In the "most potent sign yet of opposition to the Bloomberg administration's marquee campaign to remake the city's streets," a front page article in today's edition of The New York Times by Michael M. Grynbaum said that "well-connected New Yorkers have taken the unusual step of suing the city to remove a controversial bicycle lane in a wealthy neighborhood of Brooklyn."
The law suite was filed on Monday in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, about a year after controversy started over a bike path along Prospect Park West.
The article noted that the lawsuit incorporated "criticisms of the administration's overall approach in carrying out the high-profile initiatives of its transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Kahn.
"Although this is not the first legal challenge against bike lanes in New York City - the Koch adminstration was sued in 1980 - the case opens a new front in one of the most heated public disputes since smoking was banned in bars," the article said.
"The lawsuit, filed by a group with close ties to Iris Weinshall, the city city's transportation commissioner from 2000 to 2007 and the wife of Senator Charles E. Schumer, accuses the Transportation Department of misleading residents about the benefits of the lane, cherry-picking statistics on safety improvements and collaborating with bicycle activists to quash community opposition."
Opponents have criticized the two-way bicycle lane for reducing room for cars and for restricting the views of pedestrians crossing the street, the article said, adding that they also disputed that safety had been improved and accuse the city of ignoring required environmental reviews and subverting a public review process by presenting a full report on the lane only after the decision was made to make it permanent."
The article also noted that Aaron Naparstek, a leading bicycle advocated, had "forwarded a comment he had posted to Streestsblog, the bicycle advocacy Web site he had co-founded, that described the lane's opponents as 'shameless selfish pigs' who 'need to be publicly disgraced every time they pop their heads up.'"
The law suite was filed on Monday in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn, about a year after controversy started over a bike path along Prospect Park West.
The article noted that the lawsuit incorporated "criticisms of the administration's overall approach in carrying out the high-profile initiatives of its transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Kahn.
"Although this is not the first legal challenge against bike lanes in New York City - the Koch adminstration was sued in 1980 - the case opens a new front in one of the most heated public disputes since smoking was banned in bars," the article said.
"The lawsuit, filed by a group with close ties to Iris Weinshall, the city city's transportation commissioner from 2000 to 2007 and the wife of Senator Charles E. Schumer, accuses the Transportation Department of misleading residents about the benefits of the lane, cherry-picking statistics on safety improvements and collaborating with bicycle activists to quash community opposition."
Opponents have criticized the two-way bicycle lane for reducing room for cars and for restricting the views of pedestrians crossing the street, the article said, adding that they also disputed that safety had been improved and accuse the city of ignoring required environmental reviews and subverting a public review process by presenting a full report on the lane only after the decision was made to make it permanent."
The article also noted that Aaron Naparstek, a leading bicycle advocated, had "forwarded a comment he had posted to Streestsblog, the bicycle advocacy Web site he had co-founded, that described the lane's opponents as 'shameless selfish pigs' who 'need to be publicly disgraced every time they pop their heads up.'"
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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