Disdain Over Citibike Stations Turns To Legal Action, Including 150 Joralemon Street

The Citi Bike Share program is now prompting more than simple community disdain. Add a collection of lawsuits against the city and its Department of Transportation—including one by the co-op board of 150 Joralemon Street.

Racks there are allegedly getting in the way of garbage collection, “with three other racks in a three-block vicinity offering some 70 bikes,” according to the New York Post. Resident Ken Wasserman, overseeing the lawsuit, says: “We were never notified we were selected until after everything was in place.”

Others fighting the citywide installations include West Village co-cop 99 Bank Street—and at least nine other properties, according to the Post. At 99 Bank, property owners, as reported by Curbed, say a bike station installed in a parking lane on the north side of Bank Street across from the Bleecker Street playground “severely endangers the health & safety of the residents of 99 Bank Street,” and that its placement violates a city rule that says no street furniture should be placed opposite a building entrance.

Crain’s says the official launch date is set for Memorial Day weekend.

In Brooklyn Heights, in addition to 150 Joralemon, stands are now at the corner of Remsen & Hicks, and Clark & Henry (outside of the Hotel St. George), with soon-to-be locations at Cranberry and Columbia Heights and Borough Hall.

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  • mucow

    So in Boston they’ve been removing the system in the winter, but due to high demand they’re going to keep it open starting this year. Same with Toronto and Montreal, iirc. They haven’t had any issues with snow removal in DC, either, as far I can tell.

  • mucow

    Tillary St. actually has a 2-way protected bike path on it, so you can get to and from the bridges and downtown Brooklyn very safely.

  • Shannysue

    I could not agree more regarding this location! It is terrible! It looks like this might work IF it were placed on a sidewalk, however this is a narrow street and it WILL BE DANGEROUS! I can’t wait to see what it looks like when the bikes are there. I just cannot see how they have space to safely navigate the bicycles on that corner!! Also the bike rack on Montague Street, to the right of Clinton! ARE THEY KIDDING ME? This street is SO CONGESTED with trucks,deliveries, parking garage. There are many Doctors offices on this stretch of the block. It takes away what little muni meter parking is available on this street which is horrible to begin with, and impedes access for access a ride, the elderly, and handicapped from getting to the Doctor. It just does not seem safe to have them in the street on such a busy street. I love the locations on the sidewalk! Great Idea…poorly executed. My biggest issue is the seemingly disproportionate number of city bike locations in Brooklyn Heights! At last count, just walking the neighborhood, I have seen at least 5 city bike locations just in the 11201 area code. Gimme a breakl! How many are there in other brooklyn hoods? Put them in the Cadman Plaza Park and/pr Brooklyn Bridge Park…not all over residential Brooklyn, concentrated in ONE neighborhhod! signed _Angry/Concerned Heights Resident

  • mucow

    Hey now. No need to throw stones, here.

  • Shannysue

    I saw the work crew and plnning team at that location, a week before the racks went in. They seemed perplexed. It appears as though this rack was planned for the side walk. They probably used city planning maps/blueprints to pick locations based on space. Problem is they didn’t realize there was a basement entrance for the deli on that side of the sidewalk that could not be blocked by a bike rack , as well as a second door/entrance to Tazza cafe which would not allow enough space for the rack on the sidewalk, so they put it in the street. I was really shocked when I saw it a week later. Super dangerous in this spot.

  • mucow

    Just fyi, here’s a (short) look at when the system in DC hit the one-year mark (it’s two years old now):
    http://beyonddc.com/log/?p=2939

    …in general, these systems have been very successful when done correctly, which means lots of stations, scattered densely.

  • MonroeOrange

    Waaahhhhh, I don’t control everything in the universe!!! Waahhhh!!!!

  • TeddyNYC

    It sounds more and more like this location may be a good candidate for relocation, especially if this location was picked without someone actually visiting the site beforehand.

  • Mike

    It’s also not a convenient spot to grab a bike and go if you’re coming from … well, anywhere. In front of an apartment building makes it useful for everybody in that building. Putting it in front of a business makes it useful to any customer of that business. How is this so hard for you to grasp?

  • s

    Please travel to Boston, DC, London, or Paris, all of which have bike share and continue to see properties across the city rise in value. It will happen here.

  • s

    There are 200 stations already installed. Only three or four have been vandalized…by NIMBYs!

    Run of the mill vandals have more respect!

  • Herschel

    Using Atlantic & Henry intersection as an example, this location alone will have significant impacts on Brooklyn Heights in ways I have yet to hear being mentioned…..

    [Disclaimer: I am a car driver. Don’t have a problem with the whole concept or bikes in general. Shame many don’t obey basic traffic laws and common human decency, but they’re really only putting themselves at risk. My car won’t crumple if a biker zooms up a one way street the wrong way with no regard for those who also the road in a completely legal manner].

    Anyhoo, for those that don’t remember. Henry Street only had one lane for through traffic for some time. This really hurt the road itself as cars turning east or west onto Atlantic backed up traffic behind them as completing turns in either direction was very slow, especially when the BQE and/or Atlantic are congested.

