By Matt Chaban 12/21/12 2:54pm

Road Rage

Dare ya! (Getty)

Crash, and Burn: City Dismisses Prospect Park West Bike Lane Foes’ Unusual Settlement Offer

It is clear by now, if it has not always been, that the opponents of the Prospect Park West bike lane do not trust the city’s Department of Tranportation.

They have insisted the project was “trial” with virtually no proof that this was ever the city’s position. They have dismissed city-run studies of traffic data that show the lane has improved traffic flows and reduced injuries. And they have sneered at the considerable majority of their neighbors who have voted time and again in favor of the project. Still, the efforts of Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes persist, especially now that their lawsuit against the lane has been returned to court on a technicality. The group’s response has been to offer the city a settlement that essentially amounts to little more than a barroom dare. Read More

By Matt Chaban 12/19/12 9:42pm

Road Rage

Not so fast. (Getty)

Flat Tire! Prospect Park West Bike Lane Suit Returns to Court

While it seemed like the bicycle backlash of a year ago had finally cooled off, and those larcenous lanes were here to say—won’t someone think of the motorists!—the cold war is back this winter. The Columbus Avenue bike lane expansion was rebuffed by the local community board, bike share has been delayed a few extra month, Steve Cuozzo thinks bikes are a cancer on the city (O.K., so what else is new?), and now opponents of the Prospect Park West bike lane have finally won a court case.

After complaints over the lane were ignored in court in the spring, Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes appealed the results to a higher court, which today ruled that the lower court had to reconsider the case on technical grounds. The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court ruled unanimously that judge Burt Bunyon erred in dismissing the case as lacking merit, and now a hearing must be held over the lane (you can read the one-page decision here). Read More

By Matt Chaban 3/19/12 2:17pm

Road Rage

Schumer_Bikes_PPW

Chuck Schumer Rides in PPW Bike Lane, Still Will Not Endorse PPW Bike Lane

Maybe it was just the shortest route home.

Over the weekend, Chuck Schumer was spotted in the most unlikely place one might expect him, even though it is right outside his door. Senator Schumer has generally eschewed the controversial Prospect Park West bike lane, which his wife, former Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall, vociferously opposes in lawsuits and op-eds. An avid cyclist, the state’s senior senator has neither supported nor opposed the lane. Perhaps he is now voting with his feet? Read More

By Matt Chaban 2/20/12 10:02am

Road Rage

With all that money, maybe they could afford a new coat of paint. (Getty)

Entitlements: City Spent $140,000 Defending PPW Bike Lane

If brownstone neighbors thought challenges to the Prospect Park West bike lane were a nuisance—they point to community board votes and supportive surveys—it has turned out to be an expensive one at that. According to documents obtained by The Brooklyn Paper, the riotously named Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes has so far cost the city $140,000 in legal fees defending the lane, a price that will no doubt rise now that the suit has been appealed. Read More

By Matt Chaban 2/13/12 3:41pm

Road Rage

Dare ya! (Getty)

Screeeeech… Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes Appeal PPW Suit

It may not be the best weather for cycling, but the Prospect Park West bikelash is heating up again.

On Friday, Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes, the cleverly named community group opposing the lane alongside Prospect Park, appealed an August decision in Brooklyn Supreme Court not to hear its legal challenge against the city. The group still contends that the bike lane was an experiment, a trial never completed with community consultation, one that persists without community support—despite widespread polling and surveys to the contrary. Read More