Working towards more livable streets in Brooklyn.
Held at the Cobble Hill Community Meeting Room, 7pm

Topics: Epic Ride re-cap, Bike Valet, Josh's cross country ride, Parking Day, DOT Presentation

OPENING REMARKS

Epic Ride was awesome! Many people attending the meeting went on this ride that took place 7/18 and covered territory between Greenpoint and the Rockaways. A more intense ride than some of the more family-oriented ones, it was jointly organized by Transportation Alternatives, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, Regional Planning Association and the National Park Service, lasted 40-45 miles, involved many delicious tacos and will be organized again next summer.

1. BIKE VALET

We still need volunteers for Celebrate Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge Park movie nights, and Summer Stage events. Get on the list by contacting elena [at] transalt [dot] org. You get a free dinner and a t-shirt, and a "great, fantastic experience" (according to Josh) meeting other TA volunteers and bike lovers.

2. JOSH'S CROSS COUNTRY TRIP

Josh Hobson just came back from a 2.5 month journey from San Francsico to New York City by bike, during which he encountered some great and some not-so-great infrastructure and has tons of observations and photos he's organizing into a slide show presentation for next month's meeting. All in all, people he met along the way were great and the best part of the trip was riding through the Black Hills, seeing the Crazy Horse memorial which is a statue carved out of an entire mountain, and a 114 mile trail that starts in Deadwood. And he's willing to lead the next ride so come to the next meeting and see his presentation if you've been dreaming of a cross country bike trip yourself!

(side note: Josh averaged 82.3 miles per day and had an average speed of 13 mph)

3. PARKING DAY PRESENTATION

Alyssa Benson, the Parking Day fellow currently working with T.A., came to give an overview of what Parking Day is all abut and how you can get involved.

Parking Day, taking place on Sept. 17th this year, is an international event where people reclaim parking spots in order to take back public space and create venues for having conversations about issues like traffic calming, daylighting, neckdowns and other livable streets measures.

Last year, 53 spots in 4 boroughs were reclaimed for Parking Day, along with 700 spots in 140 cities, and on every continent there was participation in this tradition started by T.A. in 2006. In New York there are 6,000 miles of street and 12,000 miles of sidewalk, representing 80% of public space.

Some keys to a good Parking Day spot are:
- covering the asphalt to delineate space and make it more inviting
- providing seating
- creating shade
- marking boundaries for safety
- posting signage (provided by T.A.)
- making it low-impact

Some cool ideas that have been explored in the past:
- using sod, grass, cardboard tubing, cloth or a large game board/painting project for the floor
- using potted plants to create walls/boundaries
- The Open Planning Project created walls by inviting people to make and hang origami with them throughout the day
- Idealist used recycled cardboard
- Another group created a mini ball pit that people could jump into
- others have used chalk
- CB 2 and 4 made mini parks to talk about planning and issues
- Lower East Side Girls Club hosted "Make tea not traffic"
- TABK partnered with Gorilla Coffee last year

To get involved, contact Alyssa alyssa [at] transalt [dot] org. A group brainstorm will have to happen before next month's meeting, because the deadline to register for Parking Day is August 25th. There is a lot of staff support for this project and help for getting permits.

4. D.O.T. PRESENTATION FROM HAYES LORD AND NAOMI IWASAKI

Hayes is the Coordinator and Naomi is a Project Manager for the Bicycle Program at the city D.O.T. They came to present the work that city D.O.T. has done to enhance bicycling in New York City, and specifically Brooklyn over the last few years and what is planned for the future.

Intro
A lot is happening for bikes at the D.O.T. and it is both exciting and challenging. The support of T.A. is crucial to D.O.T. especially with regard to projects that both T.A. and D.O.T. want but which certain community boards oppose. Two Brooklyn projects lined up for this year in particular face CB opposition.

Overview
50 miles of bike lane are added in New York City every year, and the gains in bike network expansion can be traced to the creation of the Bike Master Plan document of 1997, created by the D.O.T. and the Department of City Planning as a go-to guide for bike network expansion over a 30 year period.

