Community Corner
PPW Bike Lane Was 'Trial Project' Say Opponents in Appeal
A possible error in the date that the city considered the PPW bike lane a permanent street fixture may give steam to new appeal by anti-bike lane groups.
Despite having the Prospect Park West bike lane , Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes and Seniors for Safety are back with an appeal, saying that the judge failed to consider the bike lane a “temporary experiment,” says the Brooklyn Paper.
In August, NBBL and SFS's case against the bike path was dismissed because they filed their paperwork too late, but according to the Paper, because Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Bert Bunyan did not consider the path a “trial project,” that his ruling is “legally and factually erroneous.”
The city began work installing the PPW bike lane in June 2010 and says it considered the lane a permanent street fixture that same month, but opponents claim that it only became permanent in January 2011, says the article.
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It is that argument that could push back the four-month cut-off date for filing lawsuits against government agencies, says the Paper, thus putting NBBL and SFS’s original suit in the correct time frame.
, the two groups claimed that the bike lane’s current “configuration requires pedestrians to walk across inconsistent traffic patterns with limited visibility.”
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Eric McClure, a cycling advocate and campaign coordinator for Park Slope Neighbors, called the appeal "an unfortunate waste of the court's time."
"It's a shame that, given nearly a year to come to their senses, a small group of malcontents and their Park Avenue attorney continue to pursue a misguided legal case against a traffic-calming project that has not only been widely embraced by the community, but has made Prospect Park West undeniably safer for everyone who uses it—pedestrians, cyclists and drivers alike," added McClure.
The New York City Law Department is not worried about the appeal, said Mark Muschenheim, who is the Senior Counsel of the Administrative Law Division of the city agency in a statement E-mailed to Patch.
"We are confident that the trial court's decision in our favor will be upheld on appeal," Muschenheim said. "The popular bike path continues to enhance the safety of all who use Prospect Park West."
