r/MicromobilityNYC

Full motion papers are here. Sounds like the opponents and the city will be in court on Thursday arguing whether the judge should issue a temporary retraining order.

Kermit

As seen at my local Costco. I covered the plate, standard TLC plate, because I do not know if this is legal or not

Looks like the NYPD is continuing to ticket cyclists at the bottom of the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan. This evening, there were at least 10 cops scattered across the intersections looking to pull people over.

Great use of funds. /s

Full story on Instagram. Thanks to Miser (and King Souvlaki too actually) for willing to be a part of this very serious story…

https://www.instagram.com/p/DYep72YDkk6/?igsh=MW45czlubDFkNnFuOA==

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ASTORIA — After months of community board tension, Facebook/Reddit comment warfare, and enough yelling to power all of Con Edison, Gotham Goose is proud to announce we successfully moderated peace talks between legendary pro-bike lane advocate Miser and equally legendary Greek food Truck King Souvlaki.

It went… shockingly well.

Despite being on opposite sides of the great 31st Street Bike Lane Conflict of Astoria, both parties eventually realized something important: the bike lane is happening no matter what. Democracy has spoken — which, fittingly, was invented by Greeks anyway. 🇬🇷

Miser admitted there’s realistically very little that can stop or significantly alter the DOT plan at this stage, while King Souvlaki made it clear they have no intention of abandoning their historic location. So instead of continuing the never-ending feud between small businesses and bicyclists, both parties explored compromise.

That compromise? BIKE RAMPS.

Under the proposal, custom ramps would be installed on both sides of the King Souvlaki truck, allowing cyclists to safely launch over the truck at full speed like a live-action Evel Knievel stunt spectacular instead of dangerously swerving around it into traffic. The mood shifted dramatically once both sides discovered a shared admiration for daredevils, chaos, and unnecessarily dangerous Americana.

Critics called the idea “completely insane,” while confused commenters asked “Wait… is this real?” Unfortunately for them, Astoria has now evolved beyond the point where satire can be easily identified.

Rumors immediately spread that King Souvlaki secured the agreement by offering Miser free gyros for life. When Gotham Goose confronted Miser about these allegations, Miser reportedly responded through a full mouth of tzatziki: “NOPE.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: Both Miser AND King Souvlaki
ACTUALLY gave us their blessing before posting this so we appreciate them for being good sports and supporting satire at their own expense. So make sure you go ride a bike on 31st Street and get a gyro with that extra WHITE sauce to thank them both.

One proposal is a more traditional boulevard design, while the other includes a bike lane. However, in certain sections, bicycle and pedestrian traffic would share the same space.

We have an important opportunity to testify in support of the 31st Avenue Phase 2 rollout at the Queens CB1 general board meeting. The meeting will take place TOMORROW — Tuesday, May 19, at 6:30 PM — at Astoria World Manor.

It’s important that we continue to show the DOT, the CB1 board, and the broader community that there is strong neighborhood support for these projects.

Q: "But Josh, wait. Didn’t we just testify at CB1 last month?!"
A: We did! But that was for the 31st Street safety improvements. This is a separate project. Look at that beautiful roundabout. That could be your life!

Phase 2 would extend the corridor from Steinway St to 51st St, creating a much longer east-west connection and expanding one of the city’s most successful street redesigns.

At April's meeting about 31st Street, supporters showed up in a big way. It concluded with roughly 20 consecutive speakers testifying in favor of the 31st Street improvements. Let’s bring that same energy again and make sure the board and DOT hear that support for safer, more connected streets continues to grow.

The opposition consistently shows up, so it’s important that supporters do too.

Click here to view the agenda for Tuesday's meeting.
Click here to view the DOT presentation.
Click here to watch the DOT presentation to CB1 Transportation Committee.

Livestream for those unable to attend: https://youtube.com/live/7Uwk97fu8vQ

Monday is street sweeping day on the north side of Skillman from 48th to 52nd Street; it's Thursday for the section from 39th to 48th. DOT crews spraypainted the guidelines for the bike lanes and pedestrian refuges, but drivers ignored them as soon as the crews were done. The third photo, of the street sweeping sign, is from Sunday.

I run the Safer Skillman Avenue Facebook page and blog; if anyone wants to organize around getting the one-driving-lane configuration extended west from 50th Street, please get in touch!