Monday, February 10, 2025
Sunday, November 3, 2024
NYC Department Of TransAlt greenway follies
The city’s Department of Transportation is temporarily postponing a virtual Zoom workshop scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 29, on the proposed 16-mile Queens Waterfront Greenway after a meeting in Douglaston last Thursday, Oct. 24, turned into a huge shouting match between supporters of the trail and homeowners concerned about its potential impact.
The DOT posted the announcement on X Monday evening at around 6 p.m.
“Tomorrow’s Queens Waterfront Greenway virtual workshop has been postponed,” the post said. “A code of conduct will be developed to ensure decorum and respect for all participants.”
Last Thursday’s meeting took place at the Alley Pond Environmental Center. After a slide presentation by the DOT, the crowd of well over 100 people was split up into breakout groups. Just about an hour after the meeting started, what had been strained conversations erupted into a large verbal free-for-all that raged for several minutes.
In a small handful of instances, city employees and other meeting attendees had to physically separate some people.
The city’s plan is to run a trail of bike lanes and other amenities between Fort Totten and Gantry Plaza State Park on the East River waterfront in Long Island City.
Last Thursday’s meeting was the third of three workshops designed to solicit public opinion on a segment of the trail, with the session devoted to the easternmost stretch between Fort Totten and Willets Point.
Many homeowners are concerned about the impact such a trail might have on residential streets in areas where the shoreline is not readily accessible or even visible because of privately owned residential or industrial properties.
The DOT’s roughly 20-minute slide presentation delved into the history of the area in question, its present conditions and what the city sees as potential opportunities presented by the project.
The crowd then was asked to break up into groups at many tables where DOT staff took suggestions based on massive maps of Northeast Queens.
The format is common for community workshops on major projects in the city, particularly ones that could mean massive change to many streets. But it was not long before several of the group conversations devolved into heated exchanges between homeowners and plan supporters. One hour into the meeting, at just about 7 p.m., no conversations could be heard above the angry exchanges for a period of several minutes.
Here's what the Queens Chronicle forgot to write about, CM Paladino found out that the ones really calling the shots and that will authorize this "decorum" is some think tank that is tied to Transportation Alternatives. The DOT may be the most corrupted agency in New York City now that all of Mayor Adams crony hires have stepped down.
Turns out Public Works Partners LLC is a for-profit progressive/urbanist think tank specialising in crafting these fake 'public events' in order to manufacture consent. They list the DOT as one of their clients, but they also speak in depth about all the work they do aiding… pic.twitter.com/0UH7jKC1rt
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) October 29, 2024
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
No bike lane bliss for Blissville
Businesses in one of the last-standing industrial corners of Long Island City say they can only take so much gentrification — and that a planned new bike lane has put them over the edge.
Local industries argue that the cyclist carve-out in the trendy Queens neighborhood will be dangerous for their truck drivers — not to mention the bikers.
“Not every street is safe for a bike lane. You wouldn’t put a bike lane down the middle of the LIE. It’s just not safe. And this is similar,” argued Matthew Dienstag, co-owner of the local LeNoble Lumber.
But the city — which touts on its transportation Web site that nearly 1 million New Yorkers regularly ride bikes — is plowing ahead with plans to connect the Pulaski and Kosciuszko bridges for bikers.
The connection will come by way of Borden, Starr and Review avenues — a dangerous sector of Blissville infamous for its big-truck congestion.
“It’s like, ‘This is what we’re doing, we don’t give a s–t.’ Excuse my French,” griped Michael Diamond of J&S Supply Corp, a 75-year-old insulation and roofing distributor company, to The Post, referring to the city’s stance.
J&S Supply is one of the dozens of warehouse businesses, as well as a city Sanitation Department waste management facility, that contribute to the heavy stream of truck and forklift traffic traveling in and out of the corridor.
Massive box trucks already swerve across both lanes of traffic to enter and exit their warehouses, a tricky maneuver made even more difficult by the overcrowded streets’ chronic double-parking problem.
Local civic associations and the community board requested the bike lane as a solution to the safety issues.
With space allotted for parking on both sides of the road, just about 22 feet would be left for moving traffic — a significant slice that business owners say they cannot give up.
“There probably will be more truck accidents than there are now,’’ Dienstag argued. “When you have a tractor-trailer pulling into any one of these buildings there to put to back in or to pull out, they’re almost hitting those cars afterwards.”
The business owners said cyclists would be in danger, too.
