Bike Rack Switcheroo: Remsen to Hicks

By on May 11, 2013 7:01 pm in Brooklyn Heights, News, Traffic, Transportation

As the photo shows, racks for the Citi Bike Share program have been placed along the west side of Hicks Street going south from Montague, in front of Heights Cafe, Dellarocco’s, and J McLaughlin. According to BHB Ten 2012 honoree Sahmi Rum, who mourns the loss of parking spaces, the racks were moved from Remsen Street because of complaints from residents of 60 Remsen, at the corner of Hicks and across the street from the racks’ previous location. As the photo below shows, that stretch of Remsen is now bike rack free.

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  • Robert Swartz

    As a resident of 60 Remsen, I’m surprised to hear we were the source of any complaints – the bike racks were across the street. My understanding is the racks had to be moved because the portion in front of the townhouses adjacent to the Bossert didn’t have the required clearance on the sidewalk. Saw the crew first placing the racks on Hicks alongside the Bossert, not sure why they couldn’t place them there and spare the parking spaces…

  • DG

    How does this square with the blog’s narrative about the DOT not listening to the community?

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

    This proves just how flexible the system is. I hope it will shut-up the naysayers.

  • David on Middagh

    Is there a neighborhood liason for this project?

    Unless they just did it, The Powers That Be also need to remove one section from the array at the base of Clinton St. (CPW/Tillary). As others have noted in other threads, the kiosk blocks the crosswalk.

  • petercow

    It should. Will it? Is that a trick question?

  • north heights res

    More parking spaces lost. I think it’s possible to support this program while at the same time question the placement of some of the racks and the loss of parking. The bike racks plus some other DOT decisions over the last year have meant probably a loss of about 100 parking places (maybe more?) in the neighborhood. I can’t disagree with those who point out that free parking is a luxury (it is), but given the realities of the neighborhood (that parking can be a nightmare), that street parking is currently permitted, and that some of us need cars for work, the trend is dismaying.

    And just to point out again: I do support the bike share program. I think it’s gone overboard in this neighborhood, but I do support it.

  • fake

    no matter what you think of the bike program…idiot NIMBYs. sometimes i can’t stand BH. bunch of whiners.

  • Dove

    It is a really dumb plan What if some fool rides the sidewalk and hits someone. They will sue the city. No helmet required? Dumb

  • petercow

    >. I can’t disagree with those who point out that free parking is a luxury (it is),

    ‘Nuff said. And I own a car.

  • stuart

    as soon as a new mayor is elected and a sensible DOT commissioner is in place, these idiotic eyesores will vanish. When we look back, it will all seem like a bad dream.

  • stuart

    don’t let the door slam you in the rear as you leave honey bun.

  • David on Middagh

    I’ve always thought it was dumb not to require helmets inside of automobiles. Well, if you’re going to be consistent…

  • Jorale-man

    Yes, it is a bit odd actually. The original placement behind the Bossert seemed pretty harmless. There was no residential or business entrance on that corner and the sidewalk on Remsen is very wide.

    Even with the move up the block, I’m not buying the parking space argument. Why shouldn’t there be as many parking spaces for bikes as there are for cars? To own a car in a neighborhood with as much subway access as Brooklyn Heights is highly questionable anyway.

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

    Your comment strikes me as that of a bucktoothed, inbred, imbecile… now that’s Dumb.

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

    Sorry Stewy, the bikes are here to stay, hopefully, the’ll run you out of town…

  • PB

    If the clearance in front of the brownstone is the issue I wonder why they didn’t just remove the few docks in front of the brownstone?

    Or move from the sidewalk to the parking spaces on Remsen at the same location?

    I suppose the new location is higher visibility but selfishly, I’m a short block closer to the old location! ;-)

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.”

    –Mark Twain, epigram to Huckleberry Finn

  • stuart

    delta-minus moron.

  • Tony

    Nothing wrong with a bike share in a few carefully selected spots, but this has gone too far. If you want to reduce car congestion in New York, we need to improve mass transit: better subways, trains, buses, ferries, trolleys—a modern, integrated system. Anybody who thinks we’re going to be like Amsterdam is deluding himself. Amsterdam is an old city with narrow streets and is completely flat. New York is none of those things. These bike racks are an ill-conceived eyesore, and I predict they’ll be gone in a few years.

  • Jorale-man

    It’s not just Amsterdam. Below is a map of all of the cities around the U.S. that are getting bike share programs this year alone (in addition to cities like Boston, DC and Portland where it already exists). The momentum is definitely behind this and it’s encouraging to see that NYC is on the leading edge of a trend rather than playing catch-up:

    http://www.wnyc.org/blogs/transportation-nation/2013/apr/22/map-which-cities-will-launch-bike-share-2013/

  • Joe A

    Wanna bet?

  • Joe A

    Lol. The stupidity of some people is really staggering. Nothing in life is risk free my friend. Do you think anybody has ever been hurt by automobiles in the city? How about busses? Trains? How many people have fallen while walking and sued the city? Why don’t you completely entomb yourself in plastic bubble wrap and hibernate in your apartment if you are so fearful of the world.

  • Joe A

    For a bike share program to really work the bike stands have to be ubiquitous. They have to be near where people live and where people want to go or they won’t be used. Nobody wants to wall 10 minutes to a park to get a bike, ride to another park and walk 10 more minutes to work. They have to be as close to the user as someone who is parking his car would like it to be.

  • Heights Observer

    Can’t wait for the first real NYC winter blizzard. You know, the kind that turns the streetscape into a lunar surface. I imagine that the bikes and racks will not fare well when streets are plowed and people shovel. Ya think people are not going to cover these with snow?

    There are too many of these bike racks. They should have phased them in with smaller racks. There are. Some places in Manhattan which have 50 to 60 bikes. That is overkill. The entire plan is doomed to failure. This is NY NOT London or Amsterdam.

  • Heights Observer

    I’m with Stuart. Will vote for anyone who dismantles the bike lanes and racks. We always hear about the danger of bikes and cars, but never hear about the dangers to pedestrians from speeding bikes.

  • petercow

    Thanks for those fact-free paragraphs.

  • petercow

    No pedestrian has been killed by cyclist since 2009 – and then it was one, I believe.

    About 3 or 4 people are killed every week in NYC by autos, and many more injured.

  • petercow

    Yeah, because BQE, Canal Street, Brooklyn Bridge.. you name it.. is LIVING THE DREAM, isn’t it?

  • petercow

    Public street parking for privately owned cars is a luxury – and even here in posh BH, car ownership is not something for the majority; just as it isn’t for the city as a whole.

    These bikes are for everyone to use – just as the subway and bus system are.

  • Heights Observer

    Fact: there are places in Manhattan – Astor Place and 6th Ave and 21 st Street that have 50 – 60 bike spaces. Have you not seen them?

    Fact : New York has blizzards far in excess of what London and Amsterdam get and that will complicate the program. (Did you ever travel there or shovel snow in NYC, petercrow?)

    Fact: Many bike riders are inconsiderate of anyone they encounter be it auto or pedestrian.

    Fact: More bikes travel on the sidewalk than autos.

    Fact: More bikes go the wrong way on one way streets than autos.

    Fact: More bikes go through red lights than autos.

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