in honor of pedestrians killed on Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen.

In recent years, drivers have struck and killed six people on Ninth between 36th and 45th Streets. The victims were eulogized this weekend, with the circumstances of their deaths -- some of which received little or no mention in local media -- recounted. The march was sponsored by the Clinton Hell's Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety (CHEKPEDS), the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association and Transportation Alternatives.

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CHEKPEDS, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association and Transportation Alternatives will hold a march tomorrow in honor of pedestrians killed on Ninth Avenue. The march will begin at 2:00 p.m. on the west side of Ninth at 45th Street and will proceed to 36th Street. Along the way, commemorative plaques will be installed for six pedestrians killed by cars in recent years: Randolph Walker, Nina Petrov, Douglas Dibble, Fabiola Grande-Coyotl, Sabina Paradi, and most recent victim Susanne M. Schnitzer.

Assembly Member Dick Gottfried, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, City Council Member John Liu and Manhattan district attorney candidate Richard Aborn are expected to participate. 

Reads a TA media release:

Ninth Avenue in Hell's Kitchen, with its many accesses to the Lincoln Tunnel, remains one of New York City's most dangerous streets for pedestrians. The community was once festering with crime, but in a recent survey 70% of the residents said they fear for their lives when they cross the street, while only 5% are scared of crime.

It is very encouraging that a potential future Manhattan DA is taking part in events like this, and we'd feel a lot better about Liu's involvement if he'd stop badmouthing measures to make pedestrians safer.

Expect calls tomorrow for passage of the Hayley Ng and Diego Martinez Law, which would mandate safety training and community service for New York State drivers who seriously injure or kill a pedestrian or cyclist. According to TA, the driver who killed Susanne Schnitzer left the scene. Though he was later located, he has not been charged for taking her life. In such cases, the Ng-Martinez bill would give DAs more options to pursue charges, adding a modicum of muscle to the state's weak laws against deadly driving.

Last Saturday, the Daily News reported that a man was critically injured when he was struck by a Range Rover on 14th Street at Eighth Avenue Friday evening at around 6 p.m. The out-of-control SUV went on to strike several cars before coming to rest on its side.

Though one witness told the Daily News that the driver -- initially identified as "Alan Naman of Chelsea" before that information disappeared from the web version of the story -- "had to be doing 60" miles per hour down 14th Street, the article took pains to point out that the unidentified victim was "jaywalking." Hence the headline "Jaywalker clings to life after being hit by SUV in Manhattan," rather than, as suggested by Streetsblog reader Eric McClure yesterday, "Jaywalker clings to life after being hit by speeding SUV."

All together now: The driver was not charged. 

In all fairness, the reporters and editors at the News were probably making an effort to present both sides of the story by even mentioning the vehicle's alleged rate of travel -- as if (also allegedly) crossing the street outside of a marked crosswalk were an offense on par with driving a 5,000-pound vehicle at highway speeds through a pedestrian populated urban environment. But the bias, intended or not, is revealed in the term "jaywalker" itself.

Care of the Chicago urbanist blog west north, an excerpt from Peter D. Norton’s 2008 book "Fighting Traffic" offers a lesson in early 20th-century etymology.

A ‘jay’ was a hayseed, out of place in the city; a jaywalker was someone who did not know how to walk in a city. Originally the term applied as much or more to pedestrians who obstructed the path of other pedestrians — by failing, for example, to keep to the right on the sidewalk. As autos grew common on city streets, jaywalkers were more often pedestrians oblivious to the danger of city motor traffic… ‘Jaywalker’ carried the sting of ridicule, and many objected to branding independent-minded pedestrians with the term. In 1915 New York’s police commissioner, Arthur Woods, attempted to use it to describe anyone who crossed the street at mid-block. The New York Times objected, calling the word ‘highly opprobrious’ and ‘a truly shocking name.’ Any attempt to arrest pedestrians would be ’silly and intolerable.’

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In what looks like a big win for community livable streets advocates, the Hell's Kitchen Neighborhood Association has settled its long-standing lawsuit over parking in the Hudson Yards area, where the Bloomberg administration sought the construction of thousands of new spaces. 

At issue was a rezoning provision that would have dramatically increased parking inventory for new Hudson Yards development by establishing parking minimum requirements. HKNA claimed the parking plan -- adopted in 2005 as part of the failed bid to build a far West Side football stadium -- violated a 1982 agreement to limit parking below 60th Street in order to keep the city in compliance with the Clean Air Act. 

The 2005 zoning, according to HKNA, would have permitted the construction of up to 17,500 new parking spots (estimates cited by neighborhood media pegged the number at closer to 20,000). Under the terms of the settlement, says an HKNA statement, "new development in the Hudson Yards will be limited to no more than 6,100 parking spaces" -- a number that, all things considered, "is expected to be approximately the same as would have been constructed under the 1982 zoning rules."

And for the first time, special permits for additional parking spaces will not be approved unless there is an actual shortage of parking in the Hudson Yards area. Currently there is no limit on special permits. The Departments of City Planning, Consumer Affairs, and Buildings will collaborate to keep an up-to-date inventory of parking spaces in the area and publish it on a web site.

The city has also abandoned plans for a 950-space underground garage originally intended for use by the stadium.

