Eyes on the Street: Greenway Link That Burns Up Kips Bay Condo Owners

DOT has striped and painted an important greenway connection on one block of East 37th Street, which received the support of Manhattan Community Board 6 last month. DOT began installing the bike lane this week, and the agency says the full project will be complete by the end of next week.

This short but crucial greenway connection is the object of a lawsuit filed by the board of the Horizon condominiums. Streetsblog has obtained a copy of the complaint [PDF], which features this syntactically tortured passage, referring to a CB 6 transportation committee meeting last month: “DOT’s representative was off putting to questions raised by the Horizon. In addition, bike lobbyists were ostracized and attacked being called stupid and selfish and taunting them for ‘not getting what they wanted'... The meeting was extremely divisive for no good reason.”

CB 6 went on to overwhelmingly support the plan after DOT modified it to accommodate concerns raised by the condo owners. But the condo board insists that a bike lane on their side of the street creates risks for "children, elderly and disabled residents." Children going to school buses and seniors going to get taxis will have to cross the bike lane, placing everyone in danger, the suit alleges. The horror!

The condo owners are asking the court to stop the bike lane installation, which is almost complete. A court date is scheduled for next week.