Jackson Heights Life

The Broadway to Northern Blvd. divided bike lane was installed and lasted about two weeks last year when it was demolished by traffic needing that space. If lawbreaking vandals wantonly destroy public safety equipment on roads, then they should be arrested and criminally charged. Next time build it out of concrete.

 The funny thing here is that is was not likely that anyone purposely meant to destroy it. But the volume of construction vehicles, trucks and cars of all types is so high in that area near the BQE that it was knocked over and then smashed to bits very quickly. These plastic dividers don't hold up in high traffic areas. Concrete is fine by me but the loss of traffic lanes when biking is not as common here or as feasible in winter months means that the surge goes elsewhere and creates new headaches on a different street. We desperately need a full environmental review for the area. The fact that some of the blocks affected here also had major flooding recently and that is not being recognized shows that it's not one size fits all for our local streets and any closures or bike lanes. Sunnyside is strongly fighting back and we'll see how they fare with regard to unusual forced street closures and bike lanes.

We desperately need a full environmental review for the area.

"Installation of traffic control devices on existing streets" is explicitly exempt from "environmental review" specifically to stop spiteful NIMBYs wasting everyone's time. A bike lane isn't infringing on any protected habitats, and making the DEC spend a year and $50,000 confirming that benefits nobody.

I don't really understand this scenario you are describing. Someone driving from one block on 34th Ave to the next block on 34th Ave? Surely anyone would walk in that situation?

No, more like a driver turning on to 34th Avenue and driving on it two-three blocks before turning off it because it's easier and faster than driving around the block.

I've watched people do this now with barricades - move them and then not put them back - for a couple of blocks. It's only a few especially hostile people who will do that now, but remove the barricades add those diverters, and it increases the likelihood others would do it.

Then you have an unsafe pedestrian space, so the barricades have to stay. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I hope DoT comes back with something else.

autos,e-bikes and dirt bikes should absolutely be regulated. as should bicycles. i'm sure you agree.

very Ayn Rand. you want laws to apply to everyone but you. yet the laws are coming for you. not a threat. just a fact. to live outside the law, you must be honest. and ... well.....

and anyone who uses any government-run service can be defined as a socialist.

LOL. This preoccupation with Ayn Rand is hilarious. Where does that even come from? A human powered bicycle rider should not have to get a license to ride their bike. Since when have pedal bicycles become such a health hazard? Who gives a crap about Ayn Randian philosophy w/r/t these issues? We want helmet laws for bicyclists? Make cops pull over every bicycle rider and ticket them. How about hand signaling laws for turning? Maybe a rigorous bicycle test for bike license holders? Can we see how many new laws and regulations we can create for the police to ignore?

Quote from: M7X7 on November 03, 2021, 04:24:53 PM

Statistically, 34th Ave has never been safer. Cars were the main danger all along!

The Queens Eagle reported that injuries along Open Streets we're down 42% last year. However injuries citywide we're down 38%. So while some of the improvement appears to be from Open Streets, clearly the reduced number of people walking about during the pandemic was influential as well. Using statistics from 2020 will always be problematic, since cultural behavior was abnormal. Comparing 2021 to 2019 might be more useful, but I haven't seen those numbers yet. It's similar to the law and order crusaders claiming that violence is up due to defunding the police and bail reform, and comparing last year's abnormally low homicides (when people were on lockdown) to this year's, when last year's scores are being settled. While the numbers are accurate, the truth is more complex.

Exactly. Just take a look at the NYPD weekly COMPstat:
https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cs-en-us-city.pdf

Long-term AND even short term? Crimes down. Way down. Giuliani likes to bash DeBlasio on "crime", but every major crime has seen a downward trend from Giuliani continuing through Bloomberg and DeBlahz.

Same thing with this pedestrian/bicycle injury red herring on Open Streets, and the whopping 4% difference between said injuries on Open Streets versus the whole entire city.