In a span of one hour Friday morning, The Post observed four cyclists pedal down Review Avenue, including one who opted for the sidewalk path rather than the busy street.
“There’s a lot of trucks, so it’s better this way. No one’s around,” said Richard Derba of Maspeth, Queens, who cycles to Greenpoint along the Review Avenue sidewalk twice a week.
When asked if the incoming bike lane would be beneficial, Derba said it wouldn’t make a difference to him because the vehicular traffic would still be too heavy for his comfort.
The DOT argument to justify inducement of bike lanes would be a little more credible if their data for cycling wasn't two years old. But like the man said, they don't give a shit.
Sunday, August 25, 2024
DOT will build new bike lanes for friends of Transportation Alternatives in Ridgewood
Protected bike lanes and built-out sidewalks are coming to Cypress Avenue to provide a safe connection to Highland Park on the Brooklyn-Queens border, where traffic going to and from the Jackie Robinson Parkway currently reigns.
The Department of Transportation plans to set up a two-way cycle path protected from traffic by jersey barriers along with new sidewalks between Cooper Avenue and Cypress Hills Street, according to a design presented to the local community board in June. The upgrades mean people on foot or bike won't need to dodge traffic coming off and on the Jackie Robinson Parkway to get to the park and nearby cemeteries, said one local advocate.
"This is like a win-win," said Bree Mobley, a volunteer organizer with Ridgewood Riders, a cycling group that has pushed for the upgrades for years. "Let’s make it happen, let’s get park access in the neighborhood."
Cypress Avenue is a steep, wide and busy thoroughfare sandwiched between cemeteries and full of heavy traffic from the nearby highway. Those dangerous conditions make it hard for people to get to Highland Park from Ridgewood and Bushwick, even though it's only a mile away, Mobley said.
"It’s not for the faint of heart," the safe streets advocate said. "People are zooming by you, 30-40 miles per hour. They don’t care, they’re just trying to get to the highway and get there as fast as they can."
The intersection of Cypress and Cooper avenues in particular is a well-known danger zone with a history of crashes.
Ridgewood Rides and advocates with Transportation Alternatives have gathered nearly 1,000 online signatures in support of safer access to the park.
They are crowing about a non story that they dropped the ball on 2 months ago. And they’re too dumb to notice that the map DOT provided is wrong. Also enjoyed the comment by Transportation Alternatives ally H2O that they think they’re going to get both a bus stop and Citibike station there.
And that map from the proposal is completely incorrect. There is NO protected bike lane along the Jackie. It's a shared sidewalk for cyclists and pedestrians. Internal park paths should not be portrayed as protected bike lanes as there are no vehicles to mix with.
There's also no sidewalk north of the Jackie, the cemeteries are not required to install them. So DOT is installing one, but most people who walk to Highland approach from the other way.Vermont Place sidewalk improvements would be welcome, but there still are like 4 on/off ramps for peds to cross to get to the reservoir entrance where these jerks want to divert the bus.
As for the H20 ally who posted this comment that got the traffic light wrong (de facto stewards in the area?), his name is Peter Frishauf, an Upper West Side millionaire donor to transportation alternatives and streetspac who practically ordered the DOT to reimagine a street with planters, paint and rocks that usurped parking spaces and mocked and 84-year-old woman who got arrested for protesting against it.
— Streetsblog New York (@StreetsblogNYC) October 16, 2023
One more thing
The department of transportation alternatives own data shows protected bike lanes don't really protect anyone. Especially cyclists.
Monday, March 18, 2024
Fringe bike zealot org demands more bike lanes to Ridgewood Reservoir
A group of residents who have formed Ridgewood Rides — an advocacy group of bicyclists that calls for safe streets — have launched a petition demanding safer access for cyclists and pedestrians to the Ridgewood Reservoir.
The Ridgewood Reservoir, located within Highland Park, is situated on the border of Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods, including Bushwick and Cypress Hills. The group has garnered approximately 800 signatures in its quest to make access to the 1.18 miles of park space safe to enjoy the neighborhood’s greenery.
Advocates of the petition are calling for protected bike lanes and wide, unobstructed sidewalks along Cypress Avenue and Vermont Avenue — citing unsafe conditions for cyclists and pedestrians. They plan to present the petition to the NYC Department of Transportation and city officials once the petition is fully signed.
