Open Thread Wednesday 10/13/10

By on October 13, 2010 1:07 am in Brooklyn Heights

Flickr photo by taylor77

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  • T.K. Small

    One of the few things that I dislike about the Internet is the anonymity of posting comments.

  • Monty

    On a more positive note, I had a nutella crepe from the Fresh Cafe Bar inside the Clark St station and it was actually quite good.

  • AEB

    No, no, no , no! Do we live in a theocracy? No one should be permitted to park in the bike lane on Sundays, or all should be able to park there all the time–rendering the bike lane extinct, or at least useless.

    It doesn’t matter whether church services take two hours or two minutes. I understand that there’s a certain realpolitik involved, but selective enforcement is just that.

    PS, would the cops turn a blind eye to people in front of a mosque? I think not.

  • XYZ

    Dear my2: You were crying a river that you got a parking ticket outside 20 Henry as you like many others were not able to interpret the existing sign properly, but were referring to hidden signs instead.

    I lived in the city for a long time without a car, but my current job makes it necessary as public transportation will take me about 2.5 hours to get to work provided I make one of the only 2 daily bus connections in each direction.

    You should appreciate that I am paying for parking as otherwise I would be cruising the neighborhood for parking 5 evenings a week.

    My point is you either enforce the rules equally or not at all. And that is not limited to parking only. I dont understand why a “No parking Fire lane” is being handled differently for an MD while everyone gets tickets and even towed. There was a reason that that spot was designated a fire zone. Now a MD makes those circumstances magically disappear?

  • Leah

    I am just wondering if anyone knows anything about the horrendous burning plastic smell that woke me and my husband out of a sound sleep at 2 or 3 a.m. this morning. The smell was powerful–went through the whole house. My husband went outside and walked around with tons of other people seeking an answer. The air still smells this morning. Nothing on the news. We live in the Willowtown area. Anybody know anything?

  • weegee

    Jersey City had a 4-alarmer in a waterfront scrapyard going all night. Brooklyn and Queens got numerous calls on it.

  • smoke

    It is/was apparently a huge fire in New Jersey as per someone who called the FDNY early this morning.

  • smoke
  • nabeguy

    It would appear that the word seems to have gotten out to the Presbyterians. At 9:40 this morning, the bike lane was clear…but Clark Street was completely lined on the south side.

  • Leah

    Thanks for your info–you’re right. Unbelievable the smoke and smell reached so far!

  • my2cents

    AEB, if you ever left this neighborhood on a sunday, you’d learn that houses of worship all over the city, and indeed all over the country receive similar “preferential treatment” from the police. Get over it. Go up to Harlem and see how they park 3 cars deep outside the churches! Then complain about congestion!

  • my2cents

    XYZ, didn’t your mother ever teach you that life isn’t always fair?
    Sheesh. Why don’t you go to medical school and get an MD permit yourself if you are so jealous about parking in fire zones. In my case, I paid my ticket, and I merely wanted to take revenge on the city for their deceptive signage, by posting signs warning others, and hence costing the city money in lost ticket revenue. I accomplished that goal, and in so doing proved that in fact the signs WERE deceptive because when I posted my signs, no one parked there! I never complained about others getting preferential treatment or whined about church and state (!). The city changing the sign didn’t negatively affect anyone else’s quality of life. Rather, it was a small win in carving out a few extra legal spots in the nabe. Although my situation was parking related, it really bears no comparison to this bike lane thing.

  • AEB

    m2, still doesn’t make it right, the Sunday parking. The issue is whether custom trumps (flouted) law. It doesn’t.

    As I have neither a car nor a bike, I have no investment in one form of transpiration over another.

    And I DO get out of BH on Sundays, though as plans or inclination direct.

    PS, Grateful to have the info on the small. Woke up at four AM and was certain something electrical was very wrong in my apartment and/or building. Whew!

  • Arch Stanton

    My2Cents, I see you didn’t take my challenge and come up with a logical defense on your point of view…. instead you write a couple of paragraphs of drivel…

  • nabeguy

    Enough with the ganging up on my2. Nobody said a damned word about this situation before the city ran a green stripe up the street.
    Now we have police officers stationed there to deal with the controversy that it created.
    Sorry if you hate precedents but, as wrong as they may be, the ones that apply to houses of worship are tough to overcome. Just look outside any synagogue on Saturday or any church on Sunday and you’ll see parking laws flouted. Is it right? No. Is it accepted? By most rational people, yes.

