Today’s Headlines

  • Barclays Center On-Site Parking Mostly Empty (NYT, AYR)
  • Looks Like Marty Golden Still Opposes Speed Cams Because He Thinks They Don’t Work (NY1)
  • Prendergast Confirmation Stonewalled by L.I. Penn Station Worries (2nd Avenue Sagas, News 1, 2)
  • Hit-And-Run Driver Injures Woman on Bike in Ditmas Park (DNA, News 12, Ditmas Park Corner)
  • Mother and Baby Injured by Curb-Jumping Driver Released From Hospital (News)
  • Hasidim for Bikes Call on Levin to Bring Bike-Share to South Williamsburg (News)
  • CBS 2 Camps Out at Broken Bike-Share Station, Talks With Users and Tech Support
  • Petrosino Square: E-Mails Show Struggle Over What Used to Be Traffic Lane (Downtown Express 1, 2)
  • Greenfield, Vacca, Quinn Hail Passage of Muni-Meter Receipt Law (Advance)
  • A Plaza Is Coming to Dumbo This Summer (Brownstoner)
  • Looking for Votes in the “Forgotten Borough,” Lhota Supports R Train to Staten Island (CapNY)

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

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  • Art Lover

    No one “hates” bikes. I own a bike – but not a car. I hope this program is successful. Please do not put words in my mouth.

    However, for you, who lived here a half century ago and now presumably lives across the river, to say “I have no problem with the rack where it is” smacks of arrogance and conceit.

    As for it being currently being “well located close to the subway and many shops”:
    Thanks for bolstering the argument of those who live here currently; that moving it 50 feet to Lafayette and Spring – where we, CB2, all our elected officials want it – would be an improvement to where it is now in the park.

    Sorry, you cannot have it both ways.

  • tyler

    So, Eddie… who is the “big” company that specializes in larg-scale bikeshare systems that you would rather have gone with? Lots of choices out there, eh?

  • Art Lover

    Yes, and now it is a park, whose northern tip is specifically dedicated to art.

    Q.E.D.

  • Art Lover

    Meanwhile, DOT still refuses to explain to streetsblog, CB2, local electeds, newspaper reporters, and the Parks Dept why it simply won’t move the racks to Lafayette, close to the subway and shops.

    Why the silence from Seth Solonow?

  • Anonymous

    I’m sorry but there’s still room for both. The plaza is safer than the street. It’s already a pedestrian refugee. I’d never see the art at Petrosino square but for Citibike. But you don’t care really care about that. Learn to share.

  • Anonymous

    Bixi. But that’s about it.

  • Anonymous

    Art, don’t kid yourself, a lot of people hate bikes. Having been face to face with the opponents of the bike rack placement, it’s very hard to find a difference between their loving the park sidewalk and hating bicycles.

  • Anonymous

    Mr. Lover, you are obviously the newcomer to the neighborhood.

  • Art Lover

    Explain why the community board and the local residents and arts groups, and all the local politicians disagree with you?

    Never seen art there before?? Open you eyes, Magoo.
    http://thevillager.com/2013/06/06/petrosino-square-has-seen-its-share-of-public-art-displays/#idc-container

  • Art Lover

    You are fast becoming a pathetic NIMBY and one of those straw men that you seem to disdain.

    How long I or you have lived anywhere is irrelevant, isn’t it? What IS relevant is why DOT doesn’t free up pedestrian and art space and move the racks onto Lafayette roadbed, near the subway and stores.

    You still haven’t answered that adequately. Nor do I expect you will. Truth comes hard to some people

    Btw, I lived here since the 70s, when you were fleeing to Bklyn. Please, no more from you till you address the issue, Straw Man from Brooklyn.

  • Anonymous

    Explain why the community board and the local residents and arts groups, and all the local politicians disagree with you?

    I’m a local resident. How can I disagree with myself?

    Never seen art there before?? Open you eyes,

    It’s not that I’m blind. It’s that I would never have a reason to stop in the square. Now that there’s a station in the square, I expect to see the public art there, which would be nice.

