Bikelash! Prospect Park West

@naparstek #bikelash @sfbike
BIKELASH!
Learn to Identify and Treat it.

PATIENT ZERO
Prospect 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

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 West
65 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 Workshops
Summer 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

Transformed overnight into a fantastic street for biking.

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 Weiner
Remember 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

Roads are built
for buses, cars,
and trucks, not
for people on
bikes.
It's no secret.
Cyclists are a
pain in the ass
to the
motorists.
Mayor Rob Ford

Roads are built
for buses, cars,
and trucks, not
for people on
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, 2013
Eric 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.

TREATMENT
Bikelash can be cured!

Bikelash! Prospect Park West

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Bikelash! Prospect Park West