Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In

Dear Steve Cuozzo --

CK___DK_tandem_Bklyn___24_Dec_2005.jpgAuthor and son in 2005

I was ready to ignore your rant yesterday,
IDIOTIC DOT TAKES A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE,
as another in The Post's reflexive (if well-written) screeds against any incursion into
NYC car-dominance, when I came across this
line:

"The madness just came to Grand Street as well, where
a dangerous bike lane is shunned by any sane cyclist."

I take that personally, seeing as how just
last Sunday, my teenage son and I used the
Grand Street bike lane to ride from Hudson
Square to the East Village.

The lane was great. The green paint, the arrows
that mark the lane at intersections, and the strategic
placement of the lane between the curb and the
line of parked cars, evidently made it clear to
our fellow New Yorkers that this was indeed a
bicycle lane. For the entire distance, a good 3/4
of a mile, we only had to maneuver around one
parked car and a handful of pedestrians.

Otherwise, it was smooth sailing, and a lot
safer and more relaxing than the usual Sunday
traffic mix. For me, it's no big deal, I'm an
adult and have been cycling daily here for 35
years. But for my 14-year-old, who's still learning
what it takes to maintain his legal right to
the road in the face of swarms of cars and
trucks, many of them operated heedlessly,
the lane made a big difference.

I know the Post pays you to ridicule anything
that deviates an inch from the USA-SUV norm;
but how you can call the Grand Street bike lane
dangerous is beyond me.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention where we were
biking that day: to a movie house on East
Houston Street to see "Man on Wire," the
documentary film about Philippe Petit's 1974
wire-walk between the Twin Towers. The film is
a testament to the human spirit and imagination --
the same spirit, I would say, that animates me
as a cyclist, and the same imagination that is,
finally, guiding the new DOT to create a bit of
safe space for non-motorized vehicular travel in
New York City.

Best,

Charles Komanoff
(father of two, a New Yorker since 1968)

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Larry Penner, Federal Transit Official and Letter Writer, is Dead

The former federal transit official, who had a second career as one of the most prolific writers of letters to the editors of scores of area newspapers, died on Thursday.

January 17, 2025

BLUNDER ROAD: Garden State has Spent $1M in Failed Bid to Block Congestion Pricing

Jersey pols have spent big and talked big on their anti-congestion pricing efforts as their own transit agency has fallen into disrepair.

January 17, 2025

Congestion Pricing Gets Kids To School On Time, Data Shows

Data shared with Streetsblog shows school buses traveling faster and being late less since congestion pricing began.

January 17, 2025

Friday’s Headlines: Fun in the Sun Edition

The mayor is going down to Mar-a-Lago to meet with President-elect Trump, eh? Plus other news.

January 17, 2025

Mayor Adams Proposes $4M Per Year to ‘Harden’ Dangerous Intersections

"We are ... keeping New Yorkers safe on our streets ... by improving road safety at hundreds of targeted traffic intersections," Adams said on Thursday.

January 17, 2025
See all posts