Perhaps it’s a lack of imagination, or I just haven’t worshipped at the altar of Cthulu for long enough, but just when I thought I grasped the extent of WCBS reporter Marcia Kramer’s anti-bike lane crazy, she raises her game.
Streetsblog covers her fever-dream exposé about the bike lanes being installed on First and Second Avenues and the fact that it goes by the Israeli consulate!
“A Second Avenue bike lane is next to the Israeli Consulate,... Imagine if the man on the bike was a terrorist!”
Bet you didn’t see that one coming!
Kramer then switches from terrorirsm to the man-on-the street-, the voice of the people. She interviews Bruce Silberblatt, bike-hater, and head of the Turtle Bay Association; a go-to guy for grumpy old man for sound-bites.
“Anybody trying to ride a bike is taking their life in their hands. It’s that dangerous.”
As Streetsblog notes,
Classic Kramer jujitsu. This guy who hates the bike lane? He’s actually concerned about cyclists. So concerned, in fact, that he appears to believe no one should ever ride a bike.
Never mind that Community Board has 6 repeatedly approved the lanes, Kramer titles her clip, “Issues, Opposition Mounting For New Bike Lane In High Traffic Turtle Bay”. Just a bald-faced lie. And it used to be known as the “Tiffany Network”.
Kramer’s report closes with this gem..
“Opponents might argue that the 90% who use cars and buses should rule the road, especially in an area with such high levels of congestion..”
Brilliant. Since pedestrians vastly outnumber the number of people on city streets, can we make the sidewalks proportionally that wide?
More seriously, it’s as if giving cyclists the opportunity to cycle safely on a tiny portion of Manhattan island, changes the fact that motor vehicles already rule the fucking road. And we see the result, week in, week out.
.