Thursday, 18 Apr 2024

A Plan to Make Cycling Safer on City Streets

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It’s Thursday. A teenager in Flushing is behind the mystery of how a pristine In-N-Out burger wound up on a sidewalk in Queens.

Weather: Sunny, with a high in the mid-80s. Remember to wear sunscreen.

Alternate-side parking: In effect until Aug. 11.

Earlier this summer, three cyclists in New York City were killed in just over a week. Their deaths made 2019 more deadly for cyclists than all of last year.

Mayor de Blasio said the city was facing an “emergency” and promised to address it.

Then three more cyclist deaths were reported.

How many cyclists have been killed so far this year?

Seventeen.

When Mr. de Blasio announced a bicycle safety “emergency,” that number was 14.

Later, the death of a fifteenth cyclist was linked to an earlier crash.

On Tuesday, two more cyclists were killed: a teenager on Staten Island and a 58-year-old man in Brooklyn.

How does 2019 compare with previous years?

Last year, there were 10 cyclist deaths. So far this year, there have been 17.

The number of fatalities on city streets fluctuates each year, and there does not appear to be a clear trend, figures from the city’s Department of Transportation show.

In 2009, 12 cyclists died in crashes. In the years since, the figure has been as high as 24 in 2017 and as low as 10 last year.

What is the city doing about this?

Today Mr. de Blasio is scheduled to unveil what he is calling a “green wave” bicycle plan.

It includes $58.4 million in investments over five years and a commitment to annually build 30 miles of protected bike lanes. (As Streetsblog has reported, Staten Island has “just 100 yards of protected bike lane on a single road.”)

The police will also pursue drivers at “crash-prone intersections” for speeding, blocking bike lanes and failing to yield, according to the plan. (In the last few weeks, the police said they have given more than 7,000 summonses to drivers for failing to yield and blocking bike lanes.)

[Read our story: New York City tries making cycling safer after a spate of deaths.]

The city will also install 2,000 bike parking spaces annually and look into creating a “high-capacity bicycle parking system.”

In related news: Meet the new head of Transportation Alternatives, Danny Harris

Transportation Alternatives, a bicycle and pedestrian advocacy group, has a new executive director: Danny Harris, a 40-year-old Manhattan native. Previously, Mr. Harris was a program director with the Knight Foundation in San Jose, Calif.

“We must ensure that New York’s future is built around people, not cars or some shiny, new transportation innovation,” he said in an interview before The Times learned about Mr. de Blasio’s plan.

Mr. Harris said that as a child, he learned to ride a bicycle in a schoolyard on 77th Street rather than on the streets. He is now teaching his 3-year-old daughter to ride in one as well.

“Many streets are not safe for young children to be out riding on their own,” he said, adding, “You would never build half a bridge or half a tunnel, but we’re doing just that with our bicycle infrastructure: building an incomplete and unsafe network for New Yorkers.”

From The Times

DoorDash changed its tipping model, in which the tips effectively went to the food delivery company, after a Times article caused outrage.

After rowdy bystanders poured water on officers, a debate on police restraint: “We don’t take that.”

These women are changing New York’s D.J. game. Watch them work.

Bernard L. Madoff asked President Trump to commute his 150-year sentence.

The Met’s next big fashion show comes from one little-known woman.

[Want more news from New York and around the region? Check out our full coverage.]

The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.

What we’re reading

Will the Manhattan district attorney run for re-election? [The City]

A bulletproof vest went missing after it was used in a charity event featuring Mayor de Blasio and the actor Michael K. Williams from “The Wire.” [Daily News]

Judd Apatow was filming a movie at a Staten Island Ferry terminal when people dressed as Fortnite characters arrived. [Staten Island Advance]

Squirrels have their own way of dealing with a heat wave. [Gothamist]

Coming up today

Learn how designers can influence the growing cannabis economy with a talk at A/D/O in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. [Free with R.S.V.P.]

Listen to a blend of hip-hop and West African spirituality at a performance by Shaun Kelly and his band, Ori Nugo, as part of the monthly AfroWave Sessions concert series at the Caribbean Cultural Center in Manhattan. 6 p.m. [$10]

— Melissa Guerrero

Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times’s culture pages.

And finally: From the archives

The New York Times staff photographer Marilynn K. Yee photographed these women and their children skating on Broome Street in Manhattan for a 1978 article in which The Times championed roller skating as a “fad revived.” The article described skaters as beginning to rival joggers in Central Park, and continued, “New Yorkers are using their skates for exercise, relaxation, socializing or just as simple transportation.”

Nearly 40 years after that article, Jessica Lehrman documented the Brooklyn Skate Club for The Times. Now, wheels on wood at rinks and gymnasiums are perhaps more common than wheels on asphalt or concrete.

See more old photos at our archival storytelling project, Past Tense, and on Instagram: @nytarchives.

It’s Thursday — just roll with it.

Metropolitan Diary: Family trait

Dear Diary:

I manage a brasserie in SoHo where I see many familiar faces. I was pleasantly surprised one night to see a petite older woman whose red hair and shy smile made her instantly recognizable even though it had been years since she had come in.

She was happy that I recognized her, and that I remembered her husband had died a few years earlier, which is why she hadn’t been around. She said she hadn’t felt brave enough to come in on her own to have a drink at the bar. Now that she had dared to do it, she said, she was happy to have made the decision.

I reminded her of a sweet gift she had given my daughters many years ago: a signed copy of a children’s book she had written. Hearing that made her even happier.

I wanted to tell her that bravery must be a family trait. Her name is Edwina Sandys and her grandfather was none other than Winston Churchill. I kept that thought to myself, though, as she walked bravely to the bar.

She had a fabulous time, charming the bartenders and a few customers. When she left, she was clearly proud of herself. She thanked me on her way out.

It made my night.

— Zouheir Louhaichy

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