Williamsburg, NY – Police busted again two of the hipster Brooklyn cyclists who repainted whole sections of Williamsburg bike lanes the city had just removed at the request of the neighborhood’s Hasidic community.
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Quinn Hechtropf, 26 and Katherine Piccochi, 24 — who surrendered hours after posting a video of the guerilla public-works operation on YouTube — allegedly used paint rollers and stencils to recreate all the markings that had been sandblasted away.
“We’re self-hating Jewish hipsters,” Hechtropf joked last night as the two walked out of the 90th Precinct with desk-appearance tickets. “They handcuffed us,” Piccochi complained.
Both were hit with criminal-mischief charges as well as a violation for defacing the street.
The neighborhood patrol Shomrim grabbed Hechtropf and Piccochi in the incident at 3:30 a.m. Monday. Cops took their names but at the time did not arrest them.
“The cops told them they wouldn’t get arrested, but the police must have come under pressure by the Hasidim,” said Baruch Herzfeld, the unofficial spokesman for the pro-bike-lane group.
Detectives asked them to come in to the precinct and they did, accompanied by a lawyer.
Cyclists have decried the removal of the bike lanes, but many Hasidic residents had complained that all the bikers whizzing by posed both safety and spiritual risks to the community.
Many of the hipster cyclists wear too little clothing for the Hasids, who are not supposed to stare at members of the opposite sex and wanted the enticement removed.
Herzfeld contends the activists were comprised of both Hasidic and hipster riders unhappy with the removal of the 14-block bike lane. On the video, the team is shown repainting the lanes with rollers as a pulsating rhythm plays in the background.
They used a stencil and spray paint to recreate a bicyclist icon on the roadbed at Bedford Avenue and Williamsburg Street.
The group’s message appears in white text on a black background:
“We are New York City bicyclists and our message is clear. Don’t take away our bike lanes. We use this stretch of Bedford Avenue because it is a direct route to the Williamsburg Bridge.
“We will continue to use it whether or not there is a bike lane here, but not having one puts us at greater risk from cars.”
The statement says the group will restore the lane markings if they’re removed again.
And the city Transportation Department said it will remove any unauthorized markings.
Hasidic residents complain they are being portrayed as the enemy, when it is the cyclists who are breaking the law.
“That unauthorized painting on New York City property is unlawful, but that is overlooked because it’s committed against the terrible Hasidim,” Moshe Goldberger said.
They were not arrested, but given tickets
These bum hipsters should b given very stiff senteces for breaking The law. The hasids are amazing,lawful and respectful individuals.
to Moshe Goldberger
to reason people are sticking up with the cyclist is that most people feel they are right and the Hasidim are simply wrong, and arrogant to think the streets belongs to them and not to the community as a whole.
I wonder if there was any other neighborhood that had problem with the bike lanes or, removed?
As far as the cloth what about people walking in the street you want to stop that too?
Public streets that cannot “used” by all. I see a problem occuring. What next car stoning? I long for my grandparents 1950’s charedi lifestyle. It was filled with torah, music and mild mannered harmony with the surrounding non-frum community. It seems that scenario has been replaced by a modified “police state” that will not let its own people develop their own limitations and thoughts. Sad.
I’m on the fence about this one: I agree that there might be some safety issues with putting bike lanes on a street that is used heavily by pedestrians on certain days of the week, but on the other hand, it is a public street, owned by the city. If the chassidim are bothered by the bikers’ clothing, then don’t look — the obligation is on you not to look, not on the bikers in their dress. If you want to be cloistered, then you’re living in the wrong place. The bikers need to accept that the lanes have been removed, period. The reason they were removed is not as important as the fact that they were removed by the city. The bikers and the chassidim need to work with the community board to come up with alternate routes to the Williamsburg Bridge that is acceptable to both groups.
i bike alot. its very dangerous in areas that dont have bike lanes. i think if you relied on your bike for transportation, then you’d see their side of it.
its not such a shverra derher.
The article makes it out to be as if most of the “Hassids” have a problem due to modesty issues.
That is not true. Yes, some extremist have a problem with it and don’t stop bringing this up as the reason and therefore the real reason why most are against the bike lane gets put behind.
Most of us have a problem with it only because of safety issues. Many of these bikers just whiz by school buses dropping off or picking up children. I have seen this myself and it concerns me.
Bike riding is great, don’t get me wrong, and I think it would be great for our community to start implementing bike riding for exercise and financial issues but I wish there were better enforced rules for bike riders so I don’t get hit by one while innocently crossing the street with my baby stroller at an intersection.