Bree Mobley, speaking on behalf of Ridgewood Rides during a Community Board 5 meeting this month, said that it is unsafe for people like her who rely on bicycles and mass transit to get to the reservoir. She called on the board to write a letter of support.
“It’s one of the closest and largest greenspaces that many of our neighbors have access to and it’s primarily a place for motorists,” Mobley said. “For people like me who don’t have access to a car, it’s really unsafe and difficult.”
Ridgewood Rides argues that access to the Ridgewood Reservoir from Ridgewood, Glendale and northern parts of Brooklyn, especially from Cypress Avenue and Vermont Place, is dangerous given that drivers often speed. They also say there is not enough roadway space for cyclists.
I thought these people wanted to take the bus there?
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Department of Transportation Alternatives plans to induce bike lanes in Fresh Meadows.
We, the undersigned residents of the neighborhood surrounding 53rd Ave between Bell Blvd and 188th Street, wish to express our deep concern and opposition to the implementation of the proposed bike lanes in our area. Our concerns stem from the following points:
1. Removal of Street Parking: The proposed bike lanes threaten
to remove much-needed street parking, severely inconveniencing residents
and visitors alike.
2. Safety Concerns: The sudden changes could
inadvertently draw the attention of car vandals and thieves, posing a
threat to the safety, peace, and tranquility that our beloved
neighborhood has enjoyed for years.
3. Lack of Transparency: The
city did not adequately inform or involve the residents before making
decisions that have significant implications for our lives. Many of us
were left blindsided by the sudden erection of “No Stopping Anytime”
signs, causing distress and confusion.
4. Community Feedback: At the
recent Community Board 11 meeting, it was evident that a majority of
residents either oppose the new bike lanes or desire a plan that better
accommodates the parking needs of the community.
Given the above concerns, we urge the city officials and the Department of Transportation to:
• Reevaluate the Decision: Consider alternative routes or
modifications that would not disrupt the tranquility and parking of our
neighborhood.
• Increase Transparency and Engagement: Proactively
communicate with residents, ensuring that we are part of the
decision-making process. We deserve a say in decisions that directly
impact our lives and community.
• Hybrid Meeting Options: Implement
hybrid meeting options and online registration for future Community
Board meetings, ensuring accessibility for all residents.
We believe in the significance of our voices and trust that our
collective concerns will be given due consideration. Through this
petition, we hope to work collaboratively with the city to find
solutions that are beneficial to all parties involved.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Wednesday, June 28, 2023
The Department Of Transporation Alternatives will put a two way bike lane on the Addabbo Bridge.
The city Department of Transportation has announced it will begin work on safety improvements for the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge this month, with markings scheduled to begin this week.
The repairs aim to fix unsafe conditions on the bridge, which runs from Howard Beach to Broad Channel. The project limits are Cross Bay Boulevard from 165th Avenue to the Kite Board Launch, the DOT confirmed to the Chronicle.
In the plan, the DOT detailed the southbound bike lane will become a two-way protected bike lane, and the northbound bike lane will become a protected single bike lane. The plan also includes adding painted pedestrian islands and updated corridor markings.
The project maintains the existing number of vehicular travel lanes, though some will be narrowed. The western bike lanes will be protected by new Jersey barriers. The sidewalks will not be affected.
In a statement to the Chronicle, state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Woodhaven) said, “These repairs are necessary to ensure the safety of the many New Yorkers who cross the bridge every day ... We shouldn’t have to wait for an accident or fatality to occur before we take action.”
Why put a two way bike lane when there's a bike lane on the other side? While these will protect cyclists from cars, they won't protect pedestrians from bikers. Especially ebikes and unlicensed mopeds. The DOTA needs an enema.
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Linky's illegal parking Angels
It’s a familiar experience for pedestrians and bicyclists — a car or truck parked in a bike lane or on the sidewalk forces a detour into the street — and into traffic. When vehicles block these travel paths, it's not just an annoyance and safety hazard. It’s illegal.
Now a New York City Council member is pushing a bill that would give civilians the power to report bike lane scofflaws, as well as vehicles that block entrances or exits of school buildings, sidewalks and crosswalks. New Yorkers who submit evidence of a parking violation can earn 25% of a proposed $175 ticket. The Department of Transportation would review the evidence to determine whether an infraction has occurred, according to the bill’s text.
Council Member Lincoln Restler said the bill is necessary because the New York City Police Department, which has traditionally been responsible for enforcing these traffic rules, isn’t giving out enough tickets. The number of traffic citations issued in the city increased from fiscal 2021 to fiscal 2022, but remains nearly 50% below pre-pandemic levels, according to the Mayor’s Management Report.
