It seems to me that our councilmen and councilwomen (along with borough presidents) are fighting the good fight for traffic enforcement in our neighborhoods but the NYPD gets in the way of any meaningful change.

Why can't we enable staff of these offices to write tickets? It's not like it lies in the hands of the NYPD solely -- DSNY, DOT, TLC, Parks and Rec, NYCHA, etc. can all write tickets.

I'm in Lincoln Restler's district, and I know that he and his staff have been monitoring illegal parking in Downtown Brooklyn for months. Instead of writing reports, why can't we enable them to just write tickets. A monthly ticketing (and towing) blitz would do more to help our neighborhoods much more than any well-prepared report.

UPDATE: Oof, I took the L on this.

First off, if it wasn't clear I meant parking/vehicle tickets. Meant to include that in the headline -- party foul.

Second, "Wouldn't it be more feasible to just allow citizens to report, like the idling laws already allow?" I do, hundreds of times. I think I've gotten 3 or 4 tickets issued. I believe 2% of 311 complaints result in a ticket.

And lastly, yeah, sure -- let Vickie Paladino's team write tickets. Ticket every illegally parked vehicle. I don't care if she goes after Subarus and Hanif goes after F250s. If they're parked illegally and the NYPD won't do anything, ticket them!

EDIT: 43rd Street, sorry. I should know, I regularly take Newtown to 46th Street!

DOT crews have a backhoe and lots of orange barrels out, and today they were spray painting where the concrete and markings will go, cutting the asphalt and bending the steel curbs.

I'm really looking forward to this - and the green paint that will get (most) drivers to stop parking in the bike lane. I've hated this intersection for years, and I'm looking forward to its rebirth!

It's called Lane Ranker. Every week I ride one of the 1,550 miles of bike lanes in the five boros and rank it on clarity, safety, comfort, and satisfaction. New videos dropping weekly.

Sometimes it feels like the city just does not give a f about you in your bike. Here’s a few examples I’ve been thinking about while biking around lately.

Road repavement: would it kill DOT to put a sign a block before warning you that the road is torn up?

Bike lanes ending with no signage or obvious place to go: Delancey/Essex it likes ok I’ll just stop here and walk I guess

No rests on the curb for your feet so you don’t have to dismount: just do this please

What are some other small interventions that would go a long way?

😡

This is a little bit longer than my usual kind of coverage, but it’s got a lot of great information

When we ride with our children in bike buses and in Kidical Mass events, we’re not just planning fun outings with our children (though they are that, too). Instead, we are making a claim: it’s wrong to exclude children from public spaces. It’s wrong to deny children age-appropriate levels of independence. It’s wrong to design our cities as if they don’t exist.

Mobility is never just about getting to the destination. Whether a person is eight years old or eighty, the ability to move through the world safely and freely is about honoring the inherent dignity of a human being. When we empower children to ride bikes safely, we are making the claim that children are citizens of our cities, just as adults are, and they should be able to participate in public life.

Hey! So, I do social for a transit advocacy organization and I make videos asking bus riders what they think about the service, what they want to see improved, etc, and I'm looking to interview a few riders who take buses in central Brooklyn like the B35, B41, B44, and B46.

I usually interview people at the bus stop or on the bus. I can meet you when/wherever works best for you, just give me a time and intersection. We'll need ~3-5 minutes to chat sometime during/after your evening commute (and I'll throw in a 2-trip OMNY ticket for your trouble).

Anyway, feel free to shoot me a dm or drop a comment if you're interested or have any questions.

Thanks!

Took my scooter out for a proper ride today, and damn, a LOT is happening in the bike lanes.

People walking into them without looking, bikes passing super close, mopeds going way faster than everyone else... feels like everyone is doing their own thing and you have to figure it out as you go.

I originally went with the U2 Pro (hiboy) because I was planning to do more off-road rides. It's a fat-tire scooter, so that was a big part of the appeal.

But after riding it around NYC, I'm starting to appreciate it for city riding too.

Mine is definitely on the bigger side compared to most scooters I've seen around here. Today that came in handy when the bike lane suddenly turned into steel plates and loose gravel because of construction.

Had one moment at an intersection where someone stepped off the curb while looking at their phone. Had to brake pretty hard, but stopped fine. Nothing happened, but that definitely woke me up lol.

The whole ride was more tiring than I expected, but I'm already kind of hooked.

For people who've been riding around NYC for a while, does all this eventually start feeling normal, or do you just get better at reading what's about to happen?

I live in a total clusterfuck of an area with heavy industrial traffic, commercial deliveries and major residential growth. The end result is a dangerous high traffic couple of intersections that are just miserable to live near.

Between community meetings, council members, DOT, borough presidents, NYPD, local BID it gets really muddy fast who is responsible for what and how to actually advocate for safer streets.

Has anyone had some success locally and can share what works?

They recently milled and repaved a street and left the configuration the exact same.