At a City Council Transportation Committee hearing today on the city's bike lanes policy, City Councilman David Greenfield, who represents Borough Park, Midwood and Bensonhurst, brought up "the idea of mandatory registration for cyclists," according to an article by Ben Fried today at Streetsblog.com.
"East Side representative and occasional cyclist Daniel Garodnick asked how pedestrians' perception of safety on streets with new bike lanes can be addressed. 'Even before bike lanes, the number of complaints about riders who do improper things is high,' he said. He welcomed DOT's new 'Don't be a jerk' education campaign, but he'd like to see more from the police. 'I hope DOT will encourage NYPD to do proper enforcement of the rules, so that as we expand the bike network, people will use it properly,' he said," article noted.
"Another East Side rep, Jessica Lappin," the article continued, "took a harder line on cyclist enforcement. 'What people are doing is breaking the law and putting lives at risk,' she said. 'I've heard countless stories of people who've been hit, killed, the list goes on and on.'"
"Nobody disagrees that using more bicycles is a good thing," the article said, "but in a city where traffic is horrendous and finding a parking space is difficult, bike policy is all about tradeoffs," committee chair James Vacca said in his introduction to the meeting, adding that "too many people are starting to get the impression that bike policy is about getting them to give up their cars."
"Queens representative Peter Koo, who represents Flushing, said, 'In my experience, I hardly see any people using the bike lanes. Meanwhile," the article continued, "the motorists have no place to park, and business people have no place for deliveries.' Statistics laying out the substantial bicycle volumes on certain streets -- in the range of 10 to 20 percent of peak hour traffic on several corridors, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said - did not sway him. 'Some parts of the city, downtown areas, don't need bike lanes,' he said. 'They should go in suburban areas.'"
"East Side representative and occasional cyclist Daniel Garodnick asked how pedestrians' perception of safety on streets with new bike lanes can be addressed. 'Even before bike lanes, the number of complaints about riders who do improper things is high,' he said. He welcomed DOT's new 'Don't be a jerk' education campaign, but he'd like to see more from the police. 'I hope DOT will encourage NYPD to do proper enforcement of the rules, so that as we expand the bike network, people will use it properly,' he said," article noted.
"Another East Side rep, Jessica Lappin," the article continued, "took a harder line on cyclist enforcement. 'What people are doing is breaking the law and putting lives at risk,' she said. 'I've heard countless stories of people who've been hit, killed, the list goes on and on.'"
"Nobody disagrees that using more bicycles is a good thing," the article said, "but in a city where traffic is horrendous and finding a parking space is difficult, bike policy is all about tradeoffs," committee chair James Vacca said in his introduction to the meeting, adding that "too many people are starting to get the impression that bike policy is about getting them to give up their cars."
"Queens representative Peter Koo, who represents Flushing, said, 'In my experience, I hardly see any people using the bike lanes. Meanwhile," the article continued, "the motorists have no place to park, and business people have no place for deliveries.' Statistics laying out the substantial bicycle volumes on certain streets -- in the range of 10 to 20 percent of peak hour traffic on several corridors, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said - did not sway him. 'Some parts of the city, downtown areas, don't need bike lanes,' he said. 'They should go in suburban areas.'"
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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