Studies performed since 1996 have revealed the following statistics:
- 250 miles of bike lane have been added since 2006
- there was a 79% increase in commuter cycling between '06-'09
- there was a 48% decrease in injuries and fatalities between 1998 and 2008
- of the 92% of incidents which included a fatality, only 1 happened in a marked lane
- more robust lanes lead to increased safety
- parking protected paths significantly decrease crashes and injuries for all: cars, pedestrians and bikes
- 3 fold increase in miles of bike path in Brooklyn

D.O.T. is responding to this increase in ridership by holding safety message events, such as light and bell giveaways and the first ever Bike To School event with MS51. The goals of these events are to train a new generation of riders how to follow the rules and feel comfortable riding on the street. Survey results after the BTS event showed the top two reasons kids liked riding to school were because they got to ride with friends and because they felt free.

Nine Brooklyn Projects
Williamsburg Bridge - in process
Detours are in place, hopefully work will be done by August, symbols and signs are still needed
Some feedback from T.A. members was that parts of the refinished bike lanes are "surprisingly unsmooth" to which Hayes noted that it takes time for material to cure on the road.

West 6th Street - complete
In this case, D.O.T. consulted while other groups performed the changes made to the street. There is a senior zone in this area and a safety group was in charge of implementing the work. In this project, D.O.T. encountered resistance from the Community Board, so the changes made to the street allow space for bikes without an official bike lane. The hope is that eventually, when people become accustomed to the street design, the addition of a bike lane will be easier to achieve.

This approach is being considered for many of Brooklyn's "over capacity" roads that were built for a load of 10,000 cars but perhaps only 2,000 cars actually use - a condition which encourages speeding and recklessness.

Mike L. raised the concern that creating roads that should have have room for a bike lane but don't have it painted may not be safe for bicyclists - has any study been done to see how cars react on these roads and if drivers are still reckless because the 1 lane is still very wide?

Hayes responded that they are adding signage and studying the situation, in reality the affect is calming with one lane rather than two, but they are continuing to study it. Unfortunately the median in this design negates the possibility of a protected bike lane being added later.

Prospect Park West - complete (yay!)
This was a daunting project because of all the politics and political figures who became interested. It has been successful so far and we are trying to encourage good cyclist behavior in order to keep complaints at bay. Preliminary testing (unofficial) shows that traffic speeds are down, but there is no crash info yet.

Grand Army Plaza redesign was initially slated to be performed now in conjunction with PPW, but because of all the political hubub, D.O.T. is holding off until next year. The redesign will greatly improve infrastructure for motorists as well as clearly defining bike lanes and repaving the road. Eventually Eastern Parkway will get a bike path connection to PPW lane.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/PPW_CB6_4-12-2010-presentation.pdf

Smith and Hoyt Streets - complete
From Schermerhorn to 3rd street, new bike lanes have been added along Hoyt and Smith streets. Questions were raised as to why the Hoyt street lane did not continue into Metrotech, the answer was that the Smith Street lane can be used instead.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/smith_hoyt_cb6_031810.pdf

Columbia Street - complete
This lane improves crossing for people in Red Hook Houses and now lanes go all the way through Red Hook to IKEA.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/columbia_street_cb6.pdf

Vanderbilt Street - complete
Washington Street was the original route set out in the bike master plan, but over time it has become clear that Vanderbilt is used more by cyclists. Because the plan is 13 years old, many things have changed over its course. Wall posters are printed on a regular basis by D.O.T. that show finished and projected lanes from the master plan.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/20100518_vanderbilt_extension_slides.pdf

Flushing Ave - in progress
Installation should be done any day now, jersey barriers are being put in place. Josh mentioned how great it is to be able to ride on an official bike lane all the way from 18th street to Vanderbilt to Flushing and then into Williamsburg....hurrah!
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/20100518_flushing_bikelane_slides.pdf

Bay Ridge Parkway - in progress, hopefully complete this October
CB18 is not happy about this, D.O.T. needs assistance and support from T.A. members, especially those living in this area. This one is a no-brainer, the added infrastructure will improve safety for cars by creating a protected right turning lane.

Rockaway Parkway - in progress
Same issues of CB resistance as Bay Ridge Parkway only this bike lane has a buffer. No major changes to the street infrastructure.

Discussion of T.A. Brooklyn Committee Interests
Fix 5th Ave
Construction finished from south of 23rd Street to 34th Street 2 weeks ago, D.O.T. wanted to install a bike lane but because 5th Avenue has narrowed, it has to be a shared lane design. The plan for the bike lane stops where it does because that is the boundary of the Community Board, and the next CB has issues with bike lanes. Hopefully, once this lane is installed, used and enjoyed, it will be easier to extend the lane into the next segment of 5th Ave. Proposals are in progress, one of which is an extension to 66th Street with sharrows.

