NOTE: All timestamps are in the future because WE are in the future. The care takers of Midnight Ridazz.com reserves the right to remove, edit, move or delete anything for any reason. None of the opinions expressed on these boards represent the Midnight Ridazz nor can anyone purport to speak on behalf of Midnight Ridazz.
This may sound ridiculous and it kind of is... but our brothers and sisters in NY are fighting against an anti-bikelane coalition in Brooklyn who are trying to build enough support to remove a bike lane that was recently installed on a stretch of road known as prospect park west. Some haters hate it and are actively trying to get it removed. I happen to be on the facebook group and recieve their rants from time to time. I do enjoy these kinds of things.... something about knowing your enemy..... anyways...
Apparently they've put up this survey to get public opinion about the bike lanes. Yes, I have nothing better to do then fill it out with a FAVOR-ABLE review and now I'm putting it out there for anyone else that is as passionate about bike infrastructure - wherever it is...
you will get to a step that asks where you work and live by zip code. I chose a NY zip code of an area to the south of the bike lane in question and another NY zip code in manhattan to the north.....
here is a map link of exactly where this bike lane is:
am I jerk for wanting to skew the survey results towards bicyclists and help out bike riders in New York? maybe.
do I care? no.
should you do this too? yes.
I applaud what you are doing, but gaming surveys works both ways. Just remember when it is cars vs bikes (which it seems always is) they have the critical mass to game any survey or petition. There are more of them then us.
they sure do, and based on the conversations and postings on the Anti Bike lane FB page they are not going to do anything to help the bike side of the case.... They even closed the group off because of some subversives getting in there and posting pro-bike comments. I got in under the radar apparently because I'm getting messages from the point person.
we all live east of prospect park if you think about it.... and we all work west of prospect park... if you travel around the world to get to work that is.... which is possible... but not probable but still possible....
I'm in new york right now, son! brooklyn critical mass was last friday. there was a total of like 15-20 people. we rode through prospect park. the orthodox jews in williamsburg (in bk) had the bike lanes removed because seeing girls ride by in anything other than a long skirt is a sin or some shit. crazy, right? bikes get no respect out here. a cop car followed us the entire time. they weren't looking out for us, they were looking for excuses to fuck with us. bikes are looked at as a nuisance. and there are way too many freewheel single speeds. shout out to jo and the times-up.org crew who are doing their best to create a significant bike scene out here.
The anti-bike lane coalition is pressing their group hard to fill out the survey. Let's continue to help our brothers and sisters..... Use brooklyn zip codes yo!
yeah, I just clicked on some business in the area and used the zip...
also helps to write supportive comments in the text fields.... "the new bike lane made my commute much safer" "I live in the neighborhood and the bike lanes have reduced the speeders" etc etc..
Roadblock responding to a comment by graciela
10.18.10 - 2:26 pm
Honestly, fuck that bike lane. Not worth fighting for. Because it's right up against the park, it's constantly full of peds crossing it to get into the park. Of course, that would be true with or without a bike lane, but the bike lane just creates a false sense of security for cyclists.
The only positive thing I can say about that lane is that it, like so many BLs in New York, gives cyclists a way to legally go both directions in a city that is infested with one-way streets. But so what? If I were a Brooklyn cyclist, I would just be inclined to go along with the residents' other petition to turn Prospect Park West into a two-way street, which would enable me legally to ride my bike in the street like an adult (imagine that!) in either direction.
meh, riding like an "adult" in the street is a car driver's fallacy.... the two types of travel modes can only really be safely mixed on low speed streets.... otherwise plenty of "adults" ride cycle paths across northern european nations every day safely and "blow away" the death rate of any big city in the US.
Bike Lanes promote more people to want to ride on them.
I'm sure that will be a great comfort when somebody is "promoted to want to ride" right into the path of a turning garbage truck by one of these godawful deathtrap bike lanes that are being installed in New York.
