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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  • Wiley E.

    Where are all the bikes, and all the riders? Let us revisit this topic in a couple of months.

  • Joe A

    The naysayers are so pleasant aren’t they?

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

    How about you hop on a Citi Bike and take a nice ride and enjoy?

  • bk

    I cant wait for all you citibike idiots to get hit by NYC traffic. This program looks good on paper but doesnt work in reality. The bikes havent even launched yet and there are so many issues. It wont last. NYC isnt like every other city and this program will not make it. I bet a ton of stations will have to be moved and or removed. There are 2 on my block alone in BK. Are you cyclists that lazy that you need 2 stations within a 90 second walk of each other?

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

    You must not get out much, bicycles are already ubiquitous in NYC. Check out any of the major bike routes; you’ll see a almost continuous stream of cyclists commuting to and from work or just about any number of other activities. Bike Share will flourish and NYC will be a better place.

    Your negative comments are baseless and moronic.

  • Joe A

    Why is NY not like Paris or London or Washington or the dozens and dozens of cities where bike share programs are hugely successful? What makes NY particularly unique that it would not work here when it’s worked so many other places?

  • mucow

    The docks can be rotated in-place, so you can have the bikes perpendicular to the sidewalk, slanted, etc. If you google around for photos of capital bikeshare (the DC system) stations, you’ll see what I mean.

  • Wade Oates

    Hey Arch Stanton, you are a beautiful person with a blessed life. Please continue to be that way.

  • Wade Oates

    Monroe, there is no point in debating someone who has decided that being stubborn is more important than coming to conclusions. You’re a great person, :)

  • Wade Oates

    Aren’t the tickets we get already enough? The “era of crime” is over. Why the need to invent new crimes? The way things are going, by 2030 there will be tickets for coughing because of the “Public health risks” hahaha.

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

    Thanks sonny.

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