    Again, your position is that you’re unwilling to share public space for a public purpose, which will be enjoyed by the public. You want it to be utilized only for your preferred purpose, which is fine. But don’t act like you’re being altruistic here.

  • Art Lover

    There is no longer room for public art in the tip because most of the exhibits are large. So, sharing is not an option.
    Placing the racks on Lafayette would remove parking spots, be closer to the subway and free up Petrosino for pedestrian access and for art.

    How could you – or anyone – be against moving it into Lafayette St?

  • Anonymous

    I already told you. Petrosino Square is a pedestrian refugee in the middle of a complicated intersection. It’s the ideal location. I’d rather catch a bike there, where I have the safety of the island, before jumping into traffic.

    Whereas with Lafayette, you’ll have cars flying past you. Sure, it may slow down traffic which is a good thing. But I’d be safer in the square.

    There is no longer room for public art in the tip because most of the exhibits are large. So, sharing is not an option.

    Ok, that’s a lie. Sharing very much is an option. Look at this picture, there’s plenty of space: http://goo.gl/maps/JAqjs

    Petrosino Square is just as close to the subway as Lafayette would be. It already has pedestrian access. Learn to share. You don’t own the public land.

  • Anonymous

    But @JarekAF:disqus you don’t understand: they’re *forced* to take large exhibits. They’d gladly take smaller exhibits if only DOT would let them–but nasty DOT controls all!

  • Daphna

    To Art Lover: you are yelling at the wrong people. Streetsblog readers are not the decision makers about where the docking stations are and are located. As I understand it, there was a suggestion from the community for a rack in the parking lane on Cleveland Place, but the DOT rejected that location.

    In general, I support docking stations being placed in the parking lane on streets rather than on sidewalks or in plazas. I would rather see car parking removed rather than depriving pedestrians of space. However, it is not my decision to make. And some communities have opposite priorities: in some Brooklyn neighborhoods, they wanted most docking stations on the sidewalk instead of in the parking lane.

    I think it would be great if more street space around Petrosino Square were reclaimed from motorists. But these kind of projects, reclaiming road space and re-allocating it more practically, is difficult. While the mayor has been a supporter of such changes, the city council has not.

  • Well, DOT giveth, and DOT taketh away. Is the remaining space useful for art exhibitions? It seems to be, considering the space is being used for art protests.

    Feel free to try to convince me that the bike dock space is absolutely needed for public displays of art because the rest of the park is insufficient. That’s a discussion to which I have open ears. But don’t try to tell me that the space where the docks now sit have a “tradition” of art. They have a tradition of being high-speed downtown car lanes. No one is accustomed to using that space for art for a long time, and the community is still ahead of the game in having the art space at the northern tip of the park. Claims that the docks have made art in the park impossible will lessen your argument in my eyes, because it’s entirely dishonest.

  • These ARE Bixi bikes

  • Art Lover

    With the bike rentals there, the large space required for public art is no longer available. Understand. It’s not rocket science.

    Petrosino has had public art since at least 1984, and possibly as early as 1913.

    Research before you make your all-too-often-inane comments on every blog in the city.

  • Art Lover

    I am yelling at no one. Why would you state something so blatantly false.

    I am simply asking DOT – as is CB2, ALL the local electeds, various arts and Italian-American groups – to show respect to a martyred NYPD detective’s memorial park, to show respect to art, and to show respect to the wishes of the community, and move the rentals out of a park and onto the roadbed = where most of the bike rentals are.

    There are no Citibikes inside Central, Prospect, WS, Tompkins Sq, Madison Sq, Union Sq Parks. Yet DOT is placing them in tiny, local, memorial parks, dedicated specifically to public art.

    Don’t question me further. Call up and ask DOT why they are doing this and why DOT REFUSES to return our politicians’ and reporters’ inquiries on this issue.

    Why is DOT playing the ostrich with its head in the sand?

    What is DOT’s agenda on destroying public art?

    Ask the usually-loquacious – but suddenly silent, Seth Solonow and then post his response here – if you get it, LMAO. Don’t hold your breath.

    (Don’t you think he and his buddies at DOT read this blog?)

