MORNING BULLETIN: A NOTORIOUS TOWNHOUSE AND A TREMENDOUS WATERFIGHT
Ken Shih’s sculpture “Can Love Pervade Space?” in Riverside Park South.
July 27, 2015 Weather: Scattered thunderstorms. High of 80 degrees.
Notices:
Check out our calendar for this week. It includes several free concerts, dancing, outdoor theater and much more.
There’s some major work planned for Lincoln Square this week to make the area more pedestrian friendly. Learn more here.
Restaurant Week is on until August 14. Here are UWS locations offering deals.
Sara Lanclos and Krystalle Lyons, two high school students with Goddard Riverside’s Options College Access Program who faced difficult challenges growing up, were invited to the White House last week. The two scholars were honored along with 140 other students from around the country for their perseverance. Learn more about them here. And here’s how to get involved at Goddard, one of the neighborhood’s most important nonprofits.
Local 10-year-old Connor Corcoran won the Daily News Field of Dreams contest for an essay he wrote about the Yankees and will get to mingle with Yankee greats at the stadium on August 26.
News:
Ownership of the notorious dilapidated townhouse at 44 West 73rd street is being contested. It’s a messy situation with no clear resolution in sight, reports New York Press. “The biggest and most practical mystery of when and what will happen to the property, which is landmarked, also remains elusive. It has dozens of building violations and complaints, ranging from trash pileups on the roof and rodent infestations to unsafe scaffolding and debris falling off the facade. The last valid certificate of occupancy is from 1986.”
There was a massive waterfight in Central Park this past weekend — 64,000 people RSVP’d! The parks department asked them not to hold it on the Great Lawn for fear of ruining the grass, but much of the action apparently took place there anyway. Here are some photos.
Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal filed a bill to make delivery bicyclists wear vests with larger letters stating where they work: “With more visible identification for delivery cyclists, residents will be able to file a complaint against businesses whose delivery cyclists break traffic safety laws.”
A bicyclist was hit on Saturday night around 9 p.m. in a particularly treacherous part of the neighborhood — 96th street between Broadway and West End — and taken away in an ambulance. We’re awaiting word from NYPD on what happened and the person’s condition. Paul Lashin sent us an image of the crash site, which we posted here. If you have info, contact us.
Lauren Bacall’s Dakota apartment, listed for $23.5 million, has found a buyer, although the final price and the identity of the buyer haven’t been revealed. It’s about 4,000 square feet, and Bacall bought it in 1961 for $48,000.
Bonnie Kassel wrote about rescuing a pigeon on West 70th street, from the pigeon’s point of view.
Re: Bicyclist hit
How is it that everybody knows about ” a particularly treacherous part of the neighborhood — 96th street between Broadway and West End” and the only changes that our pols make are to make it worse?
I really hope this bicyclist is okay, and NYPD is fully, objectively investigating the crash.
What do you mean “pols are making it worse”? Surely you remember, four people were killed here last year. Grieving families still live here, and I think they appreciate the changes, but would give anything if the city would have installed safety-focused designs before anyone was killed.
Surely I do remember, because twice I watched as ambulances took the dead away. Then again on Saturday, as I watched a cyclist being taken away. And yes, I told Councilwoman Rosenthal that the changes to WEA at 95 St and 97 St would create a new kill zone on 96 St.
So I guess my answer is “Yes”.
How can you say that “the only changes that our pols make are to make it worse”?
Just read the bit above that “Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal filed a bill to make delivery bicyclists wear vests with larger letters stating where they work”.
Another problem solved!
All anyone needs is two eyes looking at the site of the accident to understand that this was “an accident waiting to happen”.
There been an electric sign that reports auto speeds, which is just a distraction because it is not working.
Of course, there’s the right turn-only lane near “the accident”, whose entrance is smaller than a car.
How many need to die or be maimed?
you’re asking for protected bike infrastructure? Or you have details of the crash?
No, I am not asking for protected biking infrastructure. I am Commenting that the NE corner is dangerous as the result of other nearby changes.
I do not have details of the crash, as I looked out my window (which is just above the crash) in response to the emergency vehicle.
The questions for me, and I hope the cops are investigating: who had the right of way? Was either party speeding, texting, drunk, high, or failing to exercise due care? What is it about this road configuration that led to this crash and the injury? Even if the cyclist hopped out of bed after they gave him or her two advils, ambulance rides are expensive. The cyclist and everyone else moving along 96th Street has a job and a home and a family, and should be able to travel to them safely.
Re: ““With more visible identification for delivery cyclists, residents will be able to file a complaint against businesses whose delivery cyclists break traffic safety laws.”