To those who are screaming “modesty issues”. Please stop it. Nobody is going to take this seriously. Look away or go live in Meah She’arim.
if they want to bike let them use another street. here in willi every second street has a bike lane including kent avenue, driggs avenue, berry street, dekalb avenue, willoughby, and many more. why do they davke need the bedford ave bike lane?
there are only about 50-60 bikers using the bedford bike lane so why should everyone suffer because of these selfish people? let them ride two extra blocks to get to a designated bike lane.
besides that, many bikers don’t even use the bike lane but instead use the lanes designated for cars, thereby endangering both, themselves & car drivers.
The comments so far reflect some innocent, not informed individuals like #5 to outright old fashioned hatred of Chasidim, as reflected in #2 and even #3.
Everyone has an opinion about Chasidim so I won’t discuss them (it won’t help anyway, as bigots will remain bigots), but instead let’s discuss the hipsters who some like #6 “understand” them.
There is no question anymore that there is a major culture clash taking place here in Brooklyn. Unlike previous differences of culture of let’s say Jews and Christians where there was always an underlining understanding of its differences, which resulted in a goodwill to live in peace. So whenever something somewhere got heated, the leaders of the communities met and solved its problems. Nowhere was this more true then in Williamsburg where its non Jewish residents were devout Christians and listened to its leaders/Priests.
This problem with the hipsters is not only a Williamsburg problem; it is a problem for decent society everywhere, a problem for any religious person regardless which religion he/she practices. The problem goes at the root of the social order, it destroys everything decent, everything religious, and is evil at its core.
They the artists/hipsters do not consider themselves indecent, just the opposite they think of themselves as the most progressive of mankind, and it is they who understand that every one else is backwards. So they laugh off decent society, and proceed with righteous indignation.
In a nutshell there lifestyle is even worse then the hippie lifestyle of the sixties of Woodstock, where “free love” was its motive. To the hipsters that goal has long been reached, they now advocate the removal of the “institution of marriage”, removal of every boundary that exists that denies someone to hold back their desire. They know that society at large is still decent and won’t allow it, therefore they aim to destroy society’s moral underpinnings by trying to destroy religion, all religions. They know that time is on their time because unlike Mo’av who took the advice of Bilom and sent Kozvi bas Tzur, they can send an endless number of Kozvi bas Tzurs through the internet. They are using the internet to destroy every fiber of religion that exists and sadly they have made great inroads among us Chareidi Jews, including many VIN readers.
The bike lane fight in Williamsburg, and a fight it is, is between the forces of evil led by the hipsters and its “religious” supporters on the internet including here on VIN, and all the decent citizens of New York who see the bike lanes not as a mere “traffic issue”, but as an attempt to destroy every last vestige of moral decency that still exists. Sure the bike lanes have become a physical nightmare for most residents of Williamsburg, but even worse it has become a spiritual nightmare for Williamsburg. Whichever bothers you more, either the spiritual nightmare or the physical nightmare, if you don’t support Williamsburg’s residents against putting bike lanes on every single Avenue; you either are a bigot and hate Williamsburg’s residents because they are Chasidim, specifically Satmarer Chasidim, or you simply support the hipsters and their obnoxious and arrogant lifestyle. Be honest and admit your bias.
I don’t understand one thing, y in willi there is a bike lane and in b.p. There is not even one bike lane??!!
These hipster tourists have no right to desecrate our neighborhoods b’davka when they can take Kent Avenue just as easily. These freaks used to come in to Landaus restaurant and try and chat up locals, and even drag in their drecht friends from out of town to ogle the Yidden while they are fressing. How many good yidden have gotten mixed up with drugs and znus for us to wake up and stop renting to them?! Let them try this with the shvartzes in Bed-Stuy…
This is a very interesting and sad live drama, that is being played out before our very eyes (residents of Chasidic Williamsburg). On one side, you have many thousands of of Torah-true Jews who don’t want to bother or dictate to anyone about their respective lifestyles. The overwhelming majority of Chasidim want to live in peace and harmony with their surrounding neighbors. Their only modest request is and has always been: “LIVE AND LET LIVE.” Fine, you (Hipsters & Alternative Lifestyle Seekers) already moved into Williamsburg in a semi-surreptitious manner. OK, fait accompli! Now what? Why do you keep pushing the envelope farther and farther?? Why are you so self-absorbed that you cannot or will not understand that the bike lanes in such a heavily populated area WITH MANY YOUNG SCHOOL-AGE CHILDREN IS AN OUTRIGHT HAZARD FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED, INCLUDING YOU, SIR & MS. BIKE- RIDERS!!!
Finally, now it is already the NYC Law, and and we dearly hope that you will respect it, and become good, respectful citizens and neighbors, once again!!
I am not a Chusid, I work in Williamsburg.
The issue is not really the modesty thing. The issue is that;
1, The bikers are very full of attitude. It is their way or their way. Many seem to be self hating Jews that for some reason do not respect red lights or kids getting off school busses. They are a danger to themselves and others.