  • Art Lover

    To Seth Solonow, DOT press spokesperson:

    Why doesn’t DOT respect the wishes of the Parks Dept, CB2, all the local elected officials, numerous arts, neighborhood and Italian groups, and restore the space needed for public art in Petrosino, and move the rental station to the Lafayette St roadbed, – thus reducing parking spaces in the process, and closer to the subway and stores?

    Why are you and DOT not responding to this simple question?

    Awaiting your response.

  • Art Lover

    To Seth Solonow, DOT press spokesperson:

    Why doesn’t DOT respect the wishes of the Parks Dept, CB2, all the local elected officials, numerous arts, neighborhood and Italian groups, and restore the space needed for public art in Petrosino, and move the rental station to the Lafayette St roadbed, – thus reducing parking spaces in the process, and closer to the subway and stores?

    Why are you and DOT not responding to this simple question?

    Awaiting your response.

  • You’re a child, with your insulting comments. It seems there is plenty of space for public art there right now, because public art is happening there. If you need more space, make a case for it. The park was already expanded to give you more space, and community members are using that space for art right now. Right now it just sounds like you want the bike docks out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

  • Anonymous

    But aren’t they operators as well in some places? Or maybe I was confusing them with B-Cycle.

  • Anonymous

    Seth Solonow,

    I’m a local resident. This “Art Lover” doesn’t speak for me. If he/she truly loved Art, she’d want to set it free for as many people to see.

    I’d practically never see the Art in Petrosino Square, but for the Citibike station.

  • Ian Turner

    Several people here have claimed that the area where the bike docks are now was a part of the roadway until only a couple of years ago. In light of that assertion, why do you keep bringing up the 1984 number?

  • Daphna

    To Art Lover: Don’t forget that is it the DOT and the plaza program (that started in 2008) that gave Petrosino that northern tip. Without current DOT leadership, those 156 feet north and 20 feet west would still be Layfayette Street. The same DOT that you are mad at now for the 32 dock station in the northern tip, is the same DOT that spearheaded, facilitated, helped and allowed that area to be reclaimed from motorists and converted into a plaza in October 2009. Without the current DOT leadership, there would not be a plaza there at all.

    As much as you are angry with the DOT about the docking station placement, I think the DOT deserves a lot of appreciation for creating the enlarged Petrosino Square to being with.

  • Art Lover

    Thanks for asking, although I’ve already explained it above.

    In 1913, when the park opened, there was a provisiojn in the contract for “a statue at the northern tip of the park”.

    By 2004, the park was derelict, an oasis for homeless drunks and addicts.

    In 1984, Friends of Petrosino Park, local artists, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, ACT-UP and various arts and Italian-American groups began to clean it up, including planting bulbs and organizing art exhibits inside the paved, concrete portion of the park.

    In 2009, Friends and Parks Dept got the City Council to allocate $2.3 million to green and expand the park. The interior space was planted and the expanded northern tip of the park was SPECIFICALLY dedicated for art space. In writing.
    Public art requires a large area, unlike, say, a drawing or water color or mobile. There have been several successful, even controversial, art exhibits there.

    Now, DOT comes and takes over the area needed to locate public art exhibits, which, we all know, usually require lots of room for the installation and for the public to view it.
    DOT claims it still owns the land. Parks, CB2, and every elected official disagrees with DOT.

    DOT also claims the Parkland on Mercer Street that the city has given to NYU to build huge buildings “belongs” to it and has handed our park over to NYU to ruin the Village. Former DOT and Parks commissioners, and local politicians disagree with DOT. The matter is currently in court with a decision due soon.

    So, DOT has been on the side of NYU taking over the Village and now it is on the side of removing public art.

    Instead of questioning me further, will you and fellow streetsbloggers ask DOT to explain publicly why they simply cannot move the station into the roadbed.

    Why? Why the silence, Mr. Solonow, DOT, press spokesman? Explain DOT’s decision to the people, please. End the silence.

  • Anonymous

    WTF with the up downs to favor this comment? One wrong click, apparently no way to reverse or fix it, next thing it shows nine downrates. Tech support, please!

  • Andrew

    Perhaps he responds more readily to Solomonow, which is in fact his name.

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