Articles and Actions
Events and Appeals
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| Big Win! Here Comes the 8th Avenue Bike Lane | ||||
After three years of advocacy, the 8th Avenue bike lane in Manhattan will soon become a reality. Last week, after hearing the news, supporters of the lane—cyclists, Community Board members, local businesses and elected officials—were giddy. But they also wanted to know what design the planned 8th Avenue bike lane would take. Would the DOT stripe a buffered bike lane—a five-foot bike lane separated from the adjacent motor vehicle lane by a four to five-foot striped buffer zone—on the 70-foot wide avenue, as on Hudson and Lafayette Streets? Or, would it simply stripe a bike lane with no buffer zone, similar to Allen Street and 5th Avenue?
Here's how the new 8th Avenue will look:
Kudos to the City for removing a motor vehicle travel lane and replacing it with a buffered bike lane. Not only will this strong design invite more New Yorkers to cycle, but it will greatly improve cyclist and pedestrian safety by slowing drivers and reducing traffic. While a buffer zone, or physical barrier, is needed to create safe cycling space and prevent crashes along all of busy 8th Avenue, having an unbuffered bike lane above 23rd Street will make drivers more aware of the presence of cyclists and help reduce driver-bicyclist crashes. And, in lieu of bike lanes, the shared lane markings will reinforce cyclists' right to the road to drivers and help lead cyclists to the connecting bike lanes north of 42nd Street and on Central Park West and beyond. City Council Speaker Quinn, along with Councilmember Brewer, Manhattan Borough President Stringer and Community Boards 4 and 5, all strongly supported the buffered bike lane on 8th Avenue. This support helped win the buffered portion of the bike lane and ensure a continuous bike route on 8th Avenue. Thank you all!
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| City to Seniors: Hurry the %#@* Up! | ||||
82-year-old Mayvis Coyle (right) is a hero to slow walkers everywhere. After being ticketed by the LAPD last week for taking too much time to cross the street, she fast became a media darling, with newspapers and talk shows around the world rushing to her defense.
Thankfully, the NYPD is not criminalizing slow walking seniors. The New York City Department of Transportation, however, in effect, is. Throughout the city, the DOT times walk signals so that they are only long enough for people walking at 4-feet per second or faster to cross legally and safely. Because seniors, the disabled and the young typically walk between 2.5- and 3.5-feet per second, the DOT is effectively marking slow walkers as scofflaws and placing them in unacceptable danger.
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| Uncivil Servants are Ruining Chinatown | ||||
Do you ever feel like walking through Chinatown is like weaving through a crazy-quilt parking lot, trying to find the thin ribbon of sidewalk threading through illegally parked cars? You're not alone.
Transportation Alternatives and a coalition of local business owners and community groups will host a press conference in the coming weeks to announce the findings of "Uncivil Servants," a T.A. survey of government worker parking abuse in New York City's Chinatown and Civic Center. The report documents chronic illegal parking on sidewalks, in front of fire hydrants and in No Parking Zones in the neighborhoods surrounding the NYPD Headquarters, the city, state and federal courts, the NYPD's 5th Precinct house and the Municipal Building, home to many City agency offices. Government employees who abuse free on-street parking permits issued by the City make up the vast majority of these illegal parkers. Parking abuse negatively impacts pedestrian and public safety, local commerce, emergency vehicle response, traffic congestion and public perception of government employees.
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| This Summer, Get the Cars Out of Your Backyard | ||||
Every spring as the weather warms, throngs of New Yorkers flock to Central and Prospect Parks, the "backyards of the City" for safe and healthy recreation at a remove from the danger and disruption of automobiles.
But for a period every weekday these parks get an unwelcome addition—speeding cars, which most moms would agree are a no-no in their backyard. In the coming weeks, the City Council Transportation Committee will hold hearings on the possibility of car-free summers in Central Park and car-free summer afternoons in Prospect Park. These improvements, if enacted, will surely have a huge impact on both the quality and quantity of hours New Yorkers spend in their parks. As of publication time, we don't have any more details on these upcoming hearings, but that shouldn't stop you from telephoning your Councilmember and letting them know you want cars out of Central and Prospect Parks this summer. And, if you are free on the morning of May 10th, sign up for New Yorkers for Parks Advocacy Day and tell your Councilmember in person that you want your parks green, your beaches clean and your playgrounds safe, as well as cars out of Central and Prospect parks this summer. For breaking news on the City Council hearings make sure you're signed up to T.A's Brooklyn Committee email list and/or T.A.'s Central Park list. |
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| Thank You E-Bulletin Readers! | ||||
Thanks to all who responded to last week's special spring e-peal for membership and renewals. Your support helps us keep bringing you e-bulletins like this one, brimming with news, action items and special event listings. Welcome to all of our new members and welcome back to folks who renewed.
