Brooklyn by Bike

This morning on my commute from Brooklyn to Midtown, I photographed a few of my frequently traveled bike lanes. Some of you may know that I was thrilled to see the north side, segregated bike lane (cycle track) on Sand St. completed. This road is regular part of many folks daily route as they head onto the Manhattan bridge. With the new cycle track, cyclists have a safety barrier between them and downtown Brooklyn traffic, fantastic! Click the photos to see more from the Brooklyn by Bike Flickr set.

Celebrate Brooklyn, the summer concert series in Prospect Park is adding a bike valet to their slew of facilities this summer! It’s great to see more and more bike friendly initiatives taking place here in the city. In my head I see bikes taking over the streets of NYC. It’s not totally crazy because I’ve been commuting to work with packs of cyclists, which is fantastic.

The ‘Celebrate Brooklyn Bike Zone‘ will be the largest bike parking initiative at a cultural (non-bike) event in NYC. Bike to the Bandshell and safely park your bicycle at the ‘Celebrate Brooklyn Bike Zone’ located at 11th Street and Prospect Park West. We are partnering with Transportation Alternatives to provide Bike Valet and Self Park & Lock areas to accommodate approximately 400 bikes. [via @Ds3 via Brooklyn Vegan]

In other Park Slope centric news, we might be seeing a new bike lane on Prospect Park West. Considering it often used as a drag racing strip, cyclists have been concerned with the safety of the lane but opponents aren’t too happy with the request for a segregated bike lane.

The 16-4 vote decided that the painted buffer zone the DOT would use to separate the bike lane is insufficient. Speaking to the Brooklyn Paper, board member and bike lane opponent James Bernard said, “This is a crazy idea that doesn’t make any sense. People want to do something good for bikes, but you are robbing Peter to pay Paul — and Peter in this case is safety of the children.” [via Gothamist]

Let’s talk about this issue that has been plaguing the streets of Brooklyn for sometime now…particularly the street of Kent Ave. in Williamsburg. The Hasidic community is complaining that they have nowhere to part their giant minivans because of the new installation. First they threatened to block the streets. Then they put this detour sign up stating ”bus drivers will be blocking the road and the bike lane when picking up and dropping off children.”

All in the name of removing the bike lane. WTF?  Bike lanes make neighborhoods more habitable and safe for communities! Because of all the commotion, the DOT has now replaced the no stopping signs with no standing signs and bike lane advocates continue to insist that this is a much needed growth in New York City. DOT spokesman Scot Gastel spoke to the Gothamist.

The lanes enhance safety in a neighborhood with one of the largest and fastest-growing bicycling populations in the City, and they are a key step in building the Greenway along the Brooklyn waterfront. The project was developed with the support of the community board, and we have worked closely with the community to address their concerns. We will continue to identify locations to increase parking along side streets in the near future.

I know it is hard to acknowledge that regardless of the bike lane, parking will continue to become a problem as population grows in NYC. However the bike lane actually helps move us forward by encouraging alternate methods of transportation. I do sense that there is a bit of a class war going on here between the old guard of the neighborhood and the new hipster gentrifiers and unfortunately – though it’s not so bad in this case – we know who always wins.

[via The Gothamist]