Funny they called it a “Queens Streets for All” rally, when they want to make it the streets only for motorists…

Seriously. Streetsblog needs to go undercover to find out what other places “Queens Streets for All” is advocating for besides these 2 streets?!

“Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes” was only about one street: Prospect Park West. So perhaps anti-bike lane crowd is expanding!

“Another woman complained that now she has to look both ways when she crosses the street.”

This was one of the top complaints about Prospect Park West, too.

Nothing changes. (Except the climate.)

These people are so Trumpian and they don’t even see that! Lies, deception, exaggeration, it’s like he’s their model. I mean the entire thing about blaming the street design for a speeding motorcyclist in the dark going the wrong way? Maybe we need to take some leaves, too?

But inside I laugh since I know with all certainty that they are wasting their time. So waste away angry people!

What’s a shame is people like her perpetuate the stereotype of the elderly as inflexible, grouchy, petty complainers with diminished brain function. I’m not sure exactly what message she’s trying to get across here. Last I checked, kids and bikes seem to go hand in hand.

I suspect she’s referring to the sadly not unheard of phenomenon of bike riders going the wrong direction on a one-way street, salmoning. Because we’d have to go two whole blocks out of our way to go the right way.

An “extra fast bicycle flying through the streets” is still slower than slow car traffic. In an ideal world cyclists would always go in the right direction. Every other complaint, lack of loading zones, people with disabilities struggling to park, emergency vehicles stuck behind double parked cars– are caused by private cars being given unfettered access to public streets. Less than half of households in the area own a car, but cars use the majority of the street space. The bike lane is not the issue here, private cars are.

In my opinion, cyclists going the wrong way would be a real problem if there was actual evidence that it in fact is a problem, like a rise in accidents due to it. I rarely go against traffic on my bike, and when I do, I go for only one or 2 blocks and I generally go pretty slow. From my experience (I commute from Jackson Heights to Lower Manhattan almost every day for work), most cyclists would take precaution when doing this, because people would not expect you from coming the other way. The same applies when you see them riding on the sidewalk. I’m not saying they should be doing it, but for the most part, they usually take decent precaution when performing these “crimes”. Then there are those outliers who do it dangerously and the ones you are probably referring to that we should be concerned with and I agree that they should be fined for riding that dangerously next to pedestrians, because its cyclists like them that give cyclists a bad name.

Its because of “lazy able bodied people” that there is limited parking space in places like Sunnyside. I own a car but mostly use it to run errands and for other non work related uses. What makes me different from those who only park on the street in Sunnyside is that I am fortunate to have my own parking space within the space I rent. If I were to live in Sunnyside, where it is mostly fully of apartment complexes and only on-street parking, I would most likely have not purchased a car. I would have gotten a cargo bike or walk or use a ride sharing service. I understand your situation, my sister has special needs and cannot take public transportation on her own, so you definitely need the parking space. But I am sure there are people who rarely use their cars and just store their car on the street because it is convenient for them.

Street space is very limited. It is not possible to increase parking without tearing down private properties down, which would cost millions and even billions of dollars which could go to better things. I am not sure if the City can do anything about parking within strip malls overnight, since it is most likely private property and there can be liability issues.

Sidewalk space is also very limited. Most residential sidewalks are only 10-15 feet wide at best, which is why they have to put the Citibike Stations in a parking lane. Taking up 2-3 parking spaces to accommodate several dozens of users per day is most likely a better use of the roadway space.

It about being efficient, there isn’t enough space to accommodate all private vehicle use, so all the City can do is encourage users to other modes of transport that makes better use of the limited roadway space, like bike lanes and bus lanes. Bicycle usage is increasing due to the more protected bicycle infrastructure, meaning less cars on the road and less cars collecting dust on parking spaces. The City needs to improve the transit system though so that transit can be more appealing to users, and some bus routes need to be modified to reflect the changing land uses, and the subway system needs to be updated to reduce the number of technical failures that result in delays.

Also, complaining about having to turn your head for ~one second is a weird thing to do.

Oh, it’s a concern troll.

Bicyclists (even motorized ones) now fly through the street extra fast and sometimes in the wrong direction.

How fast you wanna bet they’re going? 15 mph? 12? What do you think oughta be done about it, hm?

It takes a new habit to look out for this and yes, kids may not look out and just step ok the bike lanes.

I agree that kids should be taught to regard bike lanes the same way they treat main traffic lanes. We teach them not to run into the street. Same should be the case for bike lanes. Parents can help model this behavior by not walking into the lanes themselves. Which they often do.

Double parking is a real problem.

It is! It’s a real problem all over the place. Unfortunately no one wants to have an honest discussion about it. People oppose protected bike lanes, even on streets where there’s already a bike lane, not so much because they might lose a handful of spots (as in Sunnyside) but because they lose the bike lane as an easy “double parking lane.” But they say it’s all about losing a trivial amount of parking. The reason no one wants to talk about double parking is that (i) it’s actually illegal and (ii) it leads naturally into discussions about more effectively managing curb space, which means creating loading zones and charging for parking.

You want to solve parking in Sunnyside? Create a neighborhood permitting system. The only people who get to park in Sunnyside are the people who are willing to pay a fee, and their guests. Easy-peasy.

My partner is disabled and needs a car. Elderly and others may have more issues now.

There were hundreds of spots on 43rd/Skillman before the protected bike lanes, and there are still hundreds of them now. Who do you think is really taking up those parking spaces?

There is an often empty parking lot near the strip malls on northern boulevard. Maybe the city can make a deal allowing overnight parking there?

Or maybe car owners can figure out what to do with their own private property, instead of expecting the city to provide cheap, easy parking for them?

It would also be great if citibike were expanded to Sunnyside (without costing parking spots by putting them on some of the big sidewalks).

Yeah, because screw pedestrians, right?

It’s been shown that cyclists and motorists break the law at roughly the same rate. Good try though!

Its legit more scary to have 2 ton vehicles with blind spots blowing through red lights. Especially when the operators of these vehicles are distracted by their phones among other things.

If you see more bad behavior from cyclists than motorists you’re not paying enough attention to motorists, or you have a bias.

You stumped me until I remembered that cars often follow traffic rules and make some noise.

Cars don’t follow or ignore traffic rules. Drivers do.

More to the point – as a matter of fact, drivers don’t follow traffic rules much of the time. We’re just accustomed to overlooking their infractions. Most drivers don’t properly signal, for instance; speeding is common; stop signs are routinely ignored; red lights are blown; drivers often fail to yield to pedestrians or cyclists when required; double parking is illegal almost everywhere it occurs; and so on, and on, and on.

Cyclists often run red lights, true; but pedestrians just as frequently cross against their signals, but no one is getting upset about that, are they?

It is legit scary to have quiet bikes blowing through red lights.

I don’t believe for a second that you are an experienced cyclist. Because you know what is “legit scary”? Cycling up a street without a bike lane or an unprotected one and hearing a commercial truck rear up behind you. The fact that they make noise isn’t exactly a comfort.

I’ve been startled by salmoning cyclists and had to veer to avoid red light-running cyclists. They’re an annoyance, sure. But “legit scary”? Not even in the same league as biking on a truck route.

Bikes don’t travel 20 mph in reality.