Bicycle Infrastructure

The question was debated, albeit briefly and in slow motion, by two New York City Department of Transportation employees in the pages of the New York Times last week. Last week, in a Sunday City section op/ed piece, Andrew Vesselinovitch argued that DOT is not doing enough for New York City cyclists. Vesselinovitch is the former Director of DOT's Bicycle Program who made headlines in July when he claimed in a publicly-released resignation letter that the agency's leadership was purposefully undermining the progress of New York City's bicycle network. This week, a response to Vesselinovitch comes from Ryan Russo, the DOT's newly appointed Director of Street Management and Safety. Their back-and-forth is re-printed below, in full:

A rendering of the Sands Street bike path on the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge

In today's New York Sun Bradley Hope scoops up the first follow-up interview with former DOT Bicycle Program Director Andrew Vesselenovitch after his controversial resignation letter. Vesselenovitch has a big story to tell and I have a feeling that this isn't the last we've heard of it:

Outgoing Bike Program Director Rips Agency Bosses

Montreal: Youth, extraordinary bravery and helmets are unnecessary.

On Sunday, the New York Times City section ran a story called "The Bicycle Thief: It's Not Who You Think." It went like this: On Wednesday, 28-year-old graphic designer Miao Wang rode her bicycle 12 blocks from her apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to the Bedford Avenue L subway station. She locked up, boarded her train and went to work. That evening, she emerged from subway to find that her black Diamondback bicycle was gone.