Bikelash! Prospect Park West

@naparstek #bikelash @sfbike

BIKELASH!Learn to Identify and Treat it.


PATIENT ZEROProspect Park West Bike Lane


Prospect Park West: Lay of the Land

PPW

New York City

Manhattan

Queens

Brooklyn

New Jersey


Prospect Park West: Lay of the Land

PPW


A PPW townhouse sold for $8.45 million in 2010!


The pedestrian safety problem has been around for a while.

Grand Army Plaza, 1927.


Prospect Park West was designed like an expressway


Cars regularly clocked traveling 50+ m.p.h.

Super-Advocate Eric McClure speed-gunning on Prospect Park West65 mph!


Crashes were bad and scary.

An over-turned SUV on the sidewalk at 8th Street and Prospect Park West


In 2005 we kicked off a community process.

Park Slope Civic Council Forum on Traffic and Transportation

March 2006


We created GAPco and ran community workshops.

Grand Army Plaza Coalition Visioning WorkshopsSummer 2006.


We Engaged Danish Urban Designer Jan Gehl

“If Frederick Law Olmsted could see how Grand Army Plaza is treated today — with all the asphalt and the little islands with pedestrians jumping like Eskimos from floe to floe — he would be rotating in his grave endlessly.

- Jan Gehl, June 2006.


International Design Competition.

GAPco partners with the Design Trust for Public Space


June 2010, DOT redesigns Prospect Park West.

Before:Intimidating three-lane speedway.

After:Two-way protected bike lane.


Transformed overnight into a fantastic street for biking.

Photo by Dmitry Gudkov








The impact of the redesign was dramatic:

Surge in the number of people biking on PPW.

Speeding went way down: From 74% of cars to 20%.

Sidewalk cycling disappeared:From 46% of cyclists to 3%.

Car traffic volumes and travel times stayed the same.

Crashes resulting in injuries down 63%.

Popular. 70%+ approval.



Behold!Not everyone was happy.



Not your typical group of neighborhood NIMBYs.

Former Deputy Mayor

Norman Steisel

Former DOT Commissioner

Iris Weinshall


Did I mention Iris Weinshall's husband?


U.S. Senator Charles Schumer

Did I mention Iris Weinshall's husband?


Chuck loves biking!


A major litigation firm takes NBBL's case "pro bono."

As a former federal prosecutor, I've

never seen something like this.


Big rally on October 21, 2010

They're willing to hit the streets.


What is it really all about?


"DOT fudges the data."

Video camera in the window of the mansion at 14 PPW


Virulent metastatizing

BIKELASH


STRANGLED BY BIKES TRANSPORT COMMISH IS OUT OF CONTROL

WRATH OF KHAN!

BICYCLE BIGWIG'S BLIZZARD BLUNDER

BLOOMBERG PUTS BIKES BEFORE COPS

TWO-WHEELER INVASION: A NEW CYCLE OF CRIME?


Bikelash is emerging as a 2013 mayoral campaign issue.

Rep. Anthony WeinerRemember this guy?

When I become mayor, you know what I'm going

to spend my first year doing? I'm going to have

a bunch of ribbon-cuttings tearing out your

f*#king bike lanes.


Meanwhile, in Toronto…

Roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on

bikes.

Mayor Rob Ford




bikes.It's no secret. Cyclists are a pain in the ass

to the motorists.

Mayor Rob Ford




bikes.It's no secret. Cyclists are a pain in the ass

to the motorists. Yes I have

smoked crack cocaine.

Mayor Rob Ford


Toronto's Jarvis Street bike lane

TK


Could this happen in New York City in 2013?

Protestor blocks removal of the Jarvis Street bike lane.


Mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio: "I'm a motorist."


Disappointing signals from the 2013 mayoral field

For me the jury's out. I think it's worth

assessing what the impact has been on

traffic…

What was not done right is a deeper consultation with community residents. This

has been an endemic problem with the

Bloomberg approach to bike lanes.

On Car-Free Times Square: On Prospect Park West:


What's an advocate

to do?


291 members.


291 members.

1,969 members!


Organize! Show up.

October 2010 rally. We outnumbered NIMBYs 300 to 50.


Don't count on the media to get your story right.


Make yourself visible

Great tactic:Hand out Day-Glo stickers. Take a photo of supporters.


Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz

“What is our objective in this city? To stigmatize the use of cars? Do we want

Brooklyn to replicate Amsterdam?”

Bikelashers want to portray you as the outsider.


Louise Hainline, Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes

We will never be Amsterdam; never be Copenhagen.

We are never going to be Portland!

Opponents want to portray you as the outsider.



How predictable is Bikelash?

TK

via @BikePGH


Show what it's all about: Safe streets for kids, seniors, families, everyone.

April 10, 2011: We Ride the Lanes. 700 participants.


Just keep showing them who you really are.











"They're just f*cking bikes!”

Bikelash collapses beneath the weight of its own absurdity.


StreetsPAC launch, April 25, 2013Eric McClure at the microphone.

Bikelash forced NYC advocates to think bigger, work harder.


The Mission:


Survey and meet with candidates.

StreetsPAC interview with mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio


Survey and meet with candidates.

StreetsPAC interview with City Council candidate Jimmy van Bramer


Make endorsements.


Collecting signatures.

Petitioning for City Council candidate Vince Morgan in Harlem.


Registering voters.


Campaigning for endorsees.

Steve Vaccaro stumping for Wel Wymore


Candidates played up their StreetsPAC endorsements.

Brooklyn City Council candidate Carlos Menchaca


Endorsement event for Bill de Blasio


Great media coverage at a critical moment.


Spreading endorsements, rallying voters via social media.


Old-fashioned social media: Bicycle spoke cards.


Get Out the Vote phone calls for Bill de Blasio


The result?A "huge night" for StreetsPAC.

Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson via Twitter.


Now? We have a City Council pushing hard for Livable Streets

Melissa Mark-Viverito Brad Lander


We have a mayor pushing for Vision Zero.

Bill de Blasio standing with traffic violence victims' families.


As for Prospect Park West? We won.


TREATMENTBikelash can be cured!

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Bikelash! Prospect Park West