“I feel the safety risks every day that are associated with illegal parking,” said Restler, who is a cyclist. “It’s even more problematic for the parent pushing a stroller or a person in a wheelchair who can’t get by on the sidewalk because of illegally parked cars. That’s why we are creating, in this legislation, a new structure to bring real accountability.”
If passed, the law would be the first time such civilian authority was extended to personal vehicles in New York. It’s modeled after the Citizens Air Complaint Program, which allows New Yorkers call in tickets for idling commercial vehicles for the same 25% reward.
Sunday, August 7, 2022
Life in the fast bike lane
More than one-third of people riding motorized two-wheeleers on the Big Apple’s protected bike lanes and greenways speed dangerously, an analysis by The Post found.
Although the city last week revved up its crackdown on dangerous driving by operating speed cameras round the clock, bike lanes remain severe safety hazards flooded with scofflaws on e-bikes, mopeds and motorcycles that constantly disobey the 25-mph speed limit.
Over the past week, a team of Post journalists used a radar gun to track speeders on paths crossing the Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queensboro bridges, as well as bike lanes in Midtown and at Hudson River Park.
Of the 486 two-wheelers clocked, 167 – or 34% — sped above the 25 mph max, including some as high as 35 mph. They include dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles and others outlawed on city streets and bike lanes.
he need for speed was especially noticeable on the Williamsburg Bridge where 44 – or 59% — of 74 motor bikes using its pathway over an hour-long period Friday went over 25 mph.
The Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge’s lanes were also filled with speeders. Over an hour, 37% and 30% of its bikers were also caught, respectively, speeding by the reporter and photographer.
On the Queensboro Bridge, 18% of the 87 motorized bikers clocked went
over 25 mph – but, unlike the other East River crossings, its bike lane
is shared with pedestrians who were forced to dodge dirt bikes and
other rogue rides.
On Thursday afternoon, The Post set up near Stuyvesant High School on Chambers Street for an hour and clocked 33 – or 43% — of 77 motorized bikes zipping along the Hudson River Park bike path over the speed limit.
New Yorkers said they’re fed up with bike-lane lawbreakers.
“It’s a huge problem!” barked Peter Epstein, an avid 60-year-old bicyclist after pedaling along the scenic bike lane on Manhattan’s West Side. “People are walking by” because they have “the green light to cross the path, and these [motor] bikes are zooming right up to them; there’s not even time for anyone to react. It’s just crazy.”
Tuesday, July 12, 2022
The Department of Transportation Alternatives commissioner promotes bike lanes during presser about car crash that killed 3 teenagers
City Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez shamelessly exploited a visit to the scene of a deadly Staten Island crash to tout unrelated local new bike lanes Monday and should apologize, a local pol says.
“Our DOT commissioner just showed up for a photo op at the site of last night’s horrific accident, which tragically claimed the lives of three teenagers, to announce that DOT will be installing bike lanes and turning lanes over a half a mile away,” City Councilman Joe Borelli (R-South Shore) fumed in a Facebook post.
Borelli blasted Rodriguez’s visit as nothing but “shameless exploitation” and accused him of staging “a photo up” over the controversial planned bike lanes on Hylan Boulevard between Satterlee Street and Page Avenue.
Borelli said the bike-lane proposal, which the city Department of Transportation unveiled in June, “was strongly opposed by the community board, elected officials, and residents in community surveys.”
He noted that there are already bike lanes at the intersection where teenage siblings Fernanda Gil and Jesie Gil and 15-year-old pal Ashley Rodriguez died when the car they were in collided with another vehicle Sunday night.
The accident had nothing to do with bicycles.
“This is the most shameless exploitation I have ever seen by a city official to push through an unpopular agenda he had long sought to see through,” Borelli wrote.
“In other words, when he heard of this accident, he decided it was a good moment to push more miles of bike lanes. He should resign.”
Tuesday, May 31, 2022
A bridge and bike lane too far
The MTA is gearing up a plan to improve bike and pedestrian access to its mass transit system and bridges.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will release its so-called Bike, Pedestrian, and Micromobility Strategic Action Plan sometime this year after long resisting calls from advocates to open its bridges to New Yorkers who aren’t behind the wheel.
