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PPW Plaintiffs Cherrypicked Data to Attack DOT’s Bike Lane Evaluation
Opponents of the Prospect Park West bike lane got some page views in the Park Slope Patch yesterday, repeating arguments from their lawsuit against the city [PDF] (arguments that have also been published, basically unaltered and unanalyzed, in the Daily News and the Post). Their core claim is that DOT should not have used three-year averages to assess the rates of crashes and injuries before the bike lane was installed, because there was a small uptick in crashes and injuries if you compare the second half of 2009, before the bike lane was installed, to the second half of 2010.
March 17, 2011
A Transportation Engineer Weighs in on the Prospect Park West Lawsuit
Gary Toth is currently director of transportation initiatives at Project for Public Spaces. Previously, during his career with the New Jersey Department of Transportation, Gary was one of the architects of the agency's transformation to a national leader in context-sensitive transportation planning. He sent us these thoughts in response to the lawsuit filed earlier this month against the Prospect Park West bike lane.
March 16, 2011
Even Critics of Prospect Park West Lane Don’t Buy the “Unsafe” Argument
The Park Slope Patch (an AOL publication, for what it's worth) did a few word-on-the-street interviews on Prospect Park West, asking passersby what they think about the bike lane. Not everyone they talked to thinks the lane is needed -- it's about 50-50, giving critics a disproportionate say relative to their numbers. But note that even the guy who calls the lane "stupid" thinks the NBBL-conjured safety criticism is hogwash.
March 14, 2011
Who Supports the Prospect Park West Bike Lane?
As a referendum on the Prospect Park West redesign, last night's Community Board 6 hearing was another clear signal that the two-way, protected bike path enjoys broad support within the community. On the community board's sign-in sheet, 86 people put their names down to testify in favor of the project while 11 signed up to speak against it. Transportation Alternatives handed out stickers to 330 supporters before their supply ran out.
March 11, 2011
At CB 6 Hearing, Supporters of PPW Redesign Outnumber Detractors 8 to 1
I'll have a longer post later today, but for now, here is the numerical recap from last night's public hearing on the Prospect Park West redesign. The overall headcount was somewhere around 400 people. Transportation Alternatives handed out pro-bike lane stickers to 330 people before they exhausted their supply. Among the 100+ people who signed up to testify, support outweighed opposition by nearly an eight-to-one margin.
March 11, 2011
Politically Connected PPW Bike Lane Foes Are Fighting Their Own Neighbors
If the goal of the Prospect Park West bike lane lawsuit is to smear the Department of Transportation and sow doubt about the city's street safety initiatives, it's already doing a bang-up job. The Post and the Daily News both ran pieces yesterday basically lifting arguments straight out of the plaintiffs' complaint [PDF] without a shred of analysis. Both papers repeat the same basic distortion: Bike lane opponents are fighting DOT's agenda. But that's not really what's going on here.
March 10, 2011
Brad Lander and Park Slope Residents Rally For Prospect Park West Bike Lane
City Council Member Brad Lander and supporters of the Prospect Park West bike lane rallied on the steps of City Hall this afternoon in response to yesterday's lawsuit, filed by a group of well-connected Park Slope residents who want to rip the lane out.
March 8, 2011
Opponents Sue City Over Prospect Park West Bike Lane
Opponents of the Prospect Park West bike lane have filed a lawsuit against the city in relation to the project, according to the New York City Law Department. The suit, which has been threatened for a month, was filed at the end of the day today in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Download it here.
March 7, 2011
Cycle Tracks, “Floating Parking” and Bike Buffer Zones
While we were out videotaping for another Streetfilm, Gary Toth, the director of transportation initiatives with Project for Public Spaces (his resume includes 34 years of management experience at NJDOT), took a moment to give a short explanation on what "floating parking" is, why using it is a very smart budgetary decision by the NYCDOT, and why a buffer-zone exists between exiting drivers and cyclists.
March 7, 2011