  • Arch Stanton

    Nabeguy with all respect, There is no ganging up going on here, if my2cents is going to start hurling phrases like “STFU” and make weak arguments then my2 gets to receive whats coming…. Yes I know Churches often get parking privileges bestowed upon them and I have no problem with that, as long as it doesn’t block or otherwise interfere with traffic. But this case is different; there is a bike lane there now it may have not been there all along but it is there now. and the police should not be placed there to direct traffic, solely for the purpose of providing free parking for some churchgoers.

  • T.K. Small

    At least it is not just in front of the Presbyterian Church. Today when I drove along Henry Street, from Montague to Joralemon there were cars all along the bike path, some even on the sidewalk. If I was an adjacent property owner, this would particularly irritate me.

  • Eddy de Lectron

    Anyone watch the debate tonight? My vote is torn between the ex hooker and the “rent is too damn high” guy…

  • my2cents

    I have made plenty of logical arguments in past threads on this topic Arch. I also provided you precedents, with comparisons to other areas where the same approach is taken by the police, and finally with evidence from CrashStat.org that there is no safety issue and never has been. I done made my point, yo.

    Thanks for sticking up, Nabeguy.

  • Arch Stanton

    @ my2cents,

    You have made no logical arguments here because you have none.
    Just making “comparisons to other areas where the same approach is taken by the police” is not a logical defense for them flouting the law…
    That is the same as saying; the corruption in government is okay because that’s the way it is and has been for so long… If everyone thought like that Tammany Hall would still be in power… dogmatic.

    You say you provided “evidence from CrashStat.org that there is no safety issue and never has been” Sorry but that is one of the most idiotic arguments I have ever heard in my entire life. Just because there has never been a recorded bicycle accident on that block, does not mean there is no safety issue caused by cars blocking a bike lane.
    that is the same as saying; It’s okay to drive drunk because you’ve done it so many times and never had an accident. the problem with your line of thinking is; someone always has to be seriously injured or killed before something is considered a safety hazard… Yes you “made your point”, its about as sharp as a rubber ball…

    Nabeguy, It is not clear where you stand on this issue. Earlier in this thread you said you were “somewhat abashed that the city actually acquiesced to the point of putting a traffic guard on the scene…at taxpayers expense” then you say “Is it right? No. Is it accepted? By most rational people, yes”. Are you saying we should not try to stop illegal parking in bike lanes because it’s the status quo?
    Also, I argue that most people don’t accept the situation because are being “rational” it’s more like, they are just not being impinged upon by it…

  • my2cents

    Arch, there are plenty of people who see this from the same POV as I do. So i don’t really care you agree with me. I like though that you actually reject the objective fact that no accident has happened there. If you zoom out on the map and look at the staggering number of bike accidents and fatalites at other places in the city (park slope is among the worst in Bklyn), you might realize that your zeal and energy could be better spent on problem areas that are real rather than imagined…

  • constructive anon

    You do realize that noone is listening to you folks as you scratch each others eyes out, right? If you believe in the merits of your arguments, write a real letter, on paper, and send it to your local electeds: City Council, Assembly and Senate (and maybe even Boro President if you think it relates to a rock concert or business in China), and press for meaningful reform. Then, follow up with the staff of the electeds, or the elected themselves, who have offices and office hours. And, vote. Or write a letter to the local press to get more publicity, and thus leverage, for your position. But making ad hominem attacks ain’t going to get you very far and will only make you feel good for a little bit, leaving you in the exact same position as a few minutes before (see, e.g. “Waiting for Godot”).

  • AEB

    Someone–poster Peter Kaufman–DID exactly what you suggest, constructive:

    http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/21260

    But it seems as if the police still look the other way….

  • Pierrepont

    Let’s just all agree that New York is trying to become more bike-friendly, and that while that is a laudable goal, most drivers in the city treat cyclists like pigeons. Until there are barricaded bike lines (e.g., Tillary between Flatbush Extension and Cadman Plaza West) everywhere, it’s not going to work.