I used the the zipcode 11212, which is Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. Fuck all these FB pages that just congregate a bunch of self entitled car drivers who somehow make enough money to afford a freakin car in NYC.
why? If one sees a "working model" of success, shouldn't it be "replicated" elsewhere where "feasible"? Indeed, the Dutch settled and built much of Brooklyn.... it has a similar "topography" and "civic layout"....
godawful deathtrap bike lanes that are being installed in New York
...hey, but don't take my word for it. Take the word of an attractive young Caucasian woman who actually wants to like the bike lanes!
Please watch the whole thing. Note that this is about the 1st Av bike lane in Manhattan. I just got back from NYC a few weeks ago, and Kakihara and I happened to ride up 1st Av one afternoon...I lasted about three blocks in that bike lane before I got the fucking FUCK out of that piece of shit and took one of the regular lanes instead, where I felt much safer despite the whizzing cars and cabs. The only thing I don't get about this film is why she only picks on the 1st Av lane; all the bike lanes on those crosstown streets in lower Manhattan are just as useless and dangerous.
why? If one sees a "working model" of success, shouldn't it be "replicated" elsewhere where "feasible"? Indeed, the Dutch settled and built much of Brooklyn.... it has a similar "topography" and "civic layout"....
The Dutch didn't have garbage trucks or cabs when they were settling Brooklyn.
But back to the other thing...am I really the only person here who rolls his eyes every time somebody makes a swooning reference to something they read on Copenhagenize? How many millions of dollars do you people really want to spend trying to pretend that a street use paradigm appropriate for small dense cities with narrow streets is going to somehow, magically, through the power of good intentions and cute pixie bike bells, be more than marginally useful in sprawling Los Angeles or megalopolis Manhattan?
This fantasy is not worth a single dollar or a single life--and I guarantee you, sooner or later, somebody is going to lose his or her life trying to ride in one of those awful bike lanes in Manhattan* so that certain activists can pat themselves on the back for embracing a "European" and thus (in their minds) self-evidently virtuous transportation alternative.
*Note that I'm not talking about the Prospect Park West bike lane in Brooklyn here; that one is merely silly rather than outright deadly.
PC responding to a comment by Roadblock
10.18.10 - 3:24 pm
the key to all of this is that bike lanes won't work until there is a complete network of bike lanes and they have to be designed "well" enough so that a "critical mass" of commuting people use the "well designed" bike lanes that actually take people where they want to go thus inducing respect from other road users. If enough people are using the lanes it is not possible for someone to block them or left and right hook them.
it's a chicken and egg scenario that is going to take some "gumption" to actually complete... you have to start somewhere. fortunately for the people of northern europe that battle took place decades ago before automotive traffic completely took over as it did in the US. They did it though, if you have ever ridden the Netherlands you will understand just how amazing bike lanes can be when they are respected by motorists and designed well by the city.
during our NY Ridazz trip, PC I found that it's true, some of the few bike lanes that existed at the time felt dangerous and were not respected by drivers. I ended up doing much better riding middle of the streets bike lanes or not to avoid left and right hooks. No NY driver gave a damn if I was there or not... that's a culture change that will take time to change... a lot of effin time in NYC... but it's only going to get started with bike lanes going down and welcoming new riders coupled with an educational piece for both riders and drivers.
but the Dutch have garbage trucks and cabs now and yet when I road across that country I never ever ever felt threatened by either... and if you lay down the country of the Netherlands on top of Los Angeles you get the same kind of sprawl and density clusters... sure LA doesnt have the farmlands in between town centers, Sure the towns and cities have small streets but the suburban and rural areas have the same kind of wide roadways - coupled with bike highways that one can imagine in Los Angeles. You have to imagine what success looks like to achieve it. it can be done.
Fine it's done...i feel kinda dirty now...gonna shower....
Aaaoooghhh the guilt won't wash off!
Is someone knocking?? I hope it isn't Krumer!
It was peer pressure you honor!!!
BICYCLE LANES
Bicyclists are subject to many of the same rules of the road as are motorists. An exception to this rule exists when a person is traveling within a designated bicycle lane.
CVC 21208 states: " (a) Whenever a bicycle lane has been established on a roadway pursuant to Section 21207, any person operating a bicycle upon the roadway at a speed less than the normal speed of traffic moving in the same direction at that time shall ride within the bicycle lane, except that the person may move out of the lane under any of the following situations:
(1) When overtaking and passing another bicycle, vehicle, or pedestrian within the lane or about to enter the lane if the overtaking and passing cannot be done safely within the lane.