Bikes on Buses
15 years ago, the MTA responded to this request with the statement that it could not be done because of potential bike theft, service delays, and storage issues. All of these points have since become non-issues, the main issues now being money. There is no money in bike racks and with the service cuts going on now, anything that doesn't bring in money is difficult to justify, especially since racks bring the added cost of retrofitting bus bumpers.

Where bikes on buses are worth fighting for is in the outer boroughs, since inner boroughs have subway service people can bring bikes on, and for the bridges.

Bike Parking
Bergen and Smith Streets will soon see new hoop racks. There was a delay in the installation due to an added greenspace seating area/sculpture that changed the format. While they wait for the manufacture of 6,000 hoop racks, old U racks will be installed by the news boxes.

Now that there is big demand for bike parking, D.O.T. is changing the way it responds to requests. Rather than answering them one at a time in a piecemeal fashion, now there must be a bulk request and D.O.T. will come to an area and install a large number at a time, going Community Board by Community Board. Where you see orange dots in the CB6 zone, that means bike racks are coming there soon!

Additionally, D.O.T. has expanded sidewalks in Williamsburg in 4 locations to make room for 26 racks/40 new spots. Racks can now be installed on vents much the way parking meters are.

Brooklyn Bridge/Tillary Street
Preliminary design phase to enhance the entrance to the bridge west of Tillary. The scope of the project is being shaped in these early stages, ground will not be broken for a few years.

Bike Share
Still investigating feasibility, one of the main challenges being sidewalk width. Minneapolis does not have this problem New York has, where even installing bike racks is tough. On-street presents other problems such as sweeping, drainage and damage from cars. Plazas used like in Barcelona may be viable in the future, when more pedestrian plazas like Madison Square or Times Square are created.

In Conclusion
Bridge Path Advisories
Three bridges are undergoing simultaneous work:

Brooklyn Bridge
enclosing portions for painting, narrowing path. This work will take 3 years

Manhattan Bridge
later this year, cable rehab, 2 year re-wrap. One side will have 2-way bikes, the other side for pedestrians. After a year this will flip.

Williamsburg Bridge
security bollards installed starting late summer, lasting 5 months.

Proposed Action Steps from D.O.T.
Increasing cyclist education, identifying on-street bike parking opporutnities, establishing valet parking at Grand Army Plaza greenmarket, planning for new bike routes.

If anyone can suggest partners for either sponsoring funding the bike valet program, or for as a maintenance partner for on-street bike parking (since Sanitation cannot perform this), please get in touch with the D.O.T. If you have suggestions for a proposed bike lane, let D.O.T, your Community Board, and your Council person know. Letting all three know increases the chances of it happening. Support from community groups is also crucial.

5. POST-D.O.T. PRESENTATION DISCUSSION

Sharrow design
Thoughts on moving it to the middle of the lane?
Modelled after San Francisco, with center of the sharrows 11 feet from the curb, riding on the center keeps you out of the door zone. On Vanderbilt where the sharrows are placed in the lane has motorists going around cyclists into the other lane. Perhaps making the center yellow line a skip yellow line would let motorists know it's ok to go around.

Bike Smart Guide
Will these be produced in multiple languages? D.O.T. currently investigating this, perhaps someday, considering Spanish and Chinese.

TABK working with schools
To increase bike racks and to help promote Bike To School programs.

Bike lanes
Green paint is $5/square foot to install, but is the only option because blue and red have other meanings/purposes. Dashed lines leading up to and in intersections to warn cyclists is better than a solid green lane, which makes bikers feel protected when they should be looking out.

Arrows to show lane direction and limit wrong-way riding will possibly be installed in problem areas, but not to every lane.

D.O.T. is looking to partner with the N.Y.P.D. to ticket motorists who park in bike lane, and cyclists who run lights and commit other offenses. Remember - you can always call your precinct to report a car in a bike lane, the more calls from individuals the better.

6. ANNOUNCEMENTS

8/07, 8/14, 8/21, Summer Streets
8/21, T.A. Member Meet-Up at Brooklyn Boulders, sign up to help at the T.A. table for the night and climb at a discount!

9/12, NYC Century Bike Tour
9/17, Park(ing) Day

10/09, Bike Parade celebrating bike safety and Prospect Park West

TBD August joint ride with TA BK and TA QNS, meandering the borough borders
TBD Fall Scavenger Hunt

Next Meeting: Thursday, August 26th, 7pm, Cobble Hill Community Room