Mayor:

14 replies [Last post]

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 12:47pm

Anonymous

"[The title of this thread should have been, Mayor: ""Bikes have to pay attention"".]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/opinion/29sullivan.html?pagewanted=all

And yet, here in New York, we even have the debate over bicycle traffic backwards. We focus on drivers’ complaints about the bicycle commuter who races through red lights, rather than on the concerns of the mother biking her child around organic-food delivery trucks that idle in bike-only lanes. In December, the police say, a bicyclist was killed on the Hudson River Greenway by a drunken driver speeding along a bike lane that was completely separated from the road. Asked what was being done to improve safety in light of the biker’s death, Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested that bikers “pay attention.”

“Even if they’re in the right, they are the lightweights,” he told a reporter.

Read the Villager article quoted in Streetsblog, and see Charlie Komanoff's response at the bottom of the page.

The Mayor seems to think that there are 10,000 people in a typical Critical Mass ride. And if a cyclist gets run over in the Greenway by a drunken driver in a BMW, well, ""bikes have to pay attention.""
"

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 1:20pm

Evan Marks (not verified)

Hypocrite

The very same mayor who begged people to ride their bikes to work during the transit strike.

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 2:00pm

Mordecai Silver (not verified)

Yes, and he even threatened that he would ride one himself

"But he donated it to a boy when the strike was over.

As a letter to the Times said, ""The mayor's implicit message is that bikes are only for emergencies and otherwise are just for kids.""
"

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 4:32pm

Evan Marks (not verified)

Idle threat

You didn't believe him, did ya?

Me neither.

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 4:08pm

Anyone (not verified)

Bloomberg and the School Bus Mess

At a press conference when asked about the Dept. of Education's cutting school bus services requiring some 5 year olds to take public transportation, Bloomberg said the city has limited monies.

Gee I wish there was a knowledgeable reporter there who would have followed up with a question about how the police department spent about a million dollars last year chasing bicyclists.

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 5:37pm

Colleen (not verified)

school bus mess

here's another way they're saving money on buses--skipping several stops that they've made for years by driving past them and making the kids walk a lot farther to get home. it's the express school bus instead of the local--not quite sure how this saves much money, but i'm sure there's a very reasonable explanation that someone came up with somewhere. sorry, not bike related, except that maybe i should now ride down to the stop to meet my daughter.

Thu, 02/01/2007 - 5:13am

rjb (not verified)

city out of money?

....when he just proudly mentioned last week that nyc has a SURPLUS of x-billion dollars!! (can't remember the sum)

Thu, 02/01/2007 - 10:49am

Mordecai Silver (not verified)

And of course there's always money for new stadiums

"http://therealestate.observer.com/stadiums/

City Likely to Pony Up More for Yankee and Mets Stadiums

Fresh on the heels of news that the city's planning to pay double in subsidies for Atlantic Yards--a nugget Norman Oder broke on his blog--comes word that the city will also likely pay a lot more than originally planned for the new Yankee and Mets stadiums.

Mayor Bloomberg's preliminary capital budget, released last week, has $586 million in funds set aside for the stadiums, up from an original $360 million, according to the Village Voice. And this funding doesn't include tax and lease breaks.

Play ball, indeed.

- Tom Acitelli"

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 7:26pm

mm (not verified)

if you fight for your right, you might end up fighting for your life.

Tue, 01/30/2007 - 8:55pm

Joe S. (not verified)

Bloomberg on cyclists

"A slight extension of the mayor's logic would lead me to conclude that victims of muggings are at fault for not ""paying attention"". After all, ""even if they're in the right"", between them and the mugger with a weapon, ""they are the lightweights""."

Wed, 01/31/2007 - 6:29am

#10

mm (not verified)

i don't think the drivers of the cars intentionally set out to harm the cyclists.

Wed, 01/31/2007 - 7:07am

#11

Joe S. (not verified)

True enough, hence my description of the analogy as an extension. While the drivers are not intentionally harming cyclists, I wouldn't dismiss their behaviour as mere negligence either. Many of the reports I've read indicate what I would consider reckless disregard which, when operating a 2+ ton vehicle, is utterly reprehensible, and worthy of far greater punishment than is typically handed down in these cases.

Wed, 01/31/2007 - 7:23am

#12

Richard Rosenthal (not verified)

"Are you new to cycling? Let's define the word ""harm."""

"Have you never had a beer can thrown at you from a car? Have you never been buzzed by a driver? Have you never had a front seat passenger reach out and try to pull you down off your bike?

These punk drivers may not want to actually hit us and sometimes kill us (and they do); and when they do they may not have intended to. They're content to scare the hell out of us for their own sick enjoyment.

It's the bully-idiot mentality at work. These drivers are confident they can screw around with us without suffering any reprisal in return. I know of one driver who picked on the wrong cyclist to screw around with, an acquaintance of mine who was/is a tough punk himself. Cyclist caught the driver, surely to the utter asonishment of the driver, and I'm of the opinion he no longer dices with cyclists.

Again, it's only the fear of reprisal that would temper these cowards; but driving at 40+ MPH, envelope, as they are, in a steel cocoon, they really do have no reason to fear us, to fear reprisal.

Cf. history of our foreign ""diplomacy"" against, say, the likes of Guatamala, Grenada, and wayyy too many et al(s). It's the very same thing, writ on a larger scale."

Thu, 02/01/2007 - 6:08am

#13

RFernandez (not verified)

I agree

"Plain and simple just like R.R. says,also only a punk(I define punk as someone that cant fight one on one or use's his 3000lb vehicle as muscle mass,ect).Unfortunately we are surrounded by them.Tough for us and the police/judicial system only make it harder to exist on the road and I believe that is the intention.Like I cant understand why is it so common for drivers to signal a turn just before its made!I dont drive like that.I thought the law is to signal way in advance(300ft?),but you dont see wreckless drivers pulled over and ticketed for these ""small"" things,and I do think it in itself is a small thing but this small bad habit can lead to someone dead maimed or injured.Or how about the u-turns commited by the gypsy cab drivers on upper Broadway (very dangerous place)Believe me if you live in Manhattan then your not doing so bad but the Bronx forget about it,first off I really believe that the Bronx has the least amount of cyclist out of all the Boro's so when people see me pedaling by it like what the ####,of course I'd rather be riding my bike then smoking drinking and doing much of nothing.If I weren't a cyclist I'd be a body builder or more like a body sculpter because I dont think I would want to be super big,maybey 180-200 for my 5'9 frame.:)"

Thu, 02/01/2007 - 7:59am

#14

Josh (not verified)

Say what?

Signal a turn? Heck that went out of fashion with allowing peds space to walk in the crosswalk (remember ten years ago the short-winded dont block the box campaign?). And of course talking on cells while eating lunch, reading, picking one's nose, whatever -- even though there's a law on the books against hand-held conversations. (Can you seriously argue this when police are doing it regularly, and dont think they are breaking the law!?) Usually cellphone turns go conveniently hand in hand with no turn lights. I mean how do you have the time to indicate a turn when you're in a heated business deal over the phone?

Anyway, Richard, I disagree with your punk reference. These drivers arent punks, they're scared sh*tless of the street and dont want you -- brave, bada*s cyclists that we are in semi-decent health -- in their way to slow down. I mean that's why they all hide behind tinted, shatterproof glass.