Another day, another criminal summons.
Streetsblog's Sophia Lebowitz spotted another ticket trap at Delancey Street and Suffolk Street at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan on Wednesday, with two police officers giving e-bikers criminal summonses for running the red light.
We've seen this all before: A police sting against cyclists at an intersection that was previously redesigned to eliminate north/south car travel and with it, the purpose of the traffic light. As a result, most cyclists treat the light as a yield sign ... which is exactly what makes it a perfect place for cops to coop.
"There's a lot of lights leading up to the bridge [on Delancey] where no cars can actually pass to get through, so no one ever stops unless there is a pedestrian. But there was no one there," said Cayla Rubin, who got a criminal ticket as she biked from Manhattan to Williamsburg to work.
As a candidate, Mayor Mamdani promised to end the policy created by former Mayor Eric Adams's Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. But Mamdani kept on Tisch as top cop — and has failed to get (or force) her to end the policy.
The mayor broke his Ramadan fast on Tuesday night at Los Deliveristas Unidos headquarters, promising the group of muslim immigrants that they had a friend in City Hall. But some delivery workers said that with friends like that, they don't need enemies.
"I don't think [criminal summonses against cyclists] is a good idea," said delivery worker Aboubacar Ki, who attended the Iftar meal. "Most of us are immigrants with cases at immigration court. If you keep getting those kind of criminal summonses, it may affect your ability to be able to get your papers in this country. We are living in this city, helping moving this city, we shouldn't get criminal summonses. And also, I see some cars doing the same things and the bikes, and I don't hear about drivers getting criminal summonses, so it's not fair."
Fellow deliverista Gustavo Ajche, one of the founders of Los Deliveristas Unidos, focused on the inconvenience of criminal summonses, which require suspects to spend hours in court, unlike the regular parking tickets that drivers get (and cyclists formerly got) that can be paid by mail or online.
"It's not about money, it's that you're wasting your time, to go an stand in front of the judge," he said. "As working-class people, wasting a day to do that is not worth it. The policy is not about safety."
Mayoral spokesman Sam Raskin said the administration is developing an "improved policy for addressing cyclist traffic violations that is fair and keeps New Yorkers safe."
But Rubin, the Citi Bike rider, thinks the city should be focusing on bigger issues.
"I think our taxpayer dollars could be used elsewhere to help other people," she told Lebowitz. "Catching people Citi Biking onto the Williamsburg Bridge isn't really a priority for most New Yorkers."
In other news:
- While Streetsblog has been pounding out incisive story after incisive story on the flaws in Gov. Hochul's effort to lower car insurance rates, amNY is running advertorial from Uber. Shame.
- Revenge of SCOTUS: Get ready for a lot of liability lawsuits being lost by NJ Transit in out-of-state courts. (NY Post)
- On the plus side from the Garden State, Gov. Mikie Sherrill is winning praise for scaling back her predecessor's boondoggle highway and bridge expansion. (Gothamist, Streetsblog)
- Looks like there's a compromise in the skate park that devoured the park story. (Gothamist)
- Transportation Alternatives put out its latest "10 Worst Super Speeders" report. (Patch, amNY)
- Bloomberg added up the cost of all these highways we keep building.
- Inherit the wind: Gov. Hochul wants to gut the climate law as part of her affordability push. (NY Times, Hell Gate)
- Sorry, Post editors, but Ferdinando's Focacceria was not a red-sauce joint. But we're happy to see it reopen. (NY Post)
- And fans of Streetsblog's house band, Jimmy and the Jaywalkers, will be happy to know that the group's seventh LP, "These Days," is out wherever you stream music. It includes the Streetsblog-themed singles, "You Never See a Mayor on the Subway," "Picking Up Your Dog Poop," and the futile romance of "You Live on the G." Here's the full album:
