A choose has blocked town from eradicating a comparatively new protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue.
Picture courtesy of Google Maps
A Brooklyn choose on Wednesday moved to quickly stop Mayor Eric Adams from eradicating the Bedford Avenue bike lane.
Town is “enjoined and restrained from implementing and commencing/performing any construction or other acts related to the Removal” not less than till a listening to scheduled for August, dominated Choose Carolyn Walker-Dialo.
The ruling got here in response to a lawsuit in opposition to Adams and town’s Division of Transportation by advocacy group Transportation Options and Brooklynite Baruch Herzfeld.
Filed on Tuesday, the go well with claims that Adams’ June 13 choice to take away a part of the parking protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue and exchange it with an unprotected painted bike lane was “improper,” “irrational,” and made “without proper legal notice.”
The lawsuit claims Adams and the DOT violated metropolis legal guidelines by instantly opting to take away the protected bike lane. File photograph courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Images Workplace
Peter W. Beadle, the lawyer representing Herzfeld and his 12-year-old son, mentioned he was “very pleased” that the courtroom “appears to understand the seriousness of this matter.”
“When applying for a [temporary restraining order,] one of the elements that has to be satisfied is a showing that the case is likely to succeed on the merits,” Beadle mentioned in a press release. “While this is by no means a guarantee of success later, and this decision is only temporary, it’s fantastic that the Court agrees that our case has merit.”
A DOT spokesperson referred Brooklyn Paper to Metropolis Corridor, which didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Town had deliberate to start eradicating the parking-protected bike lane on Bedford Avenue between Flushing and Willoughby avenues this week, days after Adams’ sudden announcement that town would “adjust the current design.”
That call was met with blended reactions.
The parking protected bike lane, which stretches from Flushing Avenue to Dean Avenue, was solely completed final yr, after years of back-and-forth. The native Hasidic group has largely opposed the lane, and the United Jewish Organizations of Williamsburg final week thanked Adams for “accepting our proposal” for the bike lane.
However others slammed Adams for opting to axe the lane, particularly with out prior warning. Bedford Avenue is notoriously harmful for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists, and critics mentioned eradicating the bike lane may put locals in additional hazard.
The lawsuit claims that DOT “did not engage in proper analysis of the effects of removing the protected bicycle lane,” and accuses Adams of failing to have interaction with local people boards earlier than opting to take away it. In failing to seek the advice of with group boards and elected officers, DOT violated town’s administrative code, the go well with claims.
At high, a rendering of the non-protected painted bike lane, with the parking-protected bike lane beneath.Picture courtesy of NYC DOT
In an affidavit, native Council Member Lincoln Restler mentioned he had not obtained discover of DOT’s plans to take away the protected bike lane.
Kevin Rizzo, assistant company counsel on the NYC Regulation Division, argued in a letter to the choose that the deliberate adjustments “follow engagement with the community to further refine recent modifications to the street,” and claimed town would “not remove the bicycle lane but would shift its location within the street.”
The June 17 letter requested that Walker-Dialo opposed the TRO request and “wish to be heard on the matter.”
“We’re ecstatic that a judge is currently blocking the city from ripping up street safety improvements,” mentioned Ben Furnas, Government Director of Transportation Options, in a press release. “We know that City Hall’s plans aren’t just wrongheaded, they’re illegal — and we will keep fighting for safe streets every step of the way. We won’t let anyone make our streets more dangerous. Mayor Adams, we’ll see you in court.”
