bike racks placed in parking spots on franklin ave

I have to agree. I'm not understanding why they were put in the street. I'm assuming not enough room on the sidewalk. But they're in place so it is what it is.

It certainly does sound like you have aprobopem with the racks. But your complaints might be more productive if you used lowercase type. Posting in all-caps is the cyber eqwuivalent of screaming - also it's harder to read.

Christ. All those caps hurt my eyes.

OP, there's plenty of parking on Franklin. One car spot provides many bike spots. Get off your fat ass and bike, it might make you less angry.

Great. As I said, there's still plenty of parking for her husband. Perhaps she should ask the DOT for a handicapped space on Franklin, instead of raging against bicyclists.

I don't ride my bike to Franklin because I'm a couple blocks away and just walk there. Too many bike racks on a sidewalk make it hard to walk down the street, especially for a disabled person with a wheelchair. I do usually ride my bike when I need to patronize a business out of the neighborhood, and I'm sure the businesses I go to appreciate my dollars just as much as anyone else's, and you can fit a lot of bikes in the space one car would go in.

Little Zelda made the room for 8 customers to park (or maybe a few more, if any of the bikes have child seats) where there used to be room for one car, with a maximum of 5 people in it, but usually only one or two. Since Brooklyn is a crowded place, that just makes good sense. Even with one tiny parking space converted, something like 40% of the surface area of Franklin Avenue is used for car parking, even when something like 10% of the customers there use cars-- most folks take the subway or the bus or walk, and more folks than ever are biking. Using so much space for parking is more than fair to people driving cars.

The DOT puts them there, at the request of the merchant.

See http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/bike-corral-arrives-on-franklin-avenue

Makes good sense to me, since now a lot more people can use the same space.

THE MERCHANTS OF FRANKLIN REALIZE IT THIS IS WHY THEY HAVE ASKED FOR THE RACKS FOR BICYCLES PERHAPS IT IS THE CYCLISTS WHO ARE RESURRECTING THE NEIGHBORHOOD FROM THE DEAD.

Why are the disabled more important than bicyclists? There's still a thousand parking spots for cars for this one spot for bikes.

Because I am impatient, I have decided that I will give hyperbolic names to the groups before they name themselves:

Group 1: People with Disabilities for World Domination (PWDWD)

Group 2: People with Bikes for World Domination (PWBWD)

what is the connection between access-a-ride and the bike parking? i get the parking spot issue (sort of get it, but disagree with it), but doesn't access-a-ride just double park even when there is an available spot?

i find it strange that the people pushing the petition are claiming not to have been informed. surely this local landlord, whose family has been in area since the 50s, and who seems very politically savvy, is well aware of CB 8 and how it works. i'd venture a guess that she herself has used the process legitimately to her own advantage from time to time. i do have some measure of empathy for long-time residents who feel as if newer residents are coming in and changes are happening around them. but in my experience, the reaction is kind of knee-jerk, in the sense that if "new people" are the perceived impetus for the change, then the change is bad. and also that claiming there was "not enough outreach" is really code for "no one asked my permission."

if there's going to be a counter-petition for supporters of the bike corral, please post a link here! the DOT has been known to bow to political pressure, particularly with respect to bike-related things. when it comes to commercial areas they tend to preference the interests of merchants and customers and their commuting needs over residents, but even so it's important that pols/CB8 understands there are many locals (with names and addresses) who also support it!

I think this is again, another example of DOT pitting bikers and drivers against one another, instead of figuring out solutions that work for both. For example, one of the things DOT is now doing is modifying old parking meters to turn them into bike parking on streets where muni-meters have been installed.

That provides more bike parking than taking away a parking space space (assuming that you can park a maximum of two bikes at each former meter) on the block without having cars or pedestrians give up any space they currently have. Win for everyone!

It seems that DOT would rather created these situation where there are winners (bikes) and losers (cars) rather than trying to find middle of the road solutions (and they do exist) that meet everyone's needs.

Patch wrote: This corall is only the eighth in New York City, and the third in Brooklyn. New York City's first corral arrived at Smith and Sackett streets in August of 2011 and Fifth Avenue got one in front of Gorilla Coffee in April of 2012.

http://prospectheights.patch.com/articles/bike-corral-arrives-on-franklin-avenue

So far, 8 parking spots given up citywide.