Citi Bike Share Prompting Ire—And Vandalism

By on April 24, 2013 11:05 am in Brooklyn Heights, Government, Landmark Preservation, News, Other Brooklyn, Transportation, War On Fun

WINS-AM (1010) reported this morning from Brooklyn Heights that the newly installed Citibank-sponsored bike-share stands in the neighborhood are not only irritating residents—who voiced on-air that they don’t fit in with the historic tenor of the Heights—but have become a target for anti-corporate brouhaha throughout the borough.

The New York Post reports that in Fort Greene, flyers were plastered along a Citibike station saying: “Residential landmark blocks are not for advertising or commercial activity.” Similar messages have popped up in Clinton Hill.

Brownstoner notes that residents are complaining that they were not consulted about specific bike-share locations—also pointing out that advertising isn’t allowed on landmarked residential blocks.

In the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, residents of 150 Joralemon Street oppose a station installed in front of their building. Kenneth Wasserman tells the newspaper: “It’s inappropriate. This is a very busy block during the day and it’s very quiet at night. To have 25 docks out there without anybody notifying us beforehand really pisses us off.”

A Landmarks Preservation Commission spokeswoman told the NY Post, “We approved the plan for the installation of bike share stations in historic districts throughout the city because they have no effect on the historic fabric of those neighborhoods.”

Councilwoman Letitia James (D-Brooklyn), who supports the program, will host a town hall meeting Wednesday to address growing concerns about the new stations in Brooklyn. It will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Benjamin Banneker Academy in Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, 71-77 Clinton Avenue.

In Brooklyn Heights, stands are now at the corner of Remsen & Hicks, Clinton & Joralemon and Clark & Henry (outside of the Hotel St. George), with soon-to-be locations at Clark & Montague and Borough Hall.

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  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Only a presumptuous a$$ such as yourself would claim to know what the “majority” of people think with out having any evidence to back it up. I too have lived here all my life, i do not claim to know what everyone i know thinks of the Bike Share program but the few that I have actually talked to about it, are in favor of it.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Thanks Claude for being one of the few “conscientious pedestrians” If everyone was as aware there would be few accidents.

  • Joe A

    Another asinine comment by our Naysayer-in-Chief. So of the thousands of people you know in BH not one, not one, thinks its a good idea? Amazing. You are truly special.

  • Barbara

    There are also 25 docks for bikes in front of Cadman Towers at 10 Clinton Street, at the end of Clinton Street and Cadman Plaza West here in the Heights, and the residents are not at all pleased with this. Petitions against it have been signed by many of the building’s residents.

  • Jazz

    You are too kind Claude. Bike riders are a menace.

  • MonroeOrange

    Yes the bridge was built for no reason…if the bridge wasn’t there, you would never have missed it, and 3 million dollars wouldn’t have been wasted…and im certainly no shut in…i walk down suicide hill daily and back up it. I grew up here, and as did my family before me, i think i have a good idea, what this neighborhood needs and doesn’t…and a 3 million dollar waste of a bridge is not what the hood needed.

  • MonroeOrange

    please call me names..im not resorting to that childish behavior am i?…no….I’ve spoken to hundrends of people and they all hate the bike racks…so not claiming i know what everyone thinks, but from the 100s of people i’ve spoken to, they are all against it…and before you generalize everyone i know is an A$$ as well, they aren’t, they are professionals, who have lived here for decades and care about our hood and our neighbors, even ones such as yourself who call people names for no reason…you must be very proud of your maturity. good luck to you in life with that horrible attitude.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I seriously doubt you spoke to 100’s of people on this matter, which make you a liar as well.
    Anyway, it doesn’t matter what you think or imagine. The Bike Share Program is here to stay, The LPC approved it the City of New York approved it and it’s in your face. I hope it drives you insane. LOL.

  • MonroeOrange

    im not making this up…petitions have been signed already at 10 clinton street…i don’t write on hear bc i like to spout untruths…i speak for many people here in BH, most of whom don’t post on this blog. but thanks for assuming all posts are ‘fallacious’.

  • MonroeOrange

    thanks again for callimg me another name…you are quite the intelligent debater…so now im a liar and an A$$….when people get injured, that will drive me insane…but once again, i care about our neighbors unlike you..

  • MonroeOrange

    bravo!..are you related to Bagel Boy?

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Now I see where you’re coming from. 10 Clinton, 101 Clark, 75 Henry and 140 CPW, Warehouses full of geriatric, whining, dogmatic NIMBYists, who cares what they or you think.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    The bridge was built to provide safer, more scenic access to the park. It is also ADA compliant, which the hill is not. That’s three good reasons.

  • MonroeOrange

    ADA yes…more scenic and safer? yeah the park is so scenic and safe, that is was closed years ago, due to safety reason…and the park is pretty scenic on its own…didn’t need a bridge to add to that. but keep trying…..

  • MonroeOrange

    Firstly, i don’t live in any of those buildings…look at my name and then you may get a clue where i live…

    wow..you are full of generalizations and downright hate….i don’t even want to debate you anymore..i just feel bad you go through life with so much hate…too bad Arch…too bad….if hating people makes you feel better about yourself..than its hard to continue this….shame on you Arch…you should feel very embarrassed about yourself after that last post…..

