The battle over Kent Avenue took a turn recently when borough president Marty Markowitz and council members David Yassky and Diana Reyna announced their support for the removal of one of the bike lanes cutting through the South Williamsburg Hasidic community through a Dec. 5 letter to the Department of Transportation.
The lane has been a hot spot for debate since its inception for a number of reasons. At first, Hasids were upset with the sudden influx of scantily clad female bikers trucking through their 'nabe. Early opponents of this concern decried it as immature and selfish. But lately, local outrage over the bike lanes comes more from parking woes than anything else - something to which all New Yorkers can relate.
A local resident even wrote into Gothamist detailing that fact, saying "We lost over 100 parking spots, there is no way to pick up/drop off a passenger or make a delivery in front of our house, buses cant stop to pick up kids, you cant call a car service to your house," and then invited Gothamist over to his house. First, however, that resident challenged Gothamist to try to find a parking spot within five blocks of the house. Not only would that be difficult, the tipster explained, but they wouldn't see one biker ride by in the time spent looking for a spot.
So what does the recent switcharoo by Brooklyn pols mean? Yassky's spokesman explained to the Brooklyn Paper, “[Sending such a letter] seems like an anti-bike thing, but that’s not where we’re coming from at all,” he said. “We want to see a bike lane there and we expect to see a bike lane there, but we want a bike lane that the community supports and one that is implemented in a way that is collaborative."
In the end, residents and pols alike are hopeful for a friendly bike lane that cuts unoffendingly through South Williamsburg, and it looks like it'll take some intense cooperation to make that happen. A call to Yassky's office for an update went unanswered this morning.