If you haven't joined or renewed your Transportation Alternatives membership yet, what are you waiting for? Join or renew before May 31st to be entered into a drawing to win a new Mobiky Genius folding bike (right), donated by bfold.com. |
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| Get a Grant to Relieve Traffic in Your Hood | ||||
Want to have a fun, pro-people event or sponsor a meeting about the ills of traffic? Well, here’s your chance to get a little cold, hard cash to make signs, rent a meeting hall or buy some snacks. Citizens for NYC, T.A.'s partner in the Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief, will make awards to groups who propose projects related to traffic noise; illegal truck traffic; street safety; traffic calming and improving public transportation. Here's a short list of example projects that could be considered for funding:
To apply simply call Citizens for NYC's Scott Codey at 212-989-0909 or email scodey@citizensnyc.org before May 15th to ask for an application. Applications are due June 1st. Groups of individuals seeking to form a task force to address a specific issue are encouraged to apply. All groups must either have a bank account in the groups' name or work with a community group willing to act as a fiscal agent. (T.A. members may be eligible to use T.A. as your fiscal agent. If you are interested in this option, please call Matthew Roth at 212-629-8080 x6031 before applying for the grant.) |
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| Bike Month NYC is Nearly Here! | ||||
Biking is always in style! Get ready to celebrate with Transportation Alternatives, the NYC Department of Transportation and our new partners the NYC Department of Health all May long during the 15th Annual Bike Month NYC.
Take your pick of over 150 great events from rides to rallies to art shows to the Bicycle Film Festival. Visit BikeMonthNYC.org for a full listing of events and to request a copy of the official Bike Month NYC calendar of events to be mailed to you. The first Bike Month NYC event is the Blessing of the Bicycles on Saturday, April 22nd at 9:30 am sharp inside the Cathedral of St. John the Divine at 110th Street & Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan. The last Bike Month NYC event is Transportation Alternatives' 2nd Annual Tour de Brooklyn on Sunday, June 4th. Due to the enormous popularity of last year's event we strongly recommend advance (FREE) registration. For more tips on getting geared up for a great season of biking and all the great Bike Month NYC events coming up, check your inboxes next week for a special Bike Month NYC themed e-bulletin. |
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| Playstreet Application Deadline is Monday, May 1st | ||||
As New Yorkers who have been around the block a few times know, a summer playstreet is a city street reserved for recreation for school age children and others during the weekday daylight hours of the summer. Playstreets operate, under adult supervision, five days a week, Monday through Friday, between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm. Any authorized representative of an organized group or block association may apply for a playstreet at the local Community Board office. All groups must have two adults who will be responsible for the on-site supervision and activities on the playstreet.
The 2006 playstreet program will run July 3, 2006 to September 1, 2006 and is sponsored by the Street Activity Permit Office. If you want a playstreet in your neighborhood or would like more information about the playstreet program, please call your local Community Board office. Look up your Community Board on this list or using this map. |
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| T.A. in the News | ||||
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NYPD installing lots of surveillance cams — but don't snap back Boing Boing 4/17 Environmentalists Object to N.Y. Duck Boat Tours USA Today 4/17 Bikes Connecting Bogota and the South Bronx WNYC 4/14 Push is On for Biking, Walking to School The Journal News 4/12 Watching the Detectives Village Voice 4/11 Metro Briefing: Manhattan: Cyclists Sue Over Duck Boats New York Times 4/7 Suit Filed to Sink Duck Boats New York Daily News 4/7 'Ducks' in a (Legal) Row New York Post 4/7 Duck Boat Battle in Big Apple ABC Philadelphia 4/7 Environmental Group Sues to Keep Duck Boats Out of Manhattan Seattle Post-Intelligencer 4/7 Environmental Group Sues To Keep Duck Boats Out Of Manhattan WNBC.com 4/6 Environmental Group Sues to Keep Duck Boats Out of Manhattan Newsday 4/6 The Party May Be Over for These Tricycles Built for Seven New York Sun 4/4 Cities Thrive through Human Contact American Insititute of Architects NY 4/4 Corridors and Clay Metropolis Magazine 3/31 Transportation Alternatives is a member-supported non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Join T.A. today!
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