“We want to improve customer access to our environmentally friendly MTA services, however they get to their train or bus,” MTA Chairperson and CEO Janno Lieber said in a statement. “As a cyclist myself, I know that biking can be the perfect complement to mass transit.”
The state agency hired Sam Schwartz Engineering to consult on the project, which officials say will work toward better access to transit stations for bikes, pedestrians, and micro-mobility like e-scooters; integrating bike sharing services, and improving access to the infrastructure controlled by MTA’s Bridges and Tunnels division.
The Authority is also looking for written public comment on the project’s website.
The MTA is required by law to come up with the plan under legislation signed by Governor Kathy Hochul in late December, and one of the bill’s sponsors said it was time for the region’s main transportation agency to meet the growing demand for travel that isn’t dependent on cars.
“Expanding access for cyclists and pedestrians on MTA bridges, stations, buses, and trains will help us meet the growing demand of New Yorkers who are choosing sustainable forms of transportation,” said Bronx state Senator Alessandra Biaggi.
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Biking to work on Queens Boulevard
It was bike to work day Friday so I thought I would see if other riders would be making the trek on the longest bike lane in Queens. Considering how perfect the weather was, very little decided to participate. Which is how it is every day on this route.
Sunday, April 24, 2022
Mayor Adams is going to spend 900 million dollars to make life difficult for drivers
Mayor Adams on Saturday said he aims to give New York City’s streets a $904 million makeover over the next five years — adding hundreds of miles of bike and bus lanes as well as revamped pedestrian spaces.
The budget target makes good on legislation passed by the City Council in 2019 that mandated a “streets master plan” for the five boroughs. The plan requires the city Department of Transportation build 250 new miles of protected bike lanes and 150 miles of new bus lanes by the end of 2026.
“This is a historic investment,” Adams said during a news conference on his proposal. “We must do our part, and that is to ensure that the pathways are safe where people can feel comfortable and utilize the bike infrastructure we have. We are so far behind international leaders. If you go to other cities and countries across the globe, they are so far ahead of us.”
Adams — who rode a bike from City Hall to the press conference in downtown Brooklyn —didn’t lay out specific plans for the bus and bike lanes’ makeover, or new pedestrian this year.
The proposed $904 million investment over five years must be worked out with the City Council as part of the city’s budget that’s due at the end of June. The amount is roughly in line with the $1.7 billion the Council in 2019 estimated the street redesigns would cost over a 10-year period, officials said.
But the proposal is well short about $2.2 billion short of the $3.1 billion Council members proposed earlier this year for the city’s streets plan. The Council’s plan goes much further than the benchmarks laid out by the 2019 law, and would add some 500 miles of bike lanes and turn dozens of city streets into pedestrian plazas.
The Daily News, and surely every other news outlet, forgot to mention that this plan was concocted mostly by "public space" and bike zealot lobby groups Transportation Alternatives and Bike New York. Showing once again that the agents of the city are shaping the city for the worse.
Marblemouth Ydanis blatantly admits bike and "open street" lobbies are in control of the 904 million dollar takeover of the streets of New York. If you look at this thread it sure looks like it was written by cult members of @TransAlt and @OpenPlans
— JQ LLC: The Impunity City (@ImpunityCity) April 23, 2022
This is not going to end well https://t.co/WYInopzfrj pic.twitter.com/CeDoZqv5hb
Saturday, March 19, 2022
The DOT's street infrastructure negligence and useless bike lane chronicles
All pictures and posts were provided by Northwest Queens resident Dorothy Moorhead. Great job exposing the Transportation Alternatives influenced kakistrocacy that has taken over the D.O.T. - JQ LLC
This
is where the westbound Queens Boulevard bike lane ends. How is this
safe? If it weren’t for the fact that very few bikers use the bike
lane—in a full week I saw a total of 11—there would be many accidents. (Admin note: This part of the road has always been damaged, and it's funny how TA never brought up this hazardous lane merge with vehicular traffic and also how the bike lane ends in Sunnyside. Utter proof of the lack of interest from the bike scientology cult and of actual bike commuting seen on Queens Blvd. Which I have seen myself for nearly 3 decades)
It would be nice—not to mention safer—if DOT paid more attention to faded street signs and potholed streets than it does to bike lanes. Since Transportation Alternatives started running the DOT, it seems like every issue other than expanding bike lanes has taken a low priority.
