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In the wake of last week’s setback for efforts to bring more bike racks to the Upper West Side, Manhattan Community Board 7′s transportation committee will hold a key meeting tonight about an issue on which its chairs have failed to take action: protected bike lanes and complete streets.

The Columbus Avenue protected bike lane is currently only 19 blocks long. Photo: DOT

DOT is scheduled to provide an update on the existing Columbus Avenue lane, which runs between 96th and 77th Streets, and discuss plans for bringing more protected bike lanes to the neighborhood.

Council Member Gale Brewer will be at tonight’s meeting. “I’m a supporter of bike lanes, especially protected ones,” she said. The Columbus Avenue lane “isn’t used as much as I would like,” she noted, because “it doesn’t connect to anything.”

Although the neighborhood could use a stronger network of protected bike lanes, Brewer likes what she sees so far. The number of cyclists riding on the sidewalk has gone down, she said, adding that her office has received fewer complaints about the behavior of commercial cyclists.

Brewer, who worked to adjust the bike lane in response to community requests, was disappointed in DOT’s level of outreach when the lane was first installed, but is more satisfied with how the agency is addressing the concerns of businesses this time around.

“I think in this case they’re doing a lot more of that door-to-door,” Brewer said. Asked if she thinks others will be similarly pleased, Brewer was circumspect. ”We’ll find out,” she said.

Key people to watch at tonight’s meeting include long-time committee co-chairs Andrew Albert and Dan Zweig, who have used their positions to slow down street safety progress in the neighborhood. The meeting is open to the public and heavy attendance is expected. It begins at 7:00 p.m. at Congregation Rodeph Sholom, 7 West 83rd Street.

Despite a positive vote in committee, earlier this week Community Board 7 on the Upper West Side sidelined a plan to bring more bike racks to the area, after some procedural maneuvering by transportation committee co-chair Dan Zweig stifled discussion. With a key presentation from DOT on extending the Columbus Avenue protected bike lane coming up next week, the episode is a reminder that just about any change to the street faces an uphill battle with Zweig and his fellow co-chair, Andrew Albert.

Next week CB 7 will discuss a bigger issue than bike racks: the potential extension of the Columbus Avenue bike lane. Image: DOT

On Tuesday evening, Manhattan CB 7′s full board meeting seemed to be off to a good start. A proposal for a bike corral at Broadway and West 105th Street, which DOT modified to include more bike parking in response to committee members’ requests, passed the full board 34-1, with two abstentions.

Next up: a resolution asking DOT to consider installing bike racks at locations that the Upper West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign had determined met the city’s standards on Broadway, Amsterdam Avenue, and Columbus Avenue. After reaching out to adjacent businesses and property owners, asking if they wanted to opt out of getting a new bike rack, the campaign was left with 111 bike rack locations that it presented the transportation committee, which passed a resolution in support, 7-2.

Committee co-chair Dan Zweig, who voted against the resolution, introduced the issue to the full board Monday night. In giving many board members their first glimpse of the proposal, Zweig acted ”as though the work we had done was really threadbare,” said Lisa Sladkus, an organizer of the campaign. Zweig wanted committee members to talk to business owners and property owners themselves about each bike rack location.

“We felt we went over and above what was required,” Sladkus said, adding that the campaign modeled its outreach on DOT’s popular CityBench program, which allows adjacent businesses or property owners to opt out. Sladkus said she even sent Zweig a file containing voicemails, emails, and letters between businesses and property owners and the UWS Streets Renaissance Campaign. “Whatever we provided, they wanted more,” she said. ”Dan Zweig did not believe us.”

Quickly after Zweig gave the resolution a withering introduction at Monday’s meeting, board member Ian Alterman made a motion to send the issue back to committee. With the motion on the table, board members were forbidden from speaking about the merits of the bike rack plan. The board, which had heard only criticism of the proposal, voted 23-13, with one abstention, to kick it back to the transportation committee.

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Last night, the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 7 signed off on plans for more bike racks on the Upper West Side and the neighborhood’s first on-street bike corral. The two resolutions mustered more than enough support to overwhelm the objections of committee co-chair Dan Zweig, and both will advance to the full committee in December.

DOT's Jennifer Harris-Hernandez presents the plan for an on-street bike corral at Broadway and West 105th Street last night.

DOT has installed five on-street bike corrals in Manhattan, but none on the Upper West Side. The corner of Broadway and West 105th Street, in front of Henry’s Restaurant, would be the neighborhood’s first.

“It’s replacing a parking spot that we just gained from the change to muni-meter,” restaurant owner Henry Rinehart told Streetsblog. “Any time you turn a parking spot into a bike corral, you have a net gain of seven to nine potential customers.”

DOT’s Jennifer Harris-Hernandez explained that the corral design includes planters as protective barriers, though the committee’s resolution, approved 7-1 with one abstention, asked DOT to swap out the planters for more bike racks after some meeting attendees said the space was needed for more bike parking. Zweig was the lone vote against the bike corral.

The committee also considered a list of potential bike rack locations compiled by the Upper West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign, whose volunteers had fanned out across the neighborhood to identify 136 spots that are both in need of bike parking and meet DOT’s CityRack installation standards.

