So when will he get an open invitation to join a bike ride through the controversial area?

And yet… This was pretty f’ing genius. Marty’s bike thing was the headline today. It got his anti-DOT message out there in numerous media outlets in the most favorable possible way to Marty. Marty is successfully framing the city’s transportation policy debate on his terms and no one is standing in his way or successfully countering it.

DOT seems to have no communications strategy. They are not engaging in the debate or explaining to New Yorkers why their work is important and relevant. The advocacy community doesn’t seem to have any satisfying answer or response. And the Mayor is just letting DOT flap in the breeze. He appears to be running scared too. The press is eating up the anti-bike crap. They love it and Marty knows it.

Bottom line: We are getting our asses kicked by this buffoon. People need to take this clown seriously. Marty has vastly increased the price that DOT pays to implement ANYTHING. He is speaking out against projects that are, for the most part, popular and working extremely well in making city streets safer, more pleasant, more equitable and more efficient. Yet, Marty is paying no political price at all.

I think the TDB should not invite him to participate at all. Just issue a statement to express that due to Marty’s disregard for clear data on the safety of bike lanes, we feel that having him participate in this event would give him cover for an otherwise anti-bicycle agenda. Blah, blah, blah.

If they want, use it as a chance to invite him to an open forum with the DOT, TA, and other safe streets advocates. Put the ball in his court.

Done. The biking community should not offer any olive branches to this guy because all he’ll do is break them in half.

So, Markowitz is riding a bike in an environment where a bike is a toy, in order to show the city that he isn’t anti-bike. Right.

In related news, JSK should do a photo-op with Lego cars to show the city that she’s not anti-car.

Wow, looks like Steisel, Markowitz, and Weinshall are suing. I take back what I just said. Seriously? I can’t imagine what grounds they have to sue. If installing a lane with CB approval, local political support, and proven safety benefits can generate a lawsuit, I imagine that removing such a lane will also generate a lawsuit. This could get ugly.

http://transportationnation.org/2011/02/04/big-names-ready-a-lawsuit-to-remove-bike-lane/

A woman cyclist was involved in a hit and run yesterday in Willburg, punctured lung, fractured pelvis.
I firmly blame Marty Markowitz and his anti-bike and anti-bike lane rants, as encouraging an social environment that allows drivers to see cyclists and pedestrians as less than human, less than your neighbor.

I know I have said it before, but to not let another chance go without… I type all this with about 30 staples holding the skin of my outer hip together and about 15 stitches in my shin, all from hardware removal. Hardware to hold my fractured tib/fib and upper femur in place from a crash that probably should have crippled or killed me, in May. I feel for this woman and the family that has to go through this. And thanks Marty, and NBBL, you are real leaders of our community

Link to BikeBlogNYC about the young woman hit-in daylight.

http://www.bikeblognyc.com/hit-and-run-again/

This sounds like a good time for a rally. We need to take the cameras away from Marty and show the world how insensitive and bullheaded his actions really are. We need big photos of cyclists hit. Stats on the number killed. If people want to remove a bike lane with a proven safety record they better fucking be ready to explain to the victims and their families why they are doing this.

No one died from not being able to speed down a street or park instantly. Yet people ARE dying from a lack of safe places to ride. This is about priorities. We need to get Marty, Weinshall, Steisel, and now Mastro on record saying they care more about driver convenience than the lives of cyclists. Barbara Walters?

Dishing back on Marty is fun and therapeutic, but as Marty Barfowitz (#4) says, Markowitz loves the attention he’s getting and so far he’s controlling this narrative.

Transportation Alternatives has the right idea–change the narrative. Motorists are mowing people down in our neighborhoods almost daily and with a few exceptions, politicians and law enforcement are ignoring it and waging a war on cyclist and pedestrian safety measures instead.

We’ve got to go to the places where the politicians and law enforcement are–their offices, town halls, photo ops, precinct councils–and hammer that message home every day.

There’s a great opportunity coming up on Monday evening at the 19th Precinct Community Council. Come to show you care about the recent deaths of Jason King and Laurence Renard, and you want NYPD focus their priorities on killer motorists.

Just heard about the lawsuit on WNYC. I am outraged. It seems like the definition of a frivilous lawsuit and i hope they get sanctionrd for it. They must prove the agency’s action was arbitrary and capricous; lacking a rational basis. Everything shows the oppositr to be true.

I would bet that the judge appointed to the case has at least some connection to Weinshall or Steisel or Mastro. I’d look for recusals, but don’t expect any.

If they prevail, I expect that Fifth Avenue Manhattan residents will bring a suit to remove buses along Central Park. Buses ruin their view, so they should be routed on another avenue.

Gimme a Break! Marty Markowitz is clearly making a joke to his older-jewish friends at this speech. I don’t think he’s trying to pull one over on anybody.

The Marty’s of the world are winning this contest for NYC’s transit.
Until bike riders, which I am, reach a true critical mass (what are we, like 1% of the commuters in the city?) and get real about politivcal participation, no one is gonna see us as a real constituency. We’re lucky to have Sadik-Khan right now, but the next mayor will probably unroll all this progress because we’re not forming a real movement here and we’re only talking to ourselves. Like it or not, while most people polled would say they support bike lanes generally… in reality they don’t give a shit. And when the new administration comes to town, all the non-cemented bike lanes will be reviewed for elimination.

And sites like this will remain one giant sanctimonious circle-jerk of like minded and uber-pretensious mostly over educated white people.

Streetsblog is turning into this:

“Oh… you’re so smart, let me jerk you off…” “Oh, no, you’re the one that’s soooo smart… I’ll jerk you off!” “Oh, we’re all so smart and smug, let’s jerk each other off, and let’s get all our other mostly white hip young friends or wanna-be hip older affluent types together in a circle and jerk each other off!” “That’s a great idea! Let’s jerk, jerk, jerk! We’re sooooooo awesome… Let’s jerk to our awesomeness!!!! The other side is evil! Let’s jerk to how righteous we are! Our bikes will save the world!”

C’mon, give it a rest. If we want to make things safer for ourselves and children, maybe there’s a better way? A little more practical and less pretentious. We should take the high ground instead of looking and commenting like the left-wing version of the Tea Party.

Remember, it is the auto user who feels entitled. We are trying to create a new paradigm. We need to be the one’s convincing them to change. I don’t think we’re doing a good job.

Also, this is a great place to suggest ideas. Do you have any?

Sincere and heartfelt kudos to Sadik-Khan who’s been great bringing cycling in New York City from virtually nothing to a little bit more than nothing, unfortunately with a long way to go; where getting things done in this town most often has to be achieved despite everyone; and expectation levels — even for advocates — still remain miniscule.

With the incredible diversity of great stuff to do and see in New York City cycling has the potential of being worth many $billions in increased tourism, congestion reduction, greatly improved quality-of-life easily translated to increased business, real estate values, etc.

Still likely more than a year a way, a public bicycle system will help, but Bloomberg with his business savvy must endeavor to fully realize the immense commercial value of a truly functional and professional bike system; better described as net-zero transit.

Yay shweeb!

RT @roadcc Mayor Boris Johnson plans to bring #cycling monorail to #London for #2012 Olympics http://road.cc/30699 #bike