Thursday, March 17th, 2011

DNAinfo reports that Monday night’s Central Park precinct community council meeting attracted about 300 people to discuss the recent ticketing blitz of cyclists in Central Park.  Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Upper West Side City Councilwoman Gale Brewer joined Central Park cyclists in favor of a proposal to have the 47 traffic lights traversing the park turned to blinking yellow during car-free hours as a way to curb the bike ticketing blitz in recent months.  After a whopping 230 summonses issued to cyclists so far this year, compared to all of last year’s 160 summonses for motorists and 62 the year before, bike advocates claim that the NYPD is targeting all cyclists, not just he reckless ones.  Monday’s meeting wasn’t all pro-cyclist, however… Central Park Precinct Commander Philip Wishnia said that the ticketing spike was in response to an increase in incidents, and inferred that the current enforcement wouldn’t change without an order from police headquarters.  Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation hit the brakes on the blinking-yellow light idea, citing public safety concerns for crossing pedestrians, and did not send representatives to the meeting.  Regardless of the outcome of the blinking-yellow-light proposal, cycling advocates agree that something needs to change in regards to ticketing during car-free hours, as the ticketing surge has discouraged cyclists from using the park altogether.  In addition, many advocated other solutions like better education for park users about park rules and etiquette via signage.

Filed under: Central Park, News, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, Wellness 1 Comment »
Tags: Central Park, Central Park Precinct, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer, Crime, Cycling, Cyclists, Department of Transportation, DOT, Gale Brewer, Manhattan Borough President, News, Philip Wishnia, Police, Scott Stringer, Ticketing, Tickets, Wellness