[Photo: Flickr/captaindisko]
Mayor Bloomberg wants to add 1,800 miles of city bike lanes over the next 20 years, which the Post points out is enough to reach Albuquerque from Manhattan. That's convenient, because some Downtowners would probably like to banish the Grand Street bicycle lane to New Mexico for good. Our little green friend, separated from traffic by a lane of parked cars (and thereby narrowing Grand Street for moving vehicles, hence the complaints), has already been blamed by Little Italy business owners for declining sales, chastised for increasing noise and perhaps had an influence on political policy. And the controversy shows no signs of slowing. Sean Sweeney of the Soho Alliance is waging war against the new bike lane, calling it "an unmitigated disaster" in that same Post story and referring us to a YouTube video (seen after the jump) shot that aims to explain why this green giant isn't so jolly.
Sweeney writes, "This video shot on Saturday shows a truck mistakenly merging into the lane of parked cars believing that they were held up for a red light, confused tourists squeezing in between trucks and SUVs, other cars mistakenly driving down the bike lane as a moving lane, as well as horn honking and yelling. The residents suffer. All in 1:23 minutes." Which makes us wonder: Does Sean Sweeney have some sort of tourist radar device, or is it a sixth sense that is developed after years of living in Soho. See for yourself:
· Bloomberg's Big Pedal Push for Bike Lanes [NYP]
· Grand Street Bike Lane Fiasco [YouTube]
· Grand Street Bike Lane coverage [Curbed]
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