Public meeting on the PPW bike lane tonight, Thurs March 10

Sorry...but it is cold and rainy outside.

so, what happened?

So, what's next?

Is there a point at which CB6 gets to give DOT approval to make additional changes to the lane? (i.e. raising the medians, installing little rumble strips, little bike traffic lights and making the other changes)?

....does CB6 have the legal authority to continue implementing the plan while the court is figuring out how to resolve the lawsuit? Or, is everything on hold?

Gothamist and Brownstoner have video:

http://gothamist.com/2011/03/11/video_ppw_bike_lane_community_board.php#photo-1

http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2011/03/ppw_bike_lane_h.php#comments

(do we have a ULURP - real estate lawyer in the house?)

...the meeting seems to have taken place without anyone assaulting anyone else, so clearly it could have been worse than it was.

If the court finds that all of the ULURP rules were followed, and the bike lane supporters win, maybe it will send a message.

Perhaps messages like these:

"Democracy is not a spectator sport"

"If you didn't participate, you can't complain later"

"No one likes a sore loser"

"Be careful who you elect to your community board"

"We have a procedure. The procedure was followed,

and you lost, and we can not help you"

Anyone have a problem with such messages being sent?

The absurdity of their new "compromise" proposal is the most offensive part. In a nutshell: rip out the new bike lane, go back to the old street configuration, and put in class II bike lanes on PPW (south) and 8th ave (north).

FYI - A class II bike lane is two stripes of paint next to parked cars, like 5th avenue south of 1st street.

Ignoring the following issues:

* It's a dooring nightmare - 3 lanes of speeding traffic, and doors that open right into the bike lane.

* Cars double-park in bike lanes *ALL* the time. So you'd be cutting into the center lane to get around illegally double-parked cars.

* There's no room on 8th avenue for a class II lane

* No parent in their right mind would let their grade-school-age child ride in a class II lane on PPW with the traffic conditions that used to exist.

And finally, cost. DOT said in January it cost approximately $350,000 to install the lane, but it would cost 3x that to remove it (thermoplast getting scraped off the asphalt).

So NBBL wants DOT to spend $1M to remove a wonderful bike lane that the neighborhood loves, and then spend another several hundred thousand to cram two dangerous lanes into their place, lanes that would be much more dangerous and see much less use.

Not a workable solution at all.

whynot_31 said:

"If you didn't participate, you can't complain later"

My 8th grade teacher used to say this all the time, but the fact is even if you don't participate, you CAN still complain. And people do. No one keeps score or track of people who complain, and voting is anonymous.

I was out in the rain and still didn't go. Why get all worked up for nothing? Organized griping doesn't have an effect on a court case.

And let's not forget, even if they remove ALL bike lanes from the city, cyclists will still - as they always have - have the right to cycle in the streets. Matter of fact, it's really the only place we're allowed to ride.

So if they take away the PPW - we'll just get a critical mass of riders to ride on PPW. That's the only way to slow the reckless speeders.

I still don't understand why they would bother to even act like they are listening to the debate. I thought we had a clear winner and loser. I think people are unnecessarily worried about this. Anyone can sue anyone for anything.

When you go to court to file litigation against someone, there's no criteria for what you can sue someone for. I can sue you for looking at me cross-eyed, and no one's going to tell me that I can't do that. They'll just take the form, and the fee, and thank me.

What happens when it gets before a judge is another story. And judges and juries should not be influenced by the public or the media. They're not allowed to take into consideration how many people are protesting this lawsuit.

So that's why I figure it's best to just sit and wait. No sense in getting worked up over something that I can't control and that likely won't happen.

Part of the goal of the people suing, including Schumer's wife and previous head of DOT, Iris Weinshall, is to simply make Janette Sadik-Khan's life miserable, and make her job much more difficult to do.

And in that regard they are, unfortunately, probably pretty successful.

This is as much about politics and rivalry betwen Weinshall/Schumer and Sadik-Kahn as it is about anything else.

As I've said, this is a wealthy few who do not like people imposing agendas different from what their privileged little world demands.

People resent change and perceive this as an attack on their lifestyle (read: unlimited use of personal cars and right to free street parking).

People get defensive. It's understandable.

What's not acceptable is looking at the data, looking at people (their neighbors) who may not lead the same lives they do, and not thinking about the bigger picture.

Booklaw, fear not: the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) and AARP is on your side.

All surfaces will be required to completely flat to be wheelchair accessible, every wall is to have a handrail, and all food available as a paste.

You'll also have the right to medical procedures, no matter how expensive the cost and how small the benefit.

...afterall, we can't exclude anyone, or not accommodate them. That would be discrimination.

I'm tricking Booklaw into going to Florida or into a nursing home, by telling him/her that Matlock is on 24 hours a day there.

...afterall, I'll never be old.

(not really)

booklaw you only see part of the problem. Seniors need places that are affordable to live, they also need access to shopping and health care. Car unfriendly will allow the walker/wheelchair gang to shuffle or roll over to the grocery or doctor without having medicaid pay 34-70 dollars for an ambulette. The outdoor activity/exercise is good for elderly. It is good for NY kids to see people with grey hair out getting food or a beer or enjoying the park. I ma sure when you were a child even if the population was the same, the number of people who owned cars,trucks, suv's was less than half. Millions of dollars are spent every year getting seniors to and from the doctor, meals on wheels, home assistance all because the services are spread out to cater to the automobile culture. Brooklyn like other boroughs had a long tradition of shopping locally for everything. Butcher, baker, doctor and cop everything came from the neighborhood. We are all lucky enough that Brooklyn has cracks that can be filled with retailers that we can walk and ride to on a bike. No matter what happens, rip it out or leave it alone. The bike path has brought up the real issue, courtesy and civility. If drivers were nicer to pedestrians and cyclists were nicer to drivers and on and on we would not be talking about this. If we learn anything from all these old people it's how much they didn't drive

....this persists despite us being more civil than ever before.

i.e. Crime is at its lowest rate in a bunch of years.