Here’s another DOT fail. Years ago alternate side parking restrictions were changed. Instead of two days a week, they are now one day in most parts of the city. In Astoria the DOT has yet to change the signs. I guess they need the money for the bike lanes that seem to have unlimited resources. (The second day on the signs are the street cleaning days.) If the DOT can’t afford new signs, they could at least cover the incorrect information.
DOT: Do as I say, not as I do.
Last post today on the DOT and its short-sighted effects on NYC streets. This shows an oil delivery truck in the bike lane where Skillman Avenue has been reduced to a single through lane. The driver had no option other than pull up between the row of parked cars and the bike lane. Had he parked in the through lane for the fifteen or twenty minutes it takes to deliver the oil, he would have backed traffic up past PS11, with horns beeping. At 8:00 am.
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
The Department of Transportation has legalized riding on the sidewalk
A bike zealot discovered this in Astoria when he went to complain to his fellow bike zealots on the twitter about this big rig parked in the two way bike lane. Apparently, Commissioner Ydanis decided it was good idea for cyclists, ebikers and even unlicensed moped riders to endanger bus commuters lives by giving them more convenience and ensuring their commutes don't get briefly disrupted, instead of putting a yield sign here so non-biking people can get on and off the bus safely (or maybe former dopey interim Commissioner Gutman or even that lady before her, who knows how long it's been there.)
Monday, February 28, 2022
D.O.T.'s building bike lane walls
#ScenesOfQueens
— JQ LLC: Impunity Swagger (@ImpunityCity) February 18, 2022
Circus act on bike lane. Kew Gardens pic.twitter.com/EpAdC25rM1
Three protected bike lanes in Queens will be getting safety upgrades as part of an effort to better protect cyclists from cars throughout the city, the Department of Transportation announced Friday.
Bike lanes in Long Island City, Astoria and Forest Hills will be among the first lanes in the city to have their plastic bollards replaced with cement barriers through the initiative. Four Manhattan bike lanes are also scheduled for the first updates.
The three Queens lanes that will be hardened are Crescent Street from Queens Plaza North to Hoyt Avenue North in Long Island City and Astoria; Vernon Boulevard from 46th Avenue to 30th Road in Long Island City and Astoria; and Queens Boulevard from 73rd Street to Yellowstone Boulevard in Forest Hills.
The three Queens and four Manhattan protected bike lanes are the first lanes in the program. The DOT plans to harden a total 20 miles of the 40 existing miles of delineator-protected bike lanes in the city by the end of 2023. Existing plastic bollards currently separating bike lanes from car lanes will be removed and replaced with cement Jersey barriers that weigh several tons.
“New York City’s cyclists deserve to be safe everywhere, but especially in protected lanes – where drivers will too often disrespect and block that critical space,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement. “We have an actionable, concrete plan to protect cyclists and we are going to deliver on this work to keep our lanes clear.”
Wednesday, February 23, 2022
D.O.T. commissioner plans to solve accidents on Cooper Ave with bike lanes after double hit and run
After a gruesome video showed a pedestrian being struck and run over by two cars, local elected officials and community activists gathered at that street corner in Glendale to call for better safety measures on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
On the corner of Cypress Avenue and Cooper Avenue Saturday, Feb. 12, at around 6:30 p.m., disturbing footage captured a 57-year-old man being struck by one car and falling to the ground as another car slowly runs him over. Last Monday, the video was uploaded to Twitter and has already gotten over 625,000 views.
The man was found in the street in a pool of blood when he was transported to Jamaica Hospital; he is alive. According to police, a 40-year-old male initially struck the pedestrian while making a left turn from Cooper Avenue. The only action taken thus far has been a failure to yield issued to the driver of the first vehicle.
Council member Robert Holden, who called the press conference Tuesday, said that the most dangerous aspect of his community is crosswalks.
“That’s the most danger to life and limb in this precinct,” Holden said. “This is an area that needs attention. You don’t have to be here that long to realize this is a problem corner. There’s lawlessness that we need to correct, coupled with NYPD enforcement. It’s so important to get the necessary safety improvements right here and the rest of New York.”
Sunday, January 9, 2022
Some bike lanes approved in Bayside
Community Board 11 unanimously voted to approve its Transportation Committee’s recommendation for 11 new bike lanes in the area.
Residents’ support for the committee’s recommended plan was also readily apparent; all of those who took part in public participation spoke overwhelmingly positively of it.
The recommendation comes after a months-long, immensely detailed process; according to Victor Dadras, first vice chair of the board and chair of the Transportation Committee, the committee worked with the Department of Transportation at length in addition to conducting its own research.
