Today’s Headlines

  • RPA Poll: New Yorkers Love New York, Concerned About Climate Change (TransNat)
  • Vote! You Can Help Make Sadik-Khan the City & State Winner of the Week
  • Restaurateur Who Skipped Public Process Protests Tribeca Citi Bike Site (Post, News)
  • Gothamist Apparently Just Wondering “How Many Tourists Will Be Maimed” by Bike-Share
  • TLC Still Not Endorsing Wheelchair-Accessible Cabs (NYT); Koppell Wants Council Vote (News)
  • East Village Parent Group Will Petition DOT for Slow Zone (DNA)
  • Report Finds One-Third of Greenpoint Households Dealing With Asthma (DNA)
  • Post Holding Firm on Distaste for Organized Labor
  • Precinct That Wrote 262 Speeding Tix in 2012 Reenacts “French Connection” for Stolen iPhone (TL)
  • For the Poor and the Elderly, U.S. Streets Are Killing Fields (Atlantic)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

  • Anonymous

    When I read articles like this: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bicycles_tough_sit_DYOkQaV61f5Hv5AuWpIHtM

    I think to myself, what a stupid mother—-er. I live in Battery Park City. I frequently bike to Tribeca for dinner because it’s close by with a lot of nice restaurants. I’m one of his potential customers, who’d have an easier time going to his restaurant because of bike share. I’m not going to walk 30 mins. I’m not going to pay for a cab to go 1.5 miles. I sometimes use my own bike but street parking can be a pain there sometime. But with a bike share station by my apt and another location at his restaurant, then it’d be way easier than before, to get to his neighborhood.

    So yah, Mr. Capsouto, go f— yourself because apparently you don’t want my business. Apparently, you’d rather have people drive to your restaurant and park? Am I going to rent a zipcar to get to your place. Do I not count. The bikeshare station in BPC gets inspected all day by passing peds. They all stop, poke and prod, read the map . . . in short . . . a lot of people are going to be using bike share! And a lot of people, will be stopping, in tribeca, right in front of your restaurant! And he’s some martyr. Can someone explain to him how utterly f—in ret-arded he is?

  • Tribeca Restaurant Goer

    You have to laugh at this comment.

    “They take up too much room and make the street narrower,” said Marya
    DeHaas, 47, a lawyer and cyclist who joined the protest Thursday.
    “They’re dangerous.”

    The bike share stations, which currently don’t even have bikes in them, do not make the street any narrower than the car parking they’re replacing! If only the Daily News employed journalists, it could easily take a measurement to see if Marya DeHaas is correct before printing this non-expert’s opinion.

    It’s also pretty amazing that she can gauge the danger of a system that hasn’t even launched yet!

  • Mr. Nice Guy

    Such a nasty person you are. “F” this and “F” that! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?

    You live in BPC and can’t afford a $5 cab ride? Really?

    A 1.5 walk is too much for little you? Really?
    Poor baby. I live in Greenwich Village and have walked there back and forth countless time.

    You are a “potential customer”? Really?
    Capsouto
    Freres has been around for at least 30 years, is a NYC legend, and
    you’ve never eaten there, Mr. Nasty? You must be a recent transplant. A
    nasty, vulgar transplant.

    Anyway, O Nasty One, Mr. Capsouto has cojones, something you clearly lack, little guy.

  • KillMoto

    Dear Gothamist (Just Wondering “How Many Tourists Will Be Maimed”): How many tourists will be maimed by reckless driving motorists when they cross NYC streets and stand on NYC sidewalks?

  • This place is a 30 year established NYC legend and a bunch of bike racks are going to put it out of business? Somehow Mr Capsouto has made it this far on cajones alone, apparently, because this move does him no good, and simply brings him bad PR from a growing, affluent demographic who will simply bypass his business.

  • Guessing

    This is Sean Sweeney, right?

  • Anonymous

    Dear Caricature,

    First, thank you for putting the “car” back in “caricature”!

    Second, I believe that your shock over words indicated by dashes is very, very genuine and not at all hypocritical.

    Third, are “cojones” defined by you as an indifference to very public processes combined with a fanciful belief that a bike rack blocks the entrance to a building while parked cars do not?

    Yours most sincerely.

  • Anonymous

    Freres has been around for at least 30 years, is a NYC legend, and you’ve never eaten there, Mr. Nasty? You must be a recent transplant. A nasty, vulgar transplant.

    Yes, I’m a transplant. And I’m a transplant who works hard and likes to spend his money on nice restaurants (and if Freres were on seamless, I probably would’ve gotten delivery from there). And do you know what I do on my Friday and Saturday nights (when able). My gf hops on the back of my Batavus and we ride up BPC and head towards Tribeca and go up Hudson or down Greenwich/W. Broadway and try to sample as many of the nice restaurants in the neighborhood that we can. We’ve gone to Odeon, Tribeca Grill, the Harrison, Sarabeth’s for brunch (though, they have poor bike parking options). Sometimes, we don’t make it past Blue Smoke (which has a real nice bike rack in front, which makes it more appealing, since locking up to signs suck).

    Re: $5 for Cab. It’s not the money. It’s the inconvenience. You have to find a cab. That takes a few minutes. It’s not necessarily faster as there are a lot of lights in that area and West Street is prone to back-ups. So why should I pay $5, when it’s faster, cheaper and i’m in control, if I were to bike?

    Re: A 1.5 walk is too much for little you? Really?

    No, it’s not too far. But I work a lot of hours during the week. I have limited free time. I can bike home in 5 minutes. Or I can take 25 minutes to walk. Maybe I’ll walk home with the bike for the exercise! It’s about giving people options.

    If Mr. Capsouto has “cojones” in the sense you allude, then I wouldn’t think he’d throw a tantrum over a few parking spots (as if this restaurant depends on customers driving through the Holland tunnel as opposed to making his restaurant more accessible to locals). If his restaurant is such a legend, then losing 6 parking spots (and gaining 40 bike spots which will be heavily trafficked), shouldn’t be grounds for protest. As I wrote above, I frequently ride on bike to visit the restaurants in my neighborhood. In the future, I intend on using bike share for most short trips, since I won’t have to worry about (i) my bike being stolen, (ii) what happens if it were to rain (like today, where I’ve locked my bike up under scaffolding – and praying they don’t take down the scaffolding), and (iii) if i can find a post or sign to lock my bike.

    So, on these trips where I’m heading to Tribeca to check out the restaurants, I’d likely pull up right in front of Freres!

  • Anonymous

    To say nothing of the fact that narrowing streets actually makes them safer since drivers will exercise greater caution when driving if the street is narrower than otherwise.

    “a lawyer and cyclist” We need to find an acceptable pejorative for these “I’m a cyclist too, but” sell-outs.

  • Joe R.

    Eating at Freres is hardly an a good litmus test to see is someone is a transplant or not. I was born and lived here for nearly all of my 50 years, barring the first three semesters at college, yet I have never eaten at Freres. For that matter, I’ve never eaten at any famous Manhattan eatery because I couldn’t even afford a soda in these places, much less a full meal. If I eat out at all when I’m in Manhattan, it’s either at Mickey D’s, or one of the holes in the wall in Chinatown (poor on aesthetics but great on food). I especially like the latter. I can eat like a king for about $10. You can keep all the upscale trendy places in gentrified areas. Those aren’t the real NYC anyway, but the one which tourists see.