(2) When preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
(3) When reasonably necessary to leave the bicycle lane to avoid debris or other hazardous conditions.
(4) When approaching a place where a right turn is authorized.
This law also mentions that no person operating a bicycle in a bicycle lane may exit the lane unless the movement can be made with reasonable safety.
why would you want to be boxed into such a small amount of (dangerous) space, with it's own set of rules, when you can just use the already existing space (which is wider)?
Bike lanes suck.
md2 responding to a comment by Joe Borfo
10.19.10 - 7:45 am
“Be the fish in the coral.” The city is like a reef, he said, and the cyclist has to navigate through the “schools” of pedestrians and the occasional shark — a tractor trailer. For everyone on the street — pedestrians and drivers as well as cyclists — “all the paint on the road, the crosswalks, the lanes are merely suggestions in New York City,”
--Dave Jordan cycling coach for "premium rush" messenger movie [via NYT]
Foldie responding to a comment by Joe Borfo
10.19.10 - 10:05 am
I don't live in Park Slope, but I do pass through this corridor on a regular basis, and unlike the other protected bike lanes in Manhattan it seems to operate fairly smoothly. I also have yet to witness the increased motor vehicle traffic its opponents always seem to reference. Really, the main problem seems to be that people are simply unable to wrap their heads around the wild concept of a lane that is just for bikes:
"The bikes are a hazard because we can't cross. We forget that there are bike lanes. We go to cross to get over to the other side and we say, 'Oh my God.' You have look both ways," said one Park Slope resident.
Somebody's inability to remember something or to swivel his or her thick head in more than one direction should not be a factor in city planning. If you forget there are car lanes and walk right into them should we tear up the streets? If you forget you need a bridge to cross over water and walk right into the East River and drown should we then pave over the river? Where does tip-toeing around people's stupidity and obstinacy end? The entire length of the sidewalk is already full of signs and painted messages and flashing lights warning cyclists and pedestrians to look out for each other. Maybe Park Slopers--pedestrians and cyclists alike--just need shock collars like disobedient dogs.
Yes, for all their smugness the truth is that cyclists are just as clueless as pedestrians (all of us being both cyclists and pedestrians at one time or another). Sadly, though, we can't really afford to be, since we're now under more scrutiny than everybody else--as every grade student knows, once you get pegged as a "bad" kid you can do no right. I'm bracing myself for the day when the city gives up on "bike friendliness" and yanks all those bike lanes right out from under us. I suspect that when this happens the "bike culture" will be secretly pleased, since it will cement their "outlaw" status. Plus, riding in a bike lane without making a fashion or political statement is boring, whereas riding in Critical Mass is not only cool but also highly lucrative. As for me, I've already got one Sidi unclipped, and I'm one more steep run-up away from dismounting completely and "portaging" my Ironic Orange Julius Bike right out of this burg and leaving it to the investment bankers, the hipsters, and the footmen who serve them.
Unfortunately, no pedestrian wants to hear that they should look both ways before crossing the street, and no cyclist wants to hear that they should look out for pedestrians--even the stupid ones who don't look both ways before crossing the street. Similarly, no fixed-gear freestyler wants to be told that they should "get a BMX." This is the most offensive thing you can say to a fixed-gear freestyler, and even though they're moving to smaller diameter wheels and using axle pegs now, when it comes to doing tricks on bikes they prefer to maintain the delusion that they're creating something from scratch. Consequently, in the fixed-gear world the whole BMX thing is sort of the "elephant in the room"--and quite an agile elephant it is too, for another reader recently forwarded me this impressive video:
Foldie responding to a comment by Roadblock
10.20.10 - 11:31 am
I think snob as a everyday cyclist is all for lanes etc, but in his day job he makes fun of cycling "culture". but all in all I think he is for cyclists and their space.
Foldie responding to a comment by Roadblock
10.20.10 - 11:53 am
-->
Ridazz Roulette!
