‘Flip Fifth’ plan to create protected bike lane BY DENNIS LYNCH
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he city will create a southbound protected bike lane on Fifth Ave. this spring, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last week. The protected lane will run along a roughly 17-block stretch along Fifth Ave. from its intersection with Broadway at Madison Square Park down to Eighth St., one block north of its southerly termination at Washington Square Park. The lane will replace a 5-foot-wide unprotected bike lane — where the bike lane is currently bordered by traveling vehicle lanes — installed along that stretch in 1978. Transportation Alternatives, a main proponent, is calling it “Flip Fifth” because the existing bike lane and eastern parking lane basically will be flipped. On the east side of Fifth Ave. between 23rd and 14th Sts., the city will install a green, 6-foot-wide bike lane closest to the sidewalk. Offering the bike path protection will be a 3-foot buffer area, plus an 8-foot-wide parking lane. This will leave three 10-foot-wide travel lanes of moving traffic, and another 8-foot-wide parking lane on the avenue’s west side. The idea is that the wall of parked cars protects bicyclists from traffic. There will also be some small pedestrian islands between the bike lane and the car lanes. That will shorten the walk across Fifth
COURTESY NYC D.O.T.
A rendering by the city’s Depar tment of Transpor tation showing how the new protected Fifth Ave. Bike lane will lay out.
Ave., but these refuges for walkers won’t be raised or protected by a curb. Farther downtown, the configuration from 14th to Ninth St. is similar, but with some differences. Going from east to west, there will be a 6-foot-wide bike lane bordering the sidewalk, but with a 5-foot buffer area, followed by a 9-foot parking lane, two 11-foot-wide travel lanes, and
Scoopy’s Notebook RAJKUMAR REPORT: In case you haven’t noticed, Jenifer Rajkumar isn’t running in the First District City Council primary race. We had heard before that she had vowed never to run for Council again. More to the point, she resigned as Democratic district leader a month ago to take a job in Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration. News India Times reported that Rajkumar has been appointed his director of immigration affairs and special counsel for the Department of State. It’s not considered kosher to stay a district leader when taking this kind of political position, so she gave up the seat. Rajkumar will join the governor as a “driving force” for immigration projects in the state, Mercedes Padilla, a Department of State spokesperson, told N.I.T. Rajkumar told the outlet, “One of my priorities is to make sure immigrant families are protected, especially in this climate where ICE is very active,” referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. District Leader Paul Newell is leading the search for a “suitable replacement” for female district leader. The Democratic State Committee members from the Assembly District’s Part C will elect the candidate in a month or so. CHIN NO-SHOW: Speaking of City Council races, the Downtown Independent Democrats held a well-attended canTheVillager.com
didates night last Wednesday. Eyebrows were definitely raised, though, when Councilmember Margaret Chin did not show up. Yet, Chin did put out a release touting her endorsement by the Lower East Side’s Truman Democrats — former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s club. As for what happened Wednesday, Paul Leonard, her communications director, said, “She had prior engagements and unfortunately could not attend the D.I.D. event.” Though it’s unlikely Chin would have picked up D.I.D.’s endorsement, the club’s Sean Sweeney said, “We would have treated her civilly.”
WHITNEY FLAP: Things have calmed down at the Whitney Museum on Gansevoort St. where Black Lives Matter activists were, at least for a while, standing in front of a painting of Emmett Till, titled “Open Casket,” to block people’s view of it. They charged the painting’s white female artist, Dana Schutz, from Brooklyn, had no right to “appropriate” the gruesome image of Till, the black 14-year-old brutally killed in 1955 by Southern racists for allegedly flirting with a white woman. The painting is part of the Whitney’s Biennial show. Museum spokesperson Sara Rubenson said, “Currently, no protests are taking place. There were only protests on March 17 and 18, more than a week ago.”
another 9-foot parking lane. There will also be changes to signal durations for vehicles and bikes, including some split-phase signaling at 14th and Eighth Sts. By using split-phase signals, the Department of Transportation separates pedestrian crossings and vehicle turns at a given crosswalk to better protect pedestrians.
D.O.T. said the plan would not reduce Fifth Ave.’s capacity, but would eliminate 38 parking spots — 20 parking spots between 23rd and 14th Sts., 10 between 14th and Ninth Sts., and eight between Ninth and Eighth Sts. The city identified this section of Fifth Ave. as a Vision Zero Priority Area. One person was killed and two-dozen others severely injured along the stretch between 2010 and 2014, according to D.O.T. Janet Liff, the co-chairperson of Transportation Alternatives’ Manhattan Activist Committee and a public member of C.B. 2, said she was “very impressed” with the design. Liff lives on Fifth Ave. herself and has been “doored” by cars on the existing bike lane. She said many bicyclists have nicknamed this stretch the “black diamond bike lane of New York City,” referring to dangerous ski slopes. “It’s so treacherous. You’re forced in and out of traffic all the time,” she said. Liff added that many advocates wanted the lane extended the extra block to the park. However, she said, many vehicles turn off Fifth Ave. at Eighth St., making it safer south of there. C.B. 2’s Traffic and Transportation Committee requested the pedestrian islands between bike lanes and travel lanes be fortified with a curb or concrete barriers. The full board of C.B. 2 has approved the overall plan.
Village Independent Democrats 26 Perry Street, New York, NY 10014 villageindependentdemocrats.org Erik Coler - President
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Candidates Will Speak, Followed by Q&A Wednesday, April 5, 6:15 PM- 10:00 PM Judson Memorial Church 239 Thompson St., VID’s free Tenants’ Clinic meets every Wednesday at 6:00 PM at VID headquarters. Bring all necessary documents. No appointment needed. Sponsored by: Village Reform Democratic Club March 30, 2017
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