2, There are parallel bike lanes on almost every street here. The bike lanes take away one traffic lane and causes congestion. NYC did create alternatives already, the bikers refuse. They are still permitted to ride on Bedford (I think) but they do not have a lane dedicated to their use. They broke the law by recreating a bike lane and the accused went on record calling himself a self hating Jew!
I think we should do the same and start removing bike lanes from kent ave. Etc. Lets see how the police will handel that?
bike lanes are a good thing but it depends where it is like bedford ave were thousends of kids are living its just not the place………….. place .modesty is not the issue AT ALL the issue is that new york city doesnt have any laws on bike traffic .the police never stops a biker if he goes out of the bike lane…… so why should we be in danger thank you rabbi weiser
Bike lanes make the street safer for everyone. It doesn’t make sense to say (like #16 ) that bike lanes make the street more dangerous for children. Here is why: There will be bicyclists riding on the street no matter what. They were there before the bike lane; they will be there after the bike lane. The choice is between mixing bikes into car lanes (which is dangerous for everybody) or giving bikes a separate lane so everyone can predict where they will be. That way when people, kids, whoever, tries to cross the street, they will know where to expect to see the bikers that will be there either way. How can you say that is dangerous for children? It doesn’t make sense.
A bike lane on the left side doesn’t affect kids getting off school buses on the right side.
WRONG. Most busses have exits on both sides and all stop while the kid crosses, that is the law.
Williamsburg Bridge is popular enough for cyclists that they are using all of the inroads to the bridge – in every direction, as they come from, just as the cars do. It is next to impossible, though, to come from Bed-Stuy or Bushwick into Manhattan via that bridge without passing through South Williamsburg. This isn’t a hipster thing – it’s any cyclist. People are not going to get along any better by taking away a bike lane — especially for only 14 blocks. It’s only that the tiny modicum of safety that any cyclist has in a narrow street is chopped away further. Cyclists used this route long before the bike lane was there, and will continue to do so after it isn’t.
But if you want to bring up the “hipster” issue, why are so many Hassids gentrifying all the nearby factory buildings by renting to hipsters on fixies, for increasing rent, and then complaining when these “hipsters” bike to the bridge?!
to all of those asking these innocent questions.
let’s put aside, the whole controversy between us jews & the Hipsters (which are both unfortunately Williamsburg residents.)
when we drive our cars or even walk the streets, we usually seek for the most convenient & fastest way to get from here to there. without going extra blocks & out of our way. & if possible smooth roadways.
these hipsters are just doing the same thing & that’s why Bedford Ave. is frequently their best choice, & no other street or bike lane will solve this matter. perhaps most of the other streets in the area were destroyed & car lanes closed up, because of the bike lanes, & Bedford ave is still serving the same 2 lanes & the same One Way direction.
we don’t think these HUNDREDS of bicyclists are going out of their way just to come bother US, & ride their bikes the way they do it in front of our eyes.
we have to start understanding that the neighborhood we live in, with all the up’s/Maalos it might have, does still have Maalos for other elments, which are down’s/Chesronos for us, which will probabely not happen in Boro Park, Flatbush & different brooklyn communities.
BTW are these Hipsters realy voluntaring in KIRUV organizations, that are targetting our soles & the soles of our children? they look like their bussiness is only to serve & feed “their own” goals & desires to the highest levels possible, without being dictated & stoped by anybody. perhaps might (Leider) have a bad affect on us just by standing by & seeing their lifestyle…
don’t get personaly offended, just take constructive, possitive action…
I live here, born here and grew up here, My father lives here, born here and grew up here, going back 50 – 60 years.
This hipsters came here 10 years (the most) ago and manipulates here and complains.
Its very normal for any community to fight against something they are not used to it or bothers theme, If you have a problem with it “go back where you come from”.
Williamsburg must learn they do not own the streets. If they want to live in a ghetto they can move to Monroe
It is irrational to think anyone on a bike is automatically a hipster. A wide variety of people use bikes for their work commutes.
This problem is like an onion with many layers. I have seen with my own eyes cyclists run stop signs or red lights, and conversely I have seen Hasidic school buses, and mini-vans run those very same traffic signals.
We as a community need to understand that neither group is going to ever leave. Hipsters and gentryfiers are here to stay. The Hasid population isn’t going anywhere. If we don’t take the steps to respect each others cultures now, then we’re all in for hard times.
I live in the neighborhood. I see it everyday. You have your percentages wrong. I am what ytou would most likely consider a gentryfier. I don’t break laws. I do risk my life on a daily basis just to cross the street. Not all cyclists are breaking laws. And in my humble opinon, a dialouge between all groups would provide an oppurtunity to find middle ground.
Hipsters and gentrifiers aren’t here to change the world in which you live.
In any case, what does that have to do with a bike lane? It’s legal to ride a bike on Bedford Ave with or without a bike lane. Bike lanes just make it safer. So you want to reduce safety but not accomplish anything else (like reducing the number of bikes)? Why?