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MARCH 31, 2019, BROOKLYN WEEKLY
Pedal to the pavement
Grass-roots group of Southern Brooklyn cyclists push local leaders for new bike lanes
BY AIDAN GRAHAM
They’d wheely like more bike
lanes!
Southern Brooklyn civic leaders
must advocate for more dedicated
bike paths in the area, according
to local cyclists, who
claimed the leaders of local community
boards routinely thwart
their efforts to promote the
form of alternative transportation
in traditionally car-heavy
neighborhoods.
“The community boards are
skewed toward preserving car
culture, so we don’t have a lot of
sensible bike access,” said Bay
Ridge–based bicyclist Ed Yoo.
“They think status quo is fi ne. I
think it is absolutely not.”
Yoo recently moved from
Greenpoint to the Ridge, where
he quickly noticed a dearth of the
dedicated pedaler’s paths common
in the northern neighborhood,
prompting him to join local
cycling-advocacy group Bike
South Brooklyn, which since 2018
has pushed for more lanes across
the area.
“When I moved, I noticed a
huge difference in the biking and
pedestrian infrastructure between
the neighborhoods, and I
was interested in getting more involved,”
he said. “The great thing
about the group is we’re providing
a voice to cyclists in the community.
We’re providing the part
of the conversation that’s been
missing for a long time.”
But getting the city to signifi -
cantly expand that infrastructure
will require the support of civic
gurus, some of whom show a partiality
toward drivers, according
to Bike South Brooklyn’s founder,
who said his growing coalition
of local cyclists — which now includes
more than 100 members —
helps to turn the wheels of change
at the grass-roots level.
“We’re able to get organized,
and focus our advertising and
PR on local issues in Southern
Brooklyn, doing things like getting
more people to show up to
community board meetings,”
said Dan Hetteix . “We’re fi ghting
against the general car culture.
They’re not organized but
they’re coddled. They expect
things to be given to them. They
have traditionally been getting
things handed to them.”
One of the group’s major goals
is to revive a plan to lay a bike lane
CYC-OLOGISTS: From left, Bike South Brooklyn members John Tomac, Kerrin Stokes, and Brian Hedden want local civic leaders’ support for their campaign to create
a robust network of bike lanes in Southern Brooklyn. Bike South Brooklyn
from Bay Ridge through Southern
Brooklyn to Queens along
parts of the Bay Ridge Parkway,
Avenue P, and Flatlands Avenue
— a scheme the city considered
back in 2011, before abandoning
it after getting pushback from
locals and pols, including Mayor
DeBlasio, who then served as the
city’s public advocate.
“I commend the city for responding
to community concerns
by halting its plans,” DeBlasio
said at the time. “This was an important
step forward that shows a
willingness to respect the input
of residents and community leaders.”
City transit chiefs understand
the need for such a crossborough
bike lane, according to a
Department of Transportation
spokesman, who claimed
the agency is working on new
plans for that infrastructure.
“Our planners are aware of
concerns about the need to improve
east-west connections
across South Brooklyn, an issue
that came up during two
public bike workshops we have
held in Bay Ridge,” the rep
said. “We look forward to presenting
proposals for potential
projects soon.”
Bike South Brooklyn also
hopes to convince shot callers to
install a Ridge-to-Rock bike lane
across the Verrazzano-Narrows
Bridge, which cyclists can now
only cross aboard Metropolitan
Transportation Authority
buses equipped with bike racks.
The city previously considered
a plan to add suspended bike
lanes to each side of the bridge,
before scrapping the idea due to
its $300 –$400 million price tag —
a cost Hetteix claimed offi cials
dramatically infl ated.
“Even when the bridge was
built, people were complaining
about a lack of a pedestrian path,”
he said. “Much of that cost was
due to huge, ridiculous ramps
that ran down the big anchorage
towers, rather than just using the
existing on and off ramps.”
Other cycling infrastructure
the group wants includes a
bike lane over the Marine Parkway
Bridge linking Marine Park
and Queens, and an extension
of the in-the-works Fourth Avenue
bike lanes, which when
complete will run from Atlantic
Avenue to 65th Street in Bay
Ridge, but should go further
south, according to Bike South
Brooklyn members.
The group’s efforts will only
be amplifi ed by state Sen. Andrew
Gounardes’s (D–Bay Ridge)
recently formed pedestriansafety
task force — whose ranks
include Bike South Brooklyn
member Brian Hedden — according
to Hetteix, who called a
recent March 27 meeting of the
task force and offi cials including
Gounardes, Councilman Justin
Brannan (D–Bay Ridge), Assemblywoman
Mathylde Frontus (D–
Coney Island), and Transportation
Department Commissioner
Polly Trottenberg, an important
step toward making the desired
new bike lanes a reality.
“I’m happy to see a wider, crosscommunity
board coalition to focus
on possible district-wide solutions,”
Hetteix said. “Lots of times, transit
issues stop at each community
board’s boundary, and this could
get good, local, cross-neighborhood
feedback to act on.”