    May work in Amsterdam, but it’s not going to work here. (Of course, NYC is five or six times the size of Amsterdam.) If a big congestion charge is levied on all vehicles entering Manhattan, that might change. Make it high enough, and yes, you’ll be able to bike up and down Broadway from bottom to top. Will that be good for the economy? Probably not. It’s also bad politics. But then, if climate change occurs, most of our fair city will be underwater in 100 years, so kayaking may prove more useful than cycling.

  • Constructive Anon

    Now what did I do to merit “awaiting moderation”?

  • T.K. Small

    This does not speak to the situation on Henry Street or the other bicycle lanes, but what bothers me about the bicycle enthusiasts is a certain obliviousness to pedestrians and the rules of the road. Rarely do people on bicycles follow the rules and occasionally they hit people.

    I can say this with certainty, because I was hit on the Brooklyn Bridge. I was completely within the pedestrian lane and a bicycle swerved to avoid hitting another bicycle and crashed into me. Before he asked me whether I was okay or apologize, the person that crashed into me blamed the accident on the other bicycle. This is an example of the self-centered bicycle mentality and happens all the time. Last week on Smith Street a bicyclist went right through the crosswalk/red light and missed my chair by an inch. And, last night while crossing Henry Street from City Chemist towards Ann Taylor another biker did the same maneuver.There are times when I wish my wheelchair was more like a “Mad Max Vehicle” and I could take matters into my own hands.

    Certainly I want people to be healthier and for our environment to be less toxic and bicycling is a logical step in that direction, but the roads should not be completely modified towards this objective. Bicycles are not going to work for a large part of the population. Sure, if you are young & healthy using a bicycle is great, but the needs of seniors, parents/kids and people with disabilities also need to be accommodated. Drivers, bikers and pedestrians all need to be more careful and, at the very least, do a better job of tolerating one another.

  • constructive anon

    AEB-there’s power in numbers. One person is not a crowd. Make the road by walking–write a letter, get someone else to write a letter, start a petition and follow up. Respectfully, kvetching alone does not work and electeds are very responsive to those who present with a group. Indeed, one of their first questions will be “Who else is with you and how many are there with you?” A politician’s job is to count–the voters and who else will be pissed off if they go your way. Get a large group behind you, and the count between actual registered voter constituents versus out of neighborhood folks will go your way. Numbers matter in this kind of situation and, for the most part, nothing else, if you show that actual neighborhood residents and bicyclists (not those from out of the district) are significantly affected.

  • Arch Stanton

    @ my2cents,
    I’m sure you do have others that share your POV… whatever that is, as it looks like you’ve flip-flopped on this issue. On a Previous post titled “Victory” for Bike Lane Advocate, you are quoted as saying “I’m impressed that you succeeded in your curmudgeonly yet noble endeavor”…

    @ constructive anon, I was already doing just that… but thanks for the input.

    @ Pierrepont, I disagree that it is not going to work here. Cycling has exploded in popularity in this city. in no small part due to the now extensive network of bike lanes… I have been riding the in NYC for the past 4 decades and attest the conditions for cyclists have improved exponentially in recent years. It is working now.

    @ T.K. Small, I do understand what you mean by the “self-centered bicycle mentality”. There certainly some of “them”… but it is not right to label all cyclists as such. There are plenty of good cyclists as well. Remember it is usually the bad-eggs that stand out in any identifiable group.

  • nabeguy

    Yet again, this discussion seems to have veered off the lane Just to review…the Presbyterians build a church on Henry Street in 1847. For 166 years, the parishioners have congregated there on every Sunday to exercise their First Amendment rights as citizens. Part of that exercise includes the temporary privilege of parking their carriages or cars in front of the church during services, a privilege granted to every other house of worship throughout the city. Then the city decides to paint a green “bikers-only’ lane in front of it. And here we are again, pitting those who want to pedal their bikes against those who want to peddle their religion. As an agnostic, I’m not really on the side of the latter, but as a New Yorker, I am.

  • my2cents

    Arch, I wrote that just to be nice when Kaufman declared victory. I never changed my opinion that he should have left well enough alone. I was just giving him props for his stick-to-itiveness in his quixotic and ultimately fruitless exercise.

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