    After no parking was mandated 7-10 and 4-7 it facilitated 2 or 3 lanes for cars traveling down Henry. Those turning up or down Atlantic, or straight through. It allowed for much more traffic to flow out and through the intersection per green light.

    Now with the rack thingy taking up a lane and the newer curb cuts taking out another, we’re back to one lane for cars on Henry.

    Imagine a Saturday afternoon where the BQE is dealing with major congestion and just one or two cars are trying to turn on to Atlantic from Henry, the cascading delays on Henry, State, Joralemon streets will grow drastically. More car drivers will clog tertiary streets (thanks blizzard of 2010 for getting this word out there) and the whole area could experience a glut of idling cars.

    Now imagine this impact on some of the other critical intersections running through BH that these racks have been deployed to.

    This isn’t about bike vs. cars vs. parking spots vs. curmudgeon Jews: The choices to deploy this program at certain mega intersections will impact all of the above groups equally and painfully.

    Can’t wait to double park my BMW and grab a bike to complete the final few blocks of my Trader Joe’s run this summer.

  • Mike

    How obtuse can you be? You don’t need to back the bike out more than an inch or two. Nobody needs to veer.

    Drivers don’t suddenly lose half their field of vision because of Citibike. They won’t suddenly start ramming things (people, bikes, etc…) on the other side of the street.

    I ride across Tillary all the time. Wait for the light, and it’s no big deal.

    Finally, and most importantly, the racks are there, and they aren’t moving. Haha, we win, and you lose. Enjoy your pointless anger.

  • Eddyde

    I am for bike share.
    However, If bike riders and pedestrians get to use the streets for free why should drivers pay the city for parking?

  • Eddyde

    Exactly.

    There is no sense in arguing with morons, orange or any other color…

  • Eddyde

    5000 people signed up the first day alone! idiot.

  • Heights Fun

    I’m glad there are so many in the Heights. I live at one end of the neighborhood, and walking to the other end is often not convenient. I’ll get around the neighborhood much more often.

  • Heights Fun

    There’s a fee–it’s not “for free.”

  • Eddyde

    I was saying in general, cyclists get to park their bikes on the streets for free (not referring to bike share), pedestrians use streets for free. What is the reasoning in charging car owners for parking?

  • JT

    You are welcome. All one has to do is watch any morning to see adults, kids, people with baby strollers, older folks walking out into the traffic to get around the bike station to see that there is a problem there. I’m not against the bikes at all, but this rack is in a bad spot.

  • mac

    apparently you don’t drive. the “no standing” zone on Clark was only 15 feet long, they took a good 60 ft for racks, plus another 20 ft on both ends of the racks for who knows what…how does that equal to no parking loss?

  • s

    You’re kidding, right? Drivers don’t pay for parking except at meters.

    Citi Bike members will, in fact, pay for parking. They pay membership fees and overage fees.

    Would you prefer to pay market rates for on-street parking? Because you’d probably be paying at lest $400/month.

  • s

    How impatient and aggressive was the driver who sped through an intersection and killed Martha Atwater on the sidewalk?

  • Hicks St Guy

    this isn’t Syracuse,M/O, a little exaggeration perhaps?

  • David on Middagh

    Eddyde, I’m guessing that in days of yore, people could temporarily hitch up their horses freely, too, but owned or rented stable space. This is the bicycle situation: Temporarily hitch up to something outside, but bring it home/inside for the night. (I don’t recommend that anyone leave their own bicycle on public property for a day or more—they are vulnerable, and add to the clutter.)

    As for free city bike fixtures on the sidewalk (or in the road—not talking about the bike share racks), they take up space whether full or not, but so do rows of free newspaper dispensers, free municipal corner garbage cans, and no-surcharge mail boxes—all community conveniences which some use and some don’t.

  • PB

    And just think about how great the system will be once they install rack the length of Court Street in Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens and along Smith Street.

    It will make running errands in these neighborhoods sooooo much easier. If I were a business owner along either of those retail stretches I’d be falling all over myself trying to get a rack installed in front of my business.

    After all, which will bring in more customers, 3 parking spaces for 3 cars or 30 bike racks for 30 bikes?

  • PB

    I was curious as to whether your observation was correct and so I took a look at:

    http://citibikenyc.com/stations

    I think you’re wrong. At a glance you can see that the density of racks is no higher in Brooklyn Heights than it is anywhere else in the Brooklyn or Manhattan for that matter. (I also attached an image if you don’t want to go explore for yourself). If anything, it’s a little *less* dense here because our retail is so concentrated.

    And even if there *were* more racks in our neighborhood, I think it would be fair. After all, we have a major density of residents (as opposed to say, Midwood or even most of Park Slope), of jobs, and of subway stations. All of those lead to greater demand for the bike stations — both for pick-up and drop-off.

  • Joe A

    Ugh.

  • MonroeOrange

    i;ve been to all of those places, however you fail to mention Denmark, where the bike program cost $0.25….is a much better model….

  • MonroeOrange

    Hey again, once again you are wrong!…its in the no standing zone, but now the 4 spots before and after are no standing…which were all parking.