The Harbor Ring

Check out the Harbor Ring at harborring.org or on facebook and be sure to sign the petition for bicycle access across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

The Crowe Effect

An article from this past week in the New York Times, "Anxiety Over the Future of Bike Lanes," raises questions about the long-term lifespan of bicycle lanes in NYC - will they survive past the Bloomberg administration?

At BRBR, we believe bicycle lanes will remain.  They have become a core definition of experience and opportunity, providing a new means for people to move through, use and access all of NYC.  Bicycle lanes have embedded themselves into the culture of this town.  The date they fully took hold can be pinpointed: October 23, 2012.  On that morning, paparazzi photographer J.B. Nichols chased actor Russell Crowe through the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn, on bicycles.

When has an A-list, Oscar-wining actor and personality ever before considered a bicycle as primary transit through the streets NYC? Crowe's bodyguard was also on a bicycle and they both were followed by a total of 6 bicycle riding photographers.  Imagine how this scene would have appeared!  Instead of photographers climbing over each other along the edge red carpet, they were maintaining pedaling cadence and scrambling past Crowe and his bodyguard along green-painted and bicycle-icon marked lanes of the street.

It has required many years of effort to develop the current on and off street bicycle network in NYC and the number of bicycle riders has steadily increased every year over the past 10+ years.  Motorists have also slowly grown accustomed to sharing the streets, whether or not a bicycle lane is in place.  Potential riders see other bicyclists and marked designation for places to ride.  The lanes create the possibility for people attempting their first rides throughout NYC.  The first trip is probably local in the neighborhood.  With some confidence and experience, another bicycle journey is to work or school.  The extent of the bicycle network allows a sense of empowerment to take hold, an a person can ride even farther or more regularly, making the bike a part of their personal transit system.  Soon, anything is possible... even actors on bicycles being chased by paparazzi on bicycles!

October 23, 2012 should be remembered as an important day in NYC bicycling!  Read the full account of this milestone in the Daily News.

 

Bicycle Lane Update

Good news for bicycle lanes lanes in Bay Ridge.  On September 24th, the full board of Community Board 10 voted to send a list of recommended streets to DOT for bicycle lanes.  The streets include:

Sixth Avenue
68th Street from Sixth Avenue to Shore Road
72nd Street from Shore Road to Sixth Avenue
Marine Avenue
11th Avenue

Read more about it on StreetsBlog, Courier Life's Brooklyn Daily and  Bay Ridge Odyssey.

Verrazano Bike & Pedestrian Lane

Kudos to Brooklyn Community Board 10 member Bob Hudak for recommending that the DOT consider installing a bicycle and pedestrian path across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, in combination with the planned road deck and approach improvements.  Unfortunately, the reply was "no."  Read the Eagle's article here.

The bridge is designed to accommodate the pathway but the installation was nixed by Robert Moses during construction for concerns about budgets and potential suicide jumpers.  (Suicide?  We suppose that when you are caught between bell bottoms and the Bronx burning some 35 to 50 years ago, plus the President is telling your town to drop dead, ending it all might have seemed like a viable option.)

A study done in 1997 to consider a retrofit to add the path as intended.  It is a through document and was years ahead of its time in comparison to the current pro-cycling attitudes and initiatives of NYC.  One of the study's deputy directors, Regina Myer, is now director of Brooklyn Bridge Park, a place that is becoming a significant connector along Brooklyn's waterfront. It also has a bike and pedestrian path along its edge.  That park and path also has tremendous community and city support.

But in Bay Ridge, it's a different story.  Our community will not give a 5' wide painted stripe on the road for bicyclists.  And in Staten Island, bicycle lanes have been removed along Father Capodanno Boulevard.  Staten Island has also been frequently noted as the least friendly bicycling borough.

Mr Hudak also asked if MTA buses could be equipped with bicycle racks to provide some basic means to cross the Verrazano with a bicycle.  If other cities can do it, NYC should have the capacity, too, right?  BRBR's online survey indicates that 88% of respondents would want to cross the bridge on a bicycle path and 53% would load their bicycles on a bus rack.




Currently, there is a total of zero bicycle racks on buses in NYC.  Maybe the S53, S93 and S79 can be the first?  BRBR suspects that an initiative for racks on buses would have to come from a higher city agency or the Mayor's office, rather than starting solely with the local representatives.  Lack of a bicycle and pedestrian connection across the Verrazano Narrows is one of the most obvious missing links in the expanding NYC network.

...Survey Says!....

A recent survey by the New York Times reveals that 66% of New Yorkers think bicycle lanes are a good idea!

Vintage Bicycles in Gerritsen Beach

For Bike-Buyer on a Budget, the Destination is Gerritsen Beach

Here's an article sent to us by State Senate candidate Andrew Gounardes, after he read BRBR's prior blog posting about his viewpoint on bicycling.

"The city’s bike riders are increasingly making the trek to the unlikely bike haven of Gerritsen Beach, a residential South Brooklyn neighborhood lined with small cottage-like houses along the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, where the Ferrarins’ Sheepshead Bay Bicycles, and Whitley’s Brooklyn Vintage Bicycles are located."

Read the full article here.

Gounardes Like Bikes!

 

 

Here's a story from the Brooklyn Paper - Gounardes: I Like Bikes

State Senate candidate Andrew Gounardes wants to see more bicycles in Bay Ridge — setting the wheels in motion for a showdown with Republican state Sen. Marty Golden, who opposes bike travel on major thoroughfares.

Read more here.