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

Council Members Surprised to Hear CBs Approved Bike Lanes

2:31 PM EST on December 11, 2008

With news swirling about possible cuts to New York's bike network build-out and City Council oversight of street re-designs, we'd be remiss not to pass along this anecdote from the Bikes in Buildings hearing earlier this week. After DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan wrapped up her testimony to council members, she was peppered with questions about how her department goes about installing bike lanes, TA's Wiley Norvell told us:

[There was] a pretty vigorous discussion of the overview process of bike lanes being put in. Many council members were proceeding under the assumption that bike lanes were being installed without community input. Rather pointedly, Commissioner Sadik-Khan explained that some of the more contested lanes that had been put in had all passed through the Community Board process with overwhelming approval.

I think it surprised these members to hear that these vocal voices among their constituents were in fact not the majority voices within their own communities. I think we'll probably be hearing more on that in the next year, as more lanes are put in and existing ones are digested.

I think it’s the first time the DOT's been able to come to City Hall and say, pointedly and honestly, that they have done extensive community outreach. I think, probably more than any other agency, and even within the DOT probably more than any other issue, they've done their homework with respect to the communities that they've installed bike lanes in. It was gratifying to see them able to defend the work they’ve done effectively.

The city's installed 150 miles of bike lanes in the last two years. Of those 150 miles, maybe two miles have been contentious. And even in those cases, they've been installed with community board approval.

We've seen DOT garner community board support many times over for measures like protected bike lanes and on-street parking reform experiments. Meanwhile, saber-rattling CBs have apparently stymied progress on a car-free Prospect Park proposal backed by more than 10,000 signatures, and Brooklyn pols are bowing to pressure (from outside the local CB) to significantly roll back a bike lane that DOT presented multiple times to CB1. Remind me again, who's doing the steamrolling here?

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Wednesday’s Headlines: Concerted Effort Edition

The Great Lawn will be closed to the public six weeks earlier than normal because of those damn rockers. Plus other news.

October 4, 2023

Broadway Vision: Watch 15 Years of Transformation in a Single Streetfilm

It's hard to see the big picture of just what has been accomplished between Times and Union squares. That's where Clarence Eckerson Jr. comes in.

October 4, 2023

What Do ‘Livable’ Streets Look Like in an Era of Driverless Cars?

In today's Brake podcast, Kea Wilson asks Bruce Appleyard what future livable streets have in a world of autonomous cars.

October 4, 2023

NYPD Steps Up Effort Against Illegal Mopeds, But Some Advocates Want a Different Approach

The NYPD seized some illegal wheels from delivery workers in the middle of their route on Wednesday, part of a stepped-up effort.

October 4, 2023

Astoria Organizers Lead the Way on Street Safety with a Reddit Strategy

The western Queens neighborhood has become a hub for a new kind of safe street advocacy.

October 3, 2023
See all posts