The Villager interviewed Steve Vaccaro about the latest developments in bicycling and the law. Here’s an excerpt from the freewheeling interview:
VIL: Apparently, Upper East Siders — including, notably, Woody Allen — really hate bike lanes. What exactly is their beef with bicycles?
S.V.: Yeah, and I’ve been to some of those meetings. (Chuckles.) I heard the most incredible story when I was at an Upper East Side community board meeting regarding which east-west cross streets they were going to install Class 2 bike lanes. Those are just paint, two white lines, where the bike lane is within the dooring zone of the parked cars. I would recommend that no one ever proceed faster than 10 miles an hour in one of those lanes because of the dooring hazard.
Anyway, there was a huge fight because no one wanted the lanes on their block: “Our block has hospitals.” “Our block has senior citizens.” “Our block has schools. There are kids — you’re going to bring bikes in?” Since when did it become gospel that kids and bikes don’t mix? Huh?
Click here for the full interview.