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I dont hate you, I just take exception to your misguided delusions. Besides, you shouldn’t talk, you have been spewing much hatred towards Bike Share, cyclists and the BBP foot bridge. Hypocrite.
    Well if Monroe and Orange intersected it would be approximately at CPW behind 75 Henry… oh, is it the parking garage?

  • GHB

    Wow! BH blog hasn’t seen this kind of action since old what’s-his-face on Montague Terrace took the last 3 train out of town!

  • Brixtony

    Here you go again – must be one of those arch neo-cons. Those buildings have a wide range of ages – see my other posts – I’m 66, will use the bike share but the rack in front of 10 Clinton blocks access to a well-used pedestrian route. There’s no room for strollers, wheelchairs and …yesterday two bikes had to wait to get through the narrow passage. I hope I don’t meet you in the street one day – exemplifier of whining, entitled and probably very sad and depressed. You need a smack in the NIMBY, creep.

  • MonroeOrange

    My misguided delusions…from the person, who just bad mouthed a whole group of apartment buildings, based on nothing…i know many people in those buildings Arch, and none of them fits your description…you are a sad sad sad excuse for a human being…im sorry i have to call you a neighbor…..

  • walkyourbikeonmysidewalkdouche

    Lookwhereyouaregoingdumbass, I hope the car/ truck driver that runs your a$$ over and drags you under his/her vehicles tires is as sympathetic to you when you step outside “your bike lane”

  • empty common

    And while you’re at it, why not get used to a boot up your rear?

  • walkyourbikeonmysidewalkdouche

    my argument is not about the racks and their advertisement, their strategic locations (illogical or not), or their intended use. As a pedestrian, and after living in NY all my life, I’d like to have the sidewalk all to myself. There are times when you cross the street when the light is in your favor and you have to deal with douchebags that think their in the tour de douche and never seem to stop before the cross walk (or often block it). The complain when motorist double park in “their bike lanes”, or when pedestrians are running or walking on their precious boundary, but they apparently have freedom to share the streets with motorist, yet forget they must follow the safety and traffic laws. Now I have to deal with them using the racks as an excuse to ride on the sidewalk. I think I may have found an alternative spot for my dogs to urinate

  • Andrew Porter

    It’s not apparent from the photo above how much space the racks take up in front of 140 Cadman Plaza West. I know that many people in that building are elderly, and use access-a-ride. Not clear how much space there is for them to disembark and go into the building.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Walked over it again today, there was a constant stream of people crossing many stopping to take pictures (scenic), yes safer too, no need to cross Furman St.

    “yeah the park is so scenic and safe, that is was closed years ago, due to safety reason” I vote that to be one of the most asinine comments ever made, on the BHB.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I rode my bike by 10 Clinton today
    The claims are completely unfounded. The Bike Share station is not on the sidewalk, is not in the crosswalk or bike lane, it’s not even in a travel or parking lane of the street. It is in an area that is striped off, meaning no vehicles are allowed to park there and pedestrians are not suppose to cross there. It blocks nothing.

    “You need a smack in the NIMBY, creep.” That is a TOS violation you should be banished.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I know people who live in those buildings, as well. They either fit that description or they complain that the buildings are full of people who fit that description.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    So in your feeble mind, Bicycles are more dangerous than cars?

  • Brixtony

    Let’s start with your hypocrisy, son. In just this one thread you have referred to your neighbors as an “a$$”, “asinine”, one has a “feeble mind”, another has “misguided delusions”, and the most obnoxious: calling residents of several buildings people who live in “warehouses full of geriatric, whining, dogmatic NIMBYists”. My mistake was taking any of your screeds as worthy of comment and stooping to your snarky levels of dialog.

    Just to correct your error about the space in front of 10 Clinton: 1) the diagonal lines restrict the space to vehicles, not pedestrians. It is, in fact, a pedestrian island. 2) There is a pedestrian zebra crossing across Clinton by the library that leads into the island, as well as a cut-out by 10 Clinton at the other end. The obvious path is truncated by the bike rack which forces people into the street , as I saw again this morning on the way to work. Take another, more careful look.

  • WellAdjustedAndroid

    This is interesting. I just got back from a 4 month work assignment in California. I live on Clinton and State and I’m pretty excited about this program and am fine with the proximity of bike share racks. There’s on on Clinton and Jorelamon and I believe there’s one on Henry and Atlantic too. I never bought a bike because storage and maintenance is a hassle for me. I wouldn’t use it for commuting, so having a quick and easy place to pick up a bike for a day ride is perfect for me!

    I am a little confused about the pricing structure though…I get unlimited rides for $95 a year right? I can bring the bike back to any station? But you can only have it within certain hours right? What if there’s no room at the one closest to me? I presume I have to find a rack space and then walk home. I’ll have to see how that works on busy days. It may be more trouble than its worth than say on a Saturday afternoon in late spring.

    Also: I seriously hope this prevents companies from getting filming permits for these locations. At least its something for the residents of the neighborhood – not imported workers and Hollywood producers.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    Okay Pops,
    I did walk by 10 Clinton and yes indeed, pedestrians are meant to walk across part of the striped off area, between the curb cuts, of which there is a clear unobstructed path. There is no official crossing point obstructed by the Bike Share station. If the residents of 10 Clinton want to take a shortcut to the “library corner” they would have to either walk through the Bike Share station of walk a whopping 20 feet out of their way, to circumvent it.

    By the way if you remember (check Google street view), there was a concrete divider there, which was more of a impediment than the Bike Share station.

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