Bicycle Safety

Business Has Nothing to Fear From Bike Lanes

As City Council Member Alan Gerson attempts to codify opposition to livable streets improvements, Lower Manhattan restaurateur Florent Morellet (a.k.a. the "Unofficial Mayor of the Meatpacking District") has filed a refreshing op-ed in The Villager, touting the commercial benefits of cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure.

By Brad Aaron

11:44 AM EST on December 10, 2008

Florent Morellet. Photo: Kevin Cooley/New York Magazine

As City Council Member Alan Gerson attempts to codify opposition to livable streets improvements, Lower Manhattan restaurateur Florent Morellet (a.k.a. the “Unofficial Mayor of the Meatpacking District”) has filed a refreshing op-ed in The Villager, touting the commercial benefits of cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure.

Our excerpt offers a taste, but this myth-busting column deserves a full read.

Regarding loss of business due to loss of vehicular traffic, I have a couple of points to make:
First,
every study seems to show the same very low number of actual customers
driving in and around the city, under 20 percent. The more on-street
parking, the more traffic generated by cars searching for spaces,
reaching close to 40 percent of traffic in Soho on some days.
Second,
the latest loss of business in Little Italy has to be taken with a
grain of salt; there is not one friend of mine who has not seen his
restaurant business drop dramatically as of late. With the greatest
collapse of Wall St. ever, I don’t think it is fair to blame business
loss on the little [Grand Street] bike lane that could.
Furthermore,
my former restaurant — Florent, on Gansevoort St. — did very well when
people could park. It did better when people couldn’t park. And when
traffic came to a standstill because of the nightlife, it was packed.
New
York is not so different from London, Paris and other cities. If you
make it attractive to people — i.e. pedestrians — they will find their
way and come en masse. Businesses will flourish.

Brad Aaron

Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.

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