Bike lanes have long been a contentious issue in Queens, often regarding single streets. To have not only passed a recommendation of this size, but to have done so unanimously, then, is quite a feat — for bike supporters and board members alike.
“See? We can conquer anything,” said Christine Haider, the board’s second vice chair.
But in Dadras’ view, the debate should never be so complicated. “To me, it’s not about us versus them, bikes versus cars,” he told the Chronicle. “It’s about safety and equity — reimagining our streets as public spaces that everyone can share safely.”
The lanes approved by the board are predominately in the western part of the district, most of which the committee said should be protected ones. That is a departure from the DOT’s proposal, which has called for many class one and two lanes; both of those put cyclists between drivers and parked cars, whereas some other types offer more protection.
Perhaps the most significant addition is the committee’s approval of a protected bike lane with floating parking on Utopia Parkway across the full length of Community District 11. Previously, the DOT had recommended it span 47th Avenue between Utopia Parkway and 188th Street and southbound on 188th Street to the Horace Harding Expressway.
Many bikers are opposed to class two and three lanes, the former of which use sharrows, markings that indicate that bikers and drivers are required to share the road. The fact that this plan calls for many protected lanes, then, has been applauded.
“This unanimous vote shows the broad, popular support for protected bike lanes throughout Queens,” said Laura Shepard, Queens organizer for Transportation Alternatives and a Bayside native. “As the bike boom continues, more New Yorkers are biking for transportation and people of all ages are discovering the joy of riding through our parks and on our greenways.”
It’s no secret that the Transportation Committee went to unprecedented lengths to make it happen. Not only was a new infrastructure subcommittee formed, but CB 11 staff conducted their own study. District Manager Joe Marziliano and staffer Christina Coutinho drove along all of the routes DOT proposed, took pictures and measured the distance to the curb. From there, Bernard Haber, who chaired the Transportation Committee for many years and specializes in transportation engineering, looked at those measurements on city maps in order to advise the subcommittee.
“We’ve seen here what good committee work can do,” Board Chair Michael Budabin said in reference to the panel’s recommendation.
There were three routes proposed by the DOT, however, that the board did not recommend, per the committee’s safety concerns.
Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Mayor-elect Adams hires Ydanis Rodriguez to run D.O.T.
New York City will replace half of its plastic-protected bike lanes with “sturdier” barriers during the first 100 days of the incoming Adams administration, soon-to-be Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced Tuesday, Dec. 21.
The move would mean reworking hundreds of miles of protected green paths across the Five Boroughs that currently separate car from bike traffic with frail one-foot sticks known as flex posts.
“We are going to commit to replacing 50% of all plastic protected bike lanes with sturdier and more permanent structures within the first 100 days,” said Rodriguez at a joint press conference with Mayor-elect Eric Adams officially announcing his appointment.
The uptown councilman wouldn’t say where he planned to put the stronger barriers or with what he wants to replace the plastic flappers, but said that federal dollars from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure package could help fund the scheme.
“Day one, we’re gonna be going to the agency and listening from the experts that we have there, people that have decades of experience, and we’ll be looking at where in the city should we get started,” Rodriguez said. “What we know is that there’s now funding at the federal level that is part of the infrastructure plan.”
Adams on Monday tapped Rodriguez — who chairs the Council’s Transportation Committee — to head DOT and replace Commissioner Hank Gutman come Jan. 1.
The city had 546 miles of protected bike lanes as of 2020 and the agency planned to add another 30 miles in 2021, but it is unclear how many of the roughly 576 miles are bordered by flex posts.
DOT’s definition of “protected” covers a wide range of ways cyclists are separated from car traffic, including completely detached paths on bridges or raised sidewalks, or lanes level with the rest of the road but shielded by concrete jersey barriers, flex posts, or a row of parked cars.
The plastic posts are easy to drive over for motorists and block the lanes, and cycling advocates have long called on the city to use more hard materials like concrete to keep pedalers safe, but DOT has continued to add them to new projects, such as Queens Boulevard.
Thursday, November 4, 2021
Department of Transportation continues to frustrate residents with spiteful street redesigns and open streets policy
Apparently, the same kids @34_ave were exploiting for their open street propaganda videos are suddenly forgotten now that the weather is colder.
— This is JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) November 3, 2021
Tear down these gates Gutman @NYC_DOT. https://t.co/UXZAeBlx8W
