The Daily News is reporting that an off-duty police officer may have pulled his gun on a cyclist Saturday night as the two vied for space on Bleecker Street. The biker tried to confront the driver, knocking on the "heavily tinted" window of his black Volkswagen GTI, the off-duty officer brandished his pistol in reply. The cyclist called 9-1-1, and when he saw two cop cars near the Wagen, he told the officers about it, who quickly surrounded the car.

When the cop inside identified himself, the officers turned on the cyclist instead. "They started getting physical with him," the biker's attorney told the News. "He got upset, but he certainly didn't break any laws."

Granted cop-on-bike animosity is nothing new, having grown increasingly worse since the 2004 Republican Convention led to a swell of arrests for bicycle protesters. Most infamously, there was the case last year of Officer Patrick Pogan, who was caught on camera shoving a rider off his bike in Times Square. Pogan claimed he had been assaulted by the biker, and even threw him in jail for it, but a video later surfaced revealing the truth.

Perhaps there is some mysterious natural law at work here. Maybe the more mainstream cycling becomes, the more loathsome it gets, like Snuggies and beet salads. Maybe for every new bike lane that gets built, a cyclist must be accosted to pay for it.

mchaban [at] observer.com / @mc_nyo

Well, maybe. As the already crowded streets get more crowded, things can go wrong. Deliveries are missed, parking is harder to find, babies get left in bike lanes, joggers get impaled. (Life in New York is so hard!)

Naturally, a backlash is underway. Not in Queens or Staten Island, though, but the beating heart of boho New York. Both the East Village and Park Slope are home to relatively new bike lanes -- one on First and Second avenues, the other along Prospect Park West. Apparently, some locals are not happy about the interference the new lanes are causing to their usual routine -- like double parking and standing in the middle of the street while waiting to cross it -- and so protests have been planned! As have counter-protests! Things could get ugly.

We've been here before. Last year, Councilman Alan Gerson (an elected official, for gosh sakes) led a protest of the then-new Grand Street bike lane. Which is still very much there 14 months later. Then again, a bunch of politically connected Chasidim got a lane erased in South Brooklyn, supposedly in exchange for voting for the mayor. According to an online poll from Crain's, people are overwhelmingly in favor of bike lanes. Then again, that's not the most scientific proof. For all anybody knows, those voting for bike lanes could just be a bunch of madmen.

mchaban [at] observer.com / @mc_nyo

This may sound like a middling concern for a city in the grip of bedbugs, $104 Metrocards and yet another crisis on Wall Street, but for those New Yorkers living in popular shooting locales like Dumbo, Nolita, and Astoria, the constant frustration of finding a space is very real. Today, Councilman Steve Levin -- who represents prime shooting spots from Greenpoint to Grand Army Plaza -- is introducing legislation to lift alternate side parking regulations on any block adjacent to a film shoot.

"I have heard from residents all over the 33rd District from Brooklyn Heights to Greenpoint, Park Slope to Williamsburg, that film shoots have created difficulty to navigate parking schedules and regulations," Mr. Levin said through a spokeperson.  "I want to emphasize that I truly appreciate the value of local filming and I have worked hard to make sure that this bill will not create an undue burden on production companies."

The new legislation will require very little of the $5 billion industry, as it will simply require productions to post additional signs on the affected blocks, not unlike the "No Parking" ones already employed to clear the way for their shoots. The bill also allows restrictions to be lifted for up to seven days. The idea is not entirely new, as the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting has implemented alternate side parking moratoriums for certain shoots in the past. Instead, the legilsation will simply codify these regulations and ensure their employment on a regular basis.

For neighborhoods like Greenpoint, which see productions of everything from small indie films to major HBO productions like Boardwalk Empire and Bored to Death, this should be a welcome change.  "It's a small step to making things a little easier for people who live in these neighborhoods and deal with it on a regular basis," the spokesperson said.

mchaban [at] observer.com / @mc_nyo

From The Times:

When Shaunté Miller arrived at her bus stop at 125th Street and Second Avenue, a city worker told her that the only way she could take her usual ride on the M15 limited would be to pay for her ticket at a machine on the sidewalk. Even swiping a MetroCard onboard was no longer allowed.

Unfortunately for Ms. Miller, the machine in question had run out of paper: the kiosk happily deducted the $2.25 fare but spat out no receipt. The worker said not to worry, but Ms. Miller worried. "They're not going to believe us," she said, fretting about the enforcement agents authorized to deliver a $100 fine. When Hannah Huber tried to board at 100th Street, the driver refused her proffered MetroCard and told her to go back and get a receipt from the sidewalk machine. "I felt guilty," she said later. "It ended up holding up the bus. I'd rather swipe my card than do all that. I think it's asking for more problems."

And when Laurie Barnett tried to board with a group on the Upper East Side, the workers "took 10 minutes to explain to everyone what they were doing," she said.

"It's going to wreak havoc now with people not knowing," Ms. Barnett said. "This is definitely slowing things down."

