This is the Pedestrian Refuge Area That CB8 Refused to Protect

10:51 AM EST on December 3, 2007

This scene was photographed by Flickr photographer BicyclesOnly on Saturday. Read his note below. Hopefully someone will ask members of Manhattan Community Board 8's transportation committee if this sort of car crash meets their rigorous aesthetic standards. Last January, CB8 rejected a proposal to physically protect Park Avenue's pedestrian refuge areas because they didn't think bollards, barriers or planters could be made to look pretty enough. Streetsblog readers will also remember CB8's transportation committee as the group that tried to kill DOT's crosstown bike route plan for the Upper East Side last summer. It looks like CB8 is still trying to kill it. The 91st Street bike lane is on the agenda of their December 10 meeting:

This guy was driving too fast in the snow and apparently drove right uponto the Park Avenue Mall at 78th St. I didn't see the collision, butthere were two ambulances there and the driver was fine, so he may havehit one or more pedestrians standing on the mall.
Ironically, onJanuary 3, 2007 the Transportation Committee of Community Board 8rejected a proposal to erect bollards on the Park Avenue Malls toprotect pedestrians against this threat. The Community Board wasconcerned that the bollards might detract aesthetically from ParkAvenue.
The driver (pictured) tried to prevent me from taking these photos, buthe found that I'm not easily intimidated. I checked out his plates andfound that this isn't the only illegal thing he's done with his limolately:

10 VG43 7323821939 08/24/2007 NO STANDING-EXEC. TRUCK LOADING 105.00
11 VG43 7839654850 Hearing Pending 10/26/2007 NO STANDING-DAY/TIME LIMITS 115.00
12 VG46 7326909738 Hearing Pending 10/23/2007 NO STANDING-EXEC. TRUCK LOADING 95.00

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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