CityRacks Watch: Program to Include Private Garages

Read the latest news about this issue.

The DOT has agreed to make some CityRacks available for installation in private garages - a step which could dramatically improve the offerings for longer-term indoor bike parking. Here's how you can help make this happen:

• Identify a garage where you'd like to park, currently without bike parking.
• Approach the manager and let him/her know about the availability of federally funded CityRacks.
• Call T.A. Let us know which garage you've approached. We'll do the legwork to add to the city's indoor parking resources.

More Racks on the Way

Good news is that more CityRacks should be on the way. The next round of installations was approved in April, and if the DOT delivers on promises made last year, 1,700 additional racks could be in the ground by December 1998. The CityRacks program in its entirety is supposed to deliver 5,000 bike-racks. 500 have been installed since the program began.

Troubleshooter

If you've gotten involved in addressing New York's bike parking shortage by suggesting sites where CityRacks could be placed, this might sound familiar to you: The racks you requested a year ago from the DOT are nowhere in sight. You're still wrestling with a lamppost every time you visit your favorite grocery, or--worse yet--you've been ordered by Henry Stern to French kiss a Dutch elm for locking up to it.

While you may have found the ultimate site for a rack, the affected business or property owner could be thwarting your efforts simply by making a stink. If they object to the racks-no matter for what illogical reason--the DOT will probably not challenge them. Sadly, cyclists have two choices: 1) fume at the red tape-bound agency that fails to deliver or 2) create support for the rack by getting the business owner and the local council person to request it. Call T.A. for the name of the respective city council member, and we'll help you create a wider web of support for the rack.