Politics & Government

An Uneventful First Day in Court for the PPW Bike Lane

The suit to remove the bike lanes was adjourned until next month after a few minutes.

After months of legal hoopla over the now famed Prospect Park West bike lane, the first day of court in a battle over the lane’s legitimacy lasted just about 10 minutes.

Judge Bert A. Bunyan adjourned the case until next month after plaintiffs Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety requested more time to review recently submitted documents in their case against the Department of Transportation. The two anti-lane groups , arguing for the removal of the controversial two-way bike lane, calling it “arbitrary” and “dangerous.”

But this morning at Brooklyn Supreme Court, the case was quickly adjourned after the parties each presented arguments on statute of limitations issues and the plaintiffs’ application to conduct discovery (which is not traditional in an Article 78 hearing such as this one).

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NBBL and SFS requested to adjourn after receiving a FOIL response on Tuesday from Councilmember Brad Laner, arguing that they needed more time to review the approximately 671 documents containing communications between Lander and the DOT.

“The city is hiding something,” said NBBL and SFS attorney Jim Walden, a partner at  Gibson Dunn. “We’re looking for any documents related to the study [of the bike lane] and why [the DOT] presented the information the way that they did.” Walden expects that the documents from Lander may reveal that the city initially called the lanes a “trial” project, which the city has consistently denied.

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The city maintained many of the points it had initially issued in a filed earlier this month, among them, that the suit was filed after the statute of limitations was up.

"The petitioners have been unable to refute the key legal issues in the case,” said city attorney Mark Muschenheim. “Their lawsuit was brought after the statute of limitations had expired. Even if it weren’t filed too late, the bike path was clearly a reasonable and rational response by the City to community concerns, the sole legal standard for this case.”

Before the hearing, Councilmember Brad Lander convened on the steps of the courthouse along with Slope residents, Community Board 6 members and cycling advocates to once again make the case that the lane has a majority of the community’s support.

“[The lane] is supported by the community, that’s why its there today. We support the lane, that’s why we’re here today, and that’s why the two-way Prospect Park West lane is here to stay,” said Lander.

Earlier this month, Lander and former Community Board 6 Chairman Richard Bashner filed a supporting the bike path, detailing the “democratic process” that they say ultimately resulted in the installation of the lanes last June.

The case is scheduled to appear again in court on July 20.

 


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