Upper West Side

A reader sends these pictures of a crash scene at Broadway and 98th Street yesterday evening. The photographer tells us that "a black car traveling northbound swerved onto the sidewalk to avoid a southbound taxi turning left."

Earlier this week, the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 7 issued a split decision on the protected bike lane proposed for a 20-block stretch of Columbus Avenue. One of the committee chairs who voted against it, Andrew Albert, told the room full of bike lane supporters that he couldn't endorse the project because of potential difficulties with commercial deliveries. According to Columbus Avenue BID director Barbara Adler, opposing the proposal on those grounds is, basically, a whole lot of nonsense.

Looks like some Manhattan community board types still want to see their local streets keep that highway-in-the-city feel.

Karen Schmeer. Image: New York Times The NYPD is no longer denying its involvement — or error — in the January 29 car chase that ended with the death of Karen Schmeer on the Upper West Side. At a meeting of the 24th Precinct’s community council, Deputy Inspector Kathleen O’Reilly laid out the police’s official … Continued

Several representatives in the City Council and state legislature, as well as Borough President Scott Stringer, have signed on in support of protected bike lanes for Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues.

In what has become an all-too-familiar scene, NYPD is denying reports that a police chase led to the death of a pedestrian after an incident of petty theft on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Manhattan Community Board 7 voted last night in favor of converting 240 parking meters to bike racks on 40 blocks of the Upper West Side. The 23-12 vote (with one abstention) was the CB's closest of the evening, but the outcome was never really in doubt. Debate focused on board control over the placement of individual racks more than the broader merits of bike racks. Thanks in part to the strong support of the Columbus Avenue BID, momentum for bicycle infrastructure continues to grow on the Upper West Side. 

Manhattan Community Board 7 approved a resolution Tuesday in support of protected bike lanes for the Upper West Side. According to Streetsblog readers who attended and the Westside Independent web site, a mostly positive discussion on the merits of such improvements -- in front of a packed house of residents wearing "Protected Bike Lanes Protect Everyone" stickers -- preceded a 28-7 vote. Here's the reso in full:

Tonight Manhattan Community Board 7 will vote on a resolution supporting the installation of protected bike lanes on the Upper West Side. Having cleared the board's transportation committee last week, the reso would align the full board behind the concept of protected bike lanes on Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues from 59th to 110th Streets.