And the Voice:

Unfortunately, it seems this service was created with the belief that humans are inherently good, not to mention responsible -- that they will pay for and hang onto receipts. But the New Yorkers we know are always trying to get everywhere as fast as they can, are always looking for a shortcut, and are always happy to save a couple bucks. It's only the second day, and surely things will get smoother, but we suggest they counter some of the flaws inherent to this system...or the MTA will have to raise fares again to counteract the money they will lose, oh, wait -- never mind.

WNYC gives it mixed reviews:

"It's very nice, more convenient for the people," said Manhattanite Salvacion Gumacal, adding that the new buses seemed to move more quickly than the old M15 Limited.

Val Hudson of the Bronx also gave the new system good reviews, but said it takes some getting used to. "[A transit worker] had to explain to me how the whole system worked," Hudson said.

But another passenger, Mike Kidd, likes the new system for a different reason -- it's easier to beat the fare. "I'm gonna be riding the bus for free," Kidd said. "'Cause I don't have to pay, I'm just gonna hop on the bus."

Drivers on the East Side of Manhattan are also having to make adjustments. There are now bus-only lanes on First and Second Avenues. They're painted red so drivers will notice. But so far, many motorists have flouted the change, or simply failed to take notice.

Yet Ben Kabak of Second Avenue Sagas seems to get what's really going on here:

As with any new service, implementation won't be easy, and those operating the buses will have to work out the kinks as travelers adjust to the changes. The media coverage could either focus on Day 1 growing pains or the promises of speed. Let's see what the papers chose.

[...]

But of course, it's all about change. It's about change to routines, change to commuting patterns and change to an old system. As Aaron Naparstek said, "There is absolutely nothing newsworthy about NYers frowning over a major change to their routine." Whether the papers say so or not, Select Bus Service will be better than the local service it is replacing, and one day soon, the people who use it will find that they like it.

mchaban [at] observer.com / @mc_nyo

As a new study by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer shows, that mother could not have picked a worse spot, as the majority of cyclists on Grand Street bike the wrong way.

Obviously, cyclists are partly to blame for this, but so too are the pedestrians and motorists Mr. Stringer criticizes in his new report on bike lane abuse.

The Bloomberg administration has done an astonishing job expanding bicycle lanes in the city in recent years, adding thousands of miles to the bike network that make New York one of the preeminent cities for two-wheeled travel. At the same time this increases safety for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists--although some have not exactly been thrilled by the changes.

Completely taming New York's free-for-all streets seems unlikely (remember Giuliani's war on jaywalkers?), but Stringer hopes to bring some sanity to bike lanes at the very least. Among his astonishing findings:

• Unmarked Police vehicles in apparent non-emergency situations cutting through protected bike lanes, to circumvent traffic stopped by a red light.
• Motor vehicle encroachment and speeding through bike lanes. The bike lane at 145th and St. Nicholas Avenue was the most encroached, with 117 infractions surveyed.
• A school bus idling in a bike late at 116th and 1st Avenue for 7 minutes
• At Grand Street and Bowery, wrong way bicycle traffic in the bike lane outpaced the correct use of the bike lane for a full hour.
• Pedestrian encroachment on bike lanes in the Herald Square area was rampant, with over 240 occurrences recorded during a two-hour period.
• Of the 353 bike lane blockages observed, over 275 were motor vehicles. Of those 18% were attributed to taxi or livery cars and 13% were city owned vehicles.
• Locations with protected bike lanes were found to be half as likely to be blocked by motor vehicles and, on average, had about 30 fewer infractions.

"I strongly support bike lanes, because they enrich the environment, quality of life and health of New York City residents," Stringer said in a statement. "But we must respect the rules and regulations surrounding them. Unfortunately, chaos reigns in bike lanes across the city, making them an unpredictable and unprotected method of transportation."

The borough president has proposed seven initiatives to improve bike lanes (with the Real Estate Desk's wager on their viability):

1. Increase enforcement against motorists who drive in or obstruct bike lanes. (Great, but not gonna happen, at least during a recession when the mayor is talking about budget cuts. Not to mention that the NYPD has a well-known animosity toward cyclists. Then again, this could mean more tickets, which means more money, so maybe the cops'll go gangbusters on it.)
2. Enhanced street signage for cyclists, pedestrians and vehicles. (A good one, and something already happening in places with new lanes, like First and Second avenues. Still, money seems to be a question here as well.)
3. Taxi Cab Public Awareness Campaign on Dooring. (Hallelujah! Except the only people who hate bikes more than cops seems to be cabbies and their passengers.)
4. Reserve parking spots for deliveries along commercial streets to discourage potential bike lane blockages. (Intriguing and totally doable.)
5. Increase the frequency of Bike Boxes along bike routes. (Another good and relatively simple solution, but also one that can heighten road rage.)
6. Where appropriate, DOT should strive to develop bike lanes that reduce mixing of cyclists, pedestrians and motorists. (Bring it on.)
7. The city should make available data related to bike lane safety and conduct regular surveys similar to this study to ensure greater transparency and accountability. ($$$)

mchaban [at] observer.com / @mc_nyo