The UWS Streets Renaissance sent business owners a letter informing them that the sidewalk in front of their establishment had been identified as a potential bike rack location, asking if they wanted to opt out of the program in advance of last night’s meeting. After 45 businesses opted out, the remaining 91 bike rack locations were presented to the committee.

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Last night, Manhattan Community Board 7′s transportation committee debated the merits of bringing protected bike lanes and pedestrian refuges to Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues between 59th and 110th Streets. This would be a big gain for the Upper West Side, which currently only has one mile of protected bike lane on Columbus Avenue. After years of debate and negotiation, residents are growing impatient with the committee’s indecisiveness on street redesigns that make walking and biking safer.

The existing Columbus Avenue bike lane runs from 77th to 97th streets. Photo: DOT

Supporters, who outnumbered opponents in last night’s audience, provided testimony that emphasized the safety benefits of the street redesigns. Resident Detta Ahl said that the protected bike lanes give her the confidence to ride her bike in the neighborhood. On the street, “I am in rough water, with sharks,” she said. “When I’m in the protected bike lane, I am in a pool, with a lane line, and a lifeguard.”

Willow Stelzer noted that pedestrians and drivers have benefited as well. “It’s not just about bicyclists,” she said. Since the refuge islands were installed on Columbus Avenue, she said, her mother feels safer crossing the street.

The committee chairs, Andrew Albert and Dan Zweig, faced tough criticism last night for the committee’s lack of movement on complete streets. “Leadership for the Upper West Side is lacking,” said Henry Rinehart. “We’re falling behind other neighborhoods.”

Mary Beth Kelly, whose husband was killed while riding his bike on the Hudson River Greenway at 38th Street, also expressed frustration with the slow pace. ”He’s been dead for six years and I’ve been showing up at these meetings,” she said. “You just want to sit and waste our time.”

“This committee has not been proactive to date about bike lanes,” said former board chair Mel Wymore, who currently sits on the transportation committee and is running for City Council. While noting that “community board members are volunteers,” Wymore said that “to request leadership from a community board is completely fair game.”

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Tomorrow night, the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 7 will take public input on the possible expansion of protected bike lanes on the Upper West Side.

Traffic crashes and injuries dropped significantly after the installation of the Columbus Ave. protected lane. Photo: Civitas

On the agenda is a request from the board that DOT complete a proposal for protected lanes and other changes to the streetscape, including pedestrian islands, turning lanes and loading zones, on Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues from 59th Street to 110th Street.

The existing protected lane, on Columbus from 96th Street to 77th Street, was narrowly endorsed by CB 7 in 2010. Six months after its installation, traffic crashes were down by 34 percent, and the number of traffic injuries dropped by 27 percent, according to DOT.

Data collected by the city following the completion of the one-mile segment showed that, on the blocks of Columbus to the north and south of the bike lane, 29 percent of motorists were clocked speeding, while between eight and 17 percent of vehicles on the stretch of Columbus with the bike lane were found to be traveling faster than the 30 miles per hour speed limit.

The protected lane is also popular with residents, according to a survey conducted by City Council Member Gale Brewer. Safe streets proponents want protected bike lanes running north and south, and want those lanes to connect with existing protected lanes on Eighth and Ninth Avenues.

Nevertheless, a community board recommendation is no sure thing.

“For too long, the leaders of the transportation committee of Community Board 7 have neglected to protect residents and visitors on our streets,” said Lisa Sladkus, of the Upper West Side Streets Renaissance, in an email to Streetsblog. “Protected bike lanes protect ALL road users, including motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists. There are no excuses for not implementing them on many of our streets, connecting people to parks, work, school, and commerce. Yes, parking will be re-allocated for this change. As a community, we need to stand up for safety over the desire to park private vehicles on our public streets. Upper West Side residents deserve safer streets. Please help us in communicating this message to our appointed leaders of the transportation committee. They need to hear a unified and strong voice.”

Tomorrow’s meeting will be held at 250 W. 87th Street at 7 p.m.

Photo: Daniel Green

Reader Daniel Green sends in this picture of a Thursday afternoon crash at Broadway and W. 77th Street. According to FDNY, the crash occurred at approximately 1:21 p.m. One person was treated for injuries and released, while a second was hospitalized at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt, a spokesperson said. FDNY did not know if bystanders were among the injured.

NYPD had no information on the crash, meaning no one was killed or believed likely to die. NYPD could not say whether anyone was charged for what was obviously a high-speed collision at an intersection teeming with pedestrians.

This crash occurred in the 20th Precinct. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to Deputy Inspector Brian A. McGinn, the commanding officer, head to the next precinct community council meeting. The 20th Precinct council “usually” meets on the fourth Monday of each month, except in July and August, at the precinct station house, 120 W. 82nd Street, at 7:00 p.m. Call 212-580-6428 for information.

Under one recommendation from DOT's new West Side transportation study, paint would be used to channelize a block of 66th Street from three lanes down to two.