Open Letter to Council Member Rosenthal:
Please add to your bill the requirement that ALL cyclists wear VISIBLE IDENTIFICATION so that we mere pedestrians can FILE COMPLAINTS AGAINST THE ARROGANT CIVILIAN (non-delivery people) CYCLISTS WHO NEVER BOTHER TO STOP FOR RED LIGHTS, RIDE ON SIDEWALKS, AND OTHERWISE JEOPARDIZE OUR SAFETY!
Every other vehicle using public streets MUST carry visible identification (hint: it’s called a LICENSE PLATE) but not bicycles.
WHY ARE THEY ABOVE THE LAW?
Couldn’t agree with you more. Everyone riding a bike should be required to buy and display a license plate, not only for ID purposes but to pay for the use of city streets and the cost to taxpayers for the bike lanes the DOT has provided them with public funds. If bikes are the new means of transportation, why shouldn’t their owners pay for a license like car owners have to do?
Umm… I’m a taxpayer and cyclist, so I’ve already paid for my bike lanes. Thanks!
Amen!
That’s a Double AMEN!
I’m a taxpayer and (occasional) driver, so I’ve already paid for the roads. By your reasoning, I no longer have to pay for my driver’s license or plates for my car.
License fees are not to pay for the costs of creating the road or bike lanes. They are, and would be, for the privilege of being allowed to use those resources to operate our vehicle.
The proposals here to license bicylists are not intended to raise revenue, but to find a means of imposing some kind of controls on out-of-control cyclists. To judge from the comments posted regularly on this site, there are lots of those, so maybe licensing them is a good idea.
If we’re going to require all cyclists to display proper identification I think we should extend it to pedestrians as well. They’re also always obliviously crossing against the light and causing near-misses with cyclists.
You know what might look nice and fashionable? Little yellow stars. That would be a nice touch, wouldn’t it?
Oh, please.
One of the more ridiculous Godwin’s Law violations I’ve seen.
Totally agree! These delivery guys ride wherever they want & break the rules with impunity. They ride on sidewalks, don’t bother to use bike lanes, and if they do it’s in the wrong direction. Most are not wearing vests that are legible; you can’t tell who they work for. When I’ve tried to explain the law they couldn’t care less or don’t speak English.
I don’t know about paying for a license, but *something* needs to be done to enforce the rules for cyclists, because most of them seem to disregard pedestrian safety and simply do whatever they want. I think the biggest issue is actually in the parks–cyclists go far too fast (and no, it’s not the tourists or delivery people who are the problem), don’t use bells, and don’t bother to stop/slow down for people when using a shared path. If the parks (Riverside especially) can’t designate lanes to separate cyclists from the runners/walkers (which they really should–my morning run would be far more enjoyable if I didn’t spend it looking over my shoulder!), then they need to do a better job of ticketing cyclists who disobey the rules.
very cute story about the pigeon. only one mistake…they can fly without their tail feathers. these are not used as much for direction as the “flight” feathers on the wings are. if they lose their flight feathers, then they have a bad problem.
I was replying to Siddhartha, not agreeing with people wearing yellow stars!
Everyone is guilty of walking, riding, and driving illegally to some degree. Drivers, unfortunately for them, carry a bigger burden because the method of transportation they use can cause the most harm if they hit someone. People need to use common sense. As for the proposal I doubt it will have much of an impact.
Totally Agree!
I’ve had to walk by that disgusting building at 44 W 73rd for over a decade. It’s unfathomable how a building like that can be allowed to remain. I feel sorry for the people who live next to it. Plight of the block.
Whatever happened to Ann Curry’s brownstone in that area? Wasn’t she under fire for not completing the reno and having homeless folks sheltered there?
Didn’t you mean blight?
does anyone know what happened to the Mexican restaurant Pear Cactus that was supposed to open on Amsterdan and 75?
So 60,000 people can be organized for a water fight in Central Park but no one can get a handle on the pedestrian, cyclist, traffic problems? Maybe it’s time to put the FB kids in charge of city planning.
Has Helen Rosenthal ever tried to do anything about the utter impunity with which these local businesses hire illegal aliens?
Last I checked, there was no shortage of American citizens (including right here in Ms. Rosenthal’s district) who were in need of employment.
The purpose of car licensing is not to “pay” for the roads or even specifically for ID purposes. Licensing theoretically ensures that the driver is qualified to operate a motor vehicle and knows the rules of the road…. I dont see an analogy to recreational bike use. What would be next… jogging licenses, walking licenses.
Certainly “professional” bike delivery people SHOULD be licensed, for ID purposes and theoretically to control abuses (ie loss of license/livelihood)