Held at the Cobble Hill Community Meeting Room

Housekeeping

New officers were elected in January, among them Inbar as secretary, however she has recently been hired by the D.O.T. (Department of Transportation) for their bike outreach program and therefore had to step down from a leadership role in TABK. Jill Peterson and Pippa Brashear will be sharing the role as co-secretaries.

Initiatives

Car-free Prospect Park

led by Mark Guralnick

Mark attended the GAPCO (Grand Army Plaza Community Organization) meeting this past week where the D.O.T. discussed the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue, which has proven to be a dangerous area.

A start date of July 5th has been set for an 18th month project to improve this area, in three phases: the sewers, the road and the median. There will be reconstruction and reconfiguration of the road/median area.

Also discussed was the need for more signage and better enforcement at the north edge pedestrian crossing by the 77th precinct.

Mark also attended a meeting of the D.O.T. and the North Flatbush Business Improvement Distric, [http://www.nfbid.com/] the purpose of which was scoping the safety and pedestrian experience of the 7th Ave., Flatbush, Carlton and Park Place area. The NFBID is a great group who wants a bike lane, better bike parking and general improvements to the area.

The question was asked if the TA Traffic Monitoring Kit has been used at Grand Army Plaza, and although that hasn't been done to anyone's knowledge, a study once done at GAP showed that only a few hundred cars an hour pass through, suggesting a re-routing would not have a terrible impact should the entire plaza become car-free. Apparently a plan is in the works for bike/ped improvement which should be presented by the D.O.T. in the coming weeks.

Fort Greene/Clinton Hill bike network presentation by Mike Epstein

Mike created a wonderful presentation you can see here: bit.ly/bMQWLz showing where there are breaks in the bike lanes that go through Fort Greene and Clinton Hill and proposing small connections to create a more contiguous experience.

This was presented to the transportation committee of Community Board 2, who voted unanimously to present it to the entire Community Board, who last night voted unanimously to present it to the D.O.T. and suggest a study of the area with Mike's suggestions (which were compiled from TABK meetings and input).

This weekend's monthly ride on Sunday, March 14th, will look at these proposed improvements. The ride will meet in front of BAM at 11am. (the ride was postponed, stay tuned for new date)

Campaign to get bike racks on buses

Staten Island-Brooklyn led by Mike Lydon

  S79 bus that goes from Staten Island to Brooklyn is the first place being looked at for possible bike rack addition. First Mike is looking into who are the right people at MTA to pick up this project (as it has been attempted in the past).

  It was brought up that in 1977, there was a bike bus over the Verranzano bridge where bikes were brought inside the bus for basic transport - one stop in S.I., one stop in Brooklyn. Can this or other ideas for the simple transport of bikes be reconsidered? A bikes-only jitney that goes once an hour? Shuttles on demand for weekends?

One major roadblock to getting bike racks attached to buses is the amount of space available at the bus depots, they are parked bumper to bumper and in the current situation there is no room for any permanent racks. Which begs the question, are there removable options? Mike is contacting the rack manufacturers to investigate this.

Mike and Paco are meeting with Pete Lang and Geoffrey Celis of S.I. subcommittee to discuss what are the best next steps at the committee levels on both sides of the bridge.

Other initial steps are talking to S.I. riders, creating a survey, looking at other programs such as the Westchester fiasco where they might just be abandoning their programand dumping the racks.

What about a design competition? The challenge: creating a removable rack that allows buses to take up the same amount of space in the depot as they would without the racks. We could promote this contest on design sites, at schools, on transportation forums which could really get the word out about the whole concept of bikes on buses, even if doesn't immediately lead to a perfect solution.

Important to note: NYC is one of the last few places that doesn't include racks on their buses.

Announcements

Critical Mass ruling

A ruling was made by the federal district courtthat 50 bicyclists riding together constitutes a parade and therefore needs a permit.

This is unfortunate but it is not the end of the line, apparently the ruling can be appealed, the question is whether it will be. The best way for the biking community to respond is to complain as individuals to our representatives.

While the TA does not endorse getting ticketed, we shouldn't shy away from group rides. It is still a bit unclear whether a long line of bikes is considered a parade (because the road is not blocked) and who gets the ticket if a group is cited - the leader? each rider? Share your experiences with the group and with your representatives.

NYPD relations

Tickets are being given on the Brooklyn Bridge for not riding in the bike lane, which is actually not illegal  (see TA's link to Bicycling Laws: http://www.transalt.org/resources/laws). Members are attending the 84th Precinct Community Council meeting next Tuesday at Borough Hall at 7pm, please contact Summer Greenstein (summergreenstein[at]gmail.com) if you are interested in going. Getting 10 people to go would have a greater impact so please show up if you can. Be aware that sometimes the meetings are canceled so get in touch before heading out.

The group attending the meeting will be telling their stories about erroneous ticketing as well as the constant blockage of the bike lane on Henry street. If the group can bring photos showing the blocked lane, that would be extremely helpful.

Some cities have held workshops with the police in the past, because often bike rules aren't well understood and police often are responding to complaints by motorists rather than specific laws being broken by cyclists. TA has an ongoing effort to arrange such a workshop, but it has yet to happen.

Although police can often be unresponsive to being told "what the rules really are" it doesn't hurt to have a copy of TA's Biking Rules on hand.

Updates and Ideas

The Future of 4th Avenue meeting was attended by a few TABK members who said there were over 200 attendees. There's a big push to do a summer streets event there, which is encouraging.

There's a Bike Valet starting at the Park Slope Food Co-op, starting sundays April-November. If you are a member, they are looking for squad leaders!

The idea was raised of having meetings in the Co-op meeting room which can be booked for community events, or even trying to get the Cobble Hill Community Room again, since its closer to the subway than the Long Island Hospital location where meetings are usually held.

Letter Writing

To the new chairperson of City Council's Transporatation Committee, Jimmy Vacca. He says he's all in favor of bike lanes as long as there's some common sense applied. Well we think so too! Wrote to share our thoughts on sensible bike lanes.

Upcoming events

March 11th, 5:30p, CB14 and CB7 Park Circle Walk Through with D.O.T. 

Sunday Group Ride - March 14th - to be rescheduled due to rain. Meet at 11am outside BAM, see important changes through Fort Greene and Clinton Hill proposed in Mike Epstein's presentation

Ride Brooklyn spring kick-off weekend - festivities entire weekend March 19th-21st. VOLUNTEER tabling opportunity MARCH 20th, 12-4pm. Sign up for a 2 hour shift to help spread some TA love. Email Paco sublte116[at]gmail.com

East River Bridges Walk - March 21th - Leaving York St. Station at 9:30, Roosevelt Island @ 10:30am. Noah is leading a walking tour over East River Bridges.  see the itinerary: http://bit.ly/b9RArV

NEXT TA BK meeting - March 25th, though we may instead all, as a group, go to the planning workshop for the BK Greenway workshop. Stay tuned for details.