Needless to say, for a neighborhood already overrun with traffic congestion and parking garages, with attendant high levels of asthma to prove it, the settlement is welcome news. Here's hoping it might inspire the Bloomberg admin to reconsider its pro-parking push in other areas of the city.

From Caroline Samponaro, Director of Bicycle Advocacy for Transportation Alternatives:

At last night’s Manhattan Community Board 4 meeting the full board voted overwhelmingly in support of the DOT’s proposed extension of the Eighth Avenue bike lane from 14th to 23rd Streets. Only two board members voted against this plan. Zero community members attended the meeting to speak out against the bike lane. Eight community members attended to speak in favor. Because of the noticeable amount of support in the crowd, the chair, J.D. Noland, actually moved Eighth Avenue up from item 27 to item number two on the agenda, knowing so many people were in the room waiting to hear the verdict.

When it came time for the board to vote, at least two board members who had formerly been leading opponents of Eighth Avenue went on record as now supporting the plan and thanking the CB4 Transportation Committee for holding such a thoughtful and comprehensive public forum on the topic in November.

It is important to remember why Eighth Avenue is now being supported by CB4.

1. The board did a thorough job of working with the community and addressing all of their concerns in their resolution, as well as structuring a forum to help alleviate misinformed concerns. The DOT responded to CB4’s desire for meaningful community outreach and has also responded to these concerns, or in some cases indicated the city will work with the board in the future.

2. Supporters SHOWED UP and SPOKE at these public meetings in numbers far outnumbering opponents, making it undeniable that public input matters tremendously in this process.

3. No opponent could argue with the facts: 280 pedestrians and bicyclists were struck on Eighth Avenue between 14th and 23rd Streets from 1995 to 2005 (our most recent crash data) -- that’s a very high crash rate. In the year since its installation, a comparable project on Ninth Avenue has achieved dramatic reductions in crashes. Data collected by the NYC Department of Transportation shows the impact of that project, and the results we can expect to see on Eighth Avenue:

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Manhattan Community Board 4 will vote tonight on whether to recommend extending the protected bike lane on Eighth Avenue, now under construction below W. 14th Street, north to W. 23rd.

The board's transportation committee signed off on the lane last month. Still, about a dozen speakers turned out to oppose the project, which has community advocates, including CHEKPEDS, calling for a strong showing tonight by all who support a safer Eighth Avenue.

WHAT: Manhattan Community Board 4 General Meeting

WHEN: Wednesday, December 3, 6:30 p.m.

WHERE: Roosevelt Hospital, 10th Avenue between 58th and 59th St.

Last night, the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 4 voted 8-2 in support of extending the protected bike lane on Eighth Avenue, now under construction below W. 14th Street, north to 23rd. Wiley Norvell of Transportation Alternatives sends this account.

The meeting turnout was high, with roughly 40 people speaking 2-1 in favor of the proposed protected bike lane. There were a lot of cyclists, most of them Chelsea residents. Joshua David of Friends of the Highline, Mike Epstein representing Google, as well as Ian Dutton and Shirley Secunda from CB2 all helped set a good, supportive tone early on. The issue of gay (or-anti) gay street design, which got some mention in the press last month, was dismissed early one by one speaker as a "lavender herring" and never came up again.

Of the 10-15 people speaking against the project, about five spoke as if this was a referendum on cycling, railing against bikers as public enemy #1 (thank you Hunter College). There were a few speaking on process, and criticizing the DOT for inadequate public outreach in drafting the design. And several spoke about specific needs, like loading zones on particular blocks and banning left turns on some west-bound streets to preserve metered parking for businesses.

The overall tone of the meeting was respectful and upbeat, and hopefully it carries over to the full board meeting, where we'll need everyone who spoke last night (and more) to come out again and speak for the project.

The recommendation came with conditions, including education and outreach to cyclists and businesses and consideration for commercial parking and loading zone needs. The committee also wants all signals to be accessible to street users with physical impairments.

The plan will go to the full board -- where the project was previously rejected, based, at least in part, on the anti-gay argument -- on December 3. 

Image: NYC DOT 

The Open Planning Project's Lily Bernheimer snapped these shots of the Ninth Avenue separated bike path, now being extended from 23rd Street to 31st.

Plastic bollards separate bikes from car and truck traffic at W. 23rd.

Pedestrian island under construction at 29th.

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The Clinton Hell’s Kitchen Coalition for Pedestrian Safety (CHEKPEDS) has issued an alert regarding a meeting tonight to review Hudson Yards boulevard and park design proposals.

As part of Mayor Bloomberg's vision for far West Side redevelopment, the streetscape between 10th and 11th Avenues from 33rd to 42nd Streets is to be transformed with four acres of park space, linking to new commercial and residential high rises. Five designs have been submitted, with the winner to be chosen in October. The Post reports that, according to the Hudson Yards Development Corporation, phase one of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2013.

CHEKPEDS wants to ensure that the finished product addresses neighborhood considerations, such as:

• Will it be mostly for cars or for people?
  
• Will it be mostly for workers or for residents and neighbors?
  
• Will it be mostly shaded and green or more like a plaza?
  
• Will it be open 24 hours a day?
  
• What should it bring that the neighborhood lacks?

Designs will be on display tonight at 6:30 at Hudson Guild in the Dan Carpenter Room, 441 West 26th St. between 9th & 10th Avenues.

Image via New York Post