The Department of Transportation has completed a multi-year transportation study of the Upper West Side, and Wednesday night the agency walked local residents through the many proposed changes [PDF]. The suggestions for the area between 55th and 86th Streets, west of Central Park, include a number of valuable intersection-level improvements to pedestrian safety, but left some feeling that the recommendations don’t go far enough.

Locals hoping to expand the protected bike lane network on the Upper West Side beyond the current mile of cycle track on Columbus Avenue were initially disappointed; the West Side study doesn’t so much as mention new bike lanes. When pressed on the issue during the Q&A, however, DOT reps gave residents looking to expand the bike lane’s safety benefits cause for optimism. “We are interested in increasing the bike network in this community,” said DOT Borough Commissioner Margaret Forgione.

Forgione said DOT is finishing up a final evaluation of the existing Columbus Avenue bike lane and plans to show the new data to the local community board. Then, she said, DOT wants “to have the board help define where we go next.” The two options she mentioned Wednesday were extending the Columbus Avenue lane and creating a northbound match on Amsterdam.

Included in last night’s presentation were a host of smaller safety improvements. “This is not the sexiest,” warned Council Member Gale Brewer, who provided the original impetus for the study.

Two striped islands on West End Avenue at 58th and 59th Streets would be converted into concrete refuge islands, for example, to provide real physical protection to crossing pedestrians.

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You might remember a wave of news stories that broke around this time last year with headlines like: “Columbus Avenue Business Owners Say Bike Lanes Driving Down Bottom Line,” or “Lack of Parking Destroying Columbus Avenue Business,” or “Study: Street Redesign Hurting Upper West Side Businesses.”

Photo: Civitas

The Columbus Avenue bike lane, with its 28 pedestrian refuges and parking-protected space for cycling, was a recent addition to the streetscape, and some merchants said they were having a harder time with deliveries. A few claimed the loss of some parking spots was repelling customers from one of the most walkable, transit-accessible places on Earth. Filtered through the New York media megaphone, the story turned into a bike lane-induced cataclysm for merchants.

Here we are a year later, and this piece of news in the Commercial Observer seems worth amplifying: “Columbus Avenue BID Boasts 100 Percent Retail Occupancy.”

The bike lane extends five blocks into the area covered by the Columbus Avenue BID, or about a third of its territory. According to the Observer, retail occupancy in the BID usually hovers around 94 percent. We don’t have retail occupancy rates for the whole length of the project, and it’s too early to say if the bike lane is making retail space more attractive, but there sure doesn’t seem to be any cataclysm. (From a safety perspective, there’s no doubt that the bike lane improved Columbus: DOT reported last year that traffic injuries declined 27 percent after installation.)

Will there be follow-up coverage from Tony Aiello and company?

Photos: Liz Patek

Streetsblog reader Liz Patek sent in these photos of the aftermath of a Tuesday afternoon crash at 68th Street and Broadway, in front of the Loews Lincoln Square movie theater. Liz writes:

Police were still on the scene. From talking to people, it appears that the cab backed up at a high speed around the corner from 68th to Broadway in order to get a parking spot. One of the people I spoke to was hit by the cab. She was OK. Two other pedestrians were injured and taken away in ambulances before I arrived. According to another witness, one of the other pedestrians who was hit got pulled under the cab and dragged for several feet. The driver also took out the street light.

NYPD had no information on the crash, and we could find no media reports. All of which is a pretty good indicator of how common these non-fatal crashes with injuries are. For every fatality that is written up somewhere there are dozens of “minor” crashes like this one. If you saw what happened here or have any info, let us know in the comments.

This crash occurred in the 20th Precinct. The commanding officer there is Deputy Inspector Brian A. McGinn. To voice your concerns about neighborhood traffic safety directly to McGinn or other precinct higher-ups, drop in on the next community council meeting. The 20th Precinct council “usually” meets on the fourth Monday of each month, except in July and August, at the 20th Precinct station house, 120 W. 82nd Street, at 7:00 p.m. Call ahead (212-580-6428) to confirm meeting dates and times.

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Singer Daniela D'Ercole was struck by a car on the Upper West Side last Thursday and pronounced dead at St. Luke's Hospital. Photo: DNAinfo/David Torres

Last Thursday night, Daniela D’Ercole was struck and killed by the driver of a Mercury SUV while she crossed the street on the Upper West Side, multiple outlets reported over the weekend.

The 32-year-old jazz singer, who had moved to New York City from Italy last September, was reportedly hit after exiting a taxi at Broadway and 106th Street. According to the NYPD, she was crossing Broadway westbound against the light when the motorist, heading northbound, hit her.

The SUV driver stayed at the scene of the crash and police said that no criminality was suspected.

A video of the crash cited by the New York Post reportedly shows the collision sending D’Ercole flying across multiple lanes of traffic, suggesting that evidence is available to judge the driver’s speed at the time. When asked whether the driver might have been speeding, an NYPD press officer repeated that there was no criminality suspected and said he did not have any information about video evidence.

If you have any information on what happened here, please leave it in the comments or send us an e-mail.

If you would like to discuss the case and traffic safety in the neighborhood with local police, the next meeting of the 24th Precinct community council is this Wednesday, the 16th, at 7:00 p.m.