An appellate court judge intervened to halt Mayor Adams's bid to remove a three-block stretch of protected bike lanes from Bedford Avenue after a lower court judge sided last week with Hizzoner's bid to make the street less safe.
Judge Lourdes M. Ventura issued the temporary restraining order on Tuesday in response to an appeal filed by Transportation Alternatives and Baruch Herzfeld, who together sued the city after the mayor attempted to remove the protected bike lane.
Ventura's order prohibits the city from "removing or modifying the parking-protected bicycle lane on Bedford Avenue between Willoughby Avenue and Flushing Avenue" until the judge rules on the case. The city has a week to oppose the ruling, after which the judge will decide whether or not to block demolition for the duration of the appeal.
It's the second such order issued by a judge since Adams announced last month he would remove the bike lane.
The plaintiffs' appeal came just as the city was set to begin the bike lane demolition process Tuesday evening. City workers put up "no parking" signs on Monday warning drivers to move their cars from the roadway by 10 p.m.
“The Adams administration is going to have to spend their night preparing their legal case, not ripping out a critical safety project and central Brooklyn’s only protected bike lane," said Ben Furnas, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives. “The fight to save the Bedford Avenue safety improvements continues, and we won’t back down until everyone can get home safely.”
Adams announced last month that he would change three blocks of the Bedford Avenue protected bike lane, from Willoughby Avenue to Flushing Avenue, back to an unprotected bike lane after complaints from politically connected members of the area's Hasidic community.
After hearing arguments from lawyers from the Department of Transportation, former Brooklyn Democratic Party chair Frank Seddio, and Peter Beadle, attorney for the plaintiffs, Walker-Diallo dismissed the case and allowed the city to go ahead and remove the bike lane.
Walker-Diallo's ruling agreed with the city that Adams's move to rip up the new green paint on Bedford is "only a modification" because a bike lane "will still exist at that location," albeit unprotected.
Leaders of Williamsburg's Hasidic community pushed the mayor to remove the protected bike lane after a string of videos on social media of children getting off school buses mid-block and running into the bike lane.
DOT tried to ban parking at certain locations to create mid-block painted bus stops, but the new "no parking" zones are usually blocked by illegally parked cars and rarely enforced.
Adams flipped against his own DOT's protected bike lane after hosting a town hall to hear community concerns in May. The bike lane has the support of the local City Council members, Chi Ossé and Lincoln Restler, both of whom have been targets of the mayor's public ire.
The city has until July 23 to make its case for lifting Judge Ventura's injunction. That will be followed by a hearing over the plaintiffs' case against the city.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for City Hall said the following:
"After several dangerous incidents — many of which involved children — the Adams administration listened to the community’s concerns and moved to reconfigure the bike lane to its original model while still maintaining safety measures. Last week’s ruling clearly affirmed that the reconfiguration of this bike lane is fully within our legal authority. This unnecessary appeal will only delay easing the safety concerns plaguing Williamsburg parents. We will revisit this matter in court, where we are confident we will prevail yet again."
