Williamsburg, NY – Merchants: Bike Lane a Retail Pain

    17

    Williamsburg, NY – A controversial pair of newly painted bike lanes are great for Williamsburg and Greenpoint bike riders, but they’re killing Kent Avenue business owners.

    Join our WhatsApp group

    Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email


    Two weeks ago, the city eliminated all parking on both sides of the waterfront throughway between Quay and Clymer streets to make room for the cycling paths, but business owners say that the new parking restrictions have made commerce impossible.

    “My customers come in cars and when there is no parking, they shop somewhere else,” said Justine Franko, owner of the furniture and home furnishings shop, Om Sweet Home, which is between North 10th and North 11th streets.

    During a typically strong week in mid-November — when Franko could usually net between $1,500 and $2,000 — she earned only $200. She attributes the sudden decline to the lack of parking, not the ailing economy.

    “I am mortified,” she said. “If things don’t change, I won’t last six months.”

    David Reina — a manufacturer of machines that produce paper — said deliveries to his workshop, which is between Grand and North First streets, are now a challenge because of the new “no-stopping, no-standing zone” on Kent Avenue.

    As a result, drivers can no longer idle curbside to deliver the large pieces of metal that Reina sculpts into presses, he said. What’s good for pedalers is proving not to be good for peddlers.

    “I used to be able to get my deliveries right in front, but now I have to go around the corner with a 20-foot piece of steel sticking off my forklift — that just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

    Even the biggest proponents of the bike lanes — which will eventually become part of a long-planned bike route and walking path that will stretch from Greenpoint to Sunset Park — say that turning all of Kent Avenue into a no-standing zone wasn’t wise.

    “Everybody agrees that the way that the Department of Transportation went around changing the signage on Kent Avenue was brainless,” said Teresa Toro, chair of the Community Board 1 Transportation Committee. “They took a blanket approach that you really shouldn’t do.”

    Department of Transportation spokesman Scott Gastel said that the lanes are vital in a cycling hub like North Brooklyn, but added that his agency is open to considering altering parking restrictions in certain cases.

    “We have been working with local businesses and the community to address changes brought about by the project and will continue to look for ways to minimize any impacts,” he said.

    The city has already made at least one such change, when it altered the no-parking, no-standing zone in front of the Zafir Jewish Learning Center for Special Education near the corner of South Eighth Street to allow school buses to pick-up and drop-off students.


    Listen to the VINnews podcast on:

    iTunes | Spotify | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Podbean | Amazon

    Follow VINnews for Breaking News Updates


    Connect with VINnews

    Join our WhatsApp group


    17 Comments
    Most Voted
    Newest Oldest
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    This whole bike lane idea is one big pain in the neck, besides the no stopping on Kent Av. that turned Kent Av in to literally a highway.
    the bike lanes in general are a problem for itself. many of those bikers don’t obey no traffic laws whatsoever, passing red lights and even flashing school buses, putting kids in danger, swerving in and out of traffic to pass other bikers, crashing recklessly into people.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    they just did the same in belle harbor taking away a lane oftraffic and you know how many bicycles were using it? you guessed it ZERO

    Bloomberg GeltKop
    Bloomberg GeltKop
    15 years ago

    Don’t you get it’s more revenue in parking tickets.

    M. Richter
    M. Richter
    15 years ago

    If your listening to the news last few days then U know the lattest studies that over 90% of bikers don’t obey the laws… & endanger the public… If U drive a car then U expirience it 1st hand…
    This Kent ave. Was offered by the UJO CJC etc as a comprimise to leave Bedford & whyte alone so the community which consissts of 99% none bikers shouldn’t be burdend by the neighborghing bikers, however as we all expected and to no ones surprise they took all 3 avenues… Typical Bloomberg buracrucy at work…

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    I do dlivery’s in willy on u can’t park double anny more on bedford cause they give bike lane tickets that u can’t fight and it is points on the license to stand on a bike lane
    its a pain in the neck

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    we all hate bloomberg go home we dont need you you stole all our money and the city has no surplus go home bloomberg we hate you with a passion

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Where are the Traffic Enforcement of cyclists?
    Are they paying anything towards the road maintenance?
    We, the car drivers are the ones paying all these taxes, (Registration, Insurance etc.), in addition to being the sole target of the Traffic Enforcement and the Police.
    and at same time we lost part of the road to these cyclist, who by the way, some of them despise and try intimidate the car drivers as part of the “Global Warming” and environmentally safe travel…….
    Need I say more?

    Hipsterburger, former Williamsburger
    Hipsterburger, former Williamsburger
    15 years ago

    Told you so. The mayor has an agenda, and it is to make New York City Hipster-town. The problem will get much worse, because our community leaders failed to intervene in time. Maybe it’s because Bloomberg gave money to certain Mosdos or organizations, I don’t know. What I do know is that no Asken in Williamsburg has lifted a finger to stop this in time. Our brothers and sisters in Boro Park and Flatbush weren’t willing to help either, because “zol Villiamsburg intergein”. Your dream is about to come true; Williamsburg is about to go under. Meir Porush’s quote that in “ten years no city in Israel will have a non religious mayor” will happen here in reverse, that “in ten years Williamsburg will have lost all clout it had, to the new dwellers of Williamsburg”. Welcome to Hipsterburgh! I’m planning to leave as soon as I find where, and I find someone to buy my house for something close to last years prices.

    mewhoze
    mewhoze
    15 years ago

    they did this to the lower east side too. where do you drop off a passenger now? in teh middle of the street?
    its all bloomberg and his cronies.
    vote him out.

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    chasidim should ride bikes more instead of driving around in minivans.
    they are all fat and out of shape. it is ridiculous that ultra-orthodox jewish community is against bike lanes.

    whatever
    whatever
    15 years ago

    Constant complaining about the “Bike Lanes,” just shows the world even more, how Americans are FAT and LAZY. Do any of you do even an ounce of exercise? God gave us beautiful bodies, and people are extremely unhealthy and destroying His masterpieces. Obesity is on the rise, and it’s not just affecting the secular world, it’s all over even in the Jewish sectors. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt any of you to maybe USE a bike once in a while. Even if it’s not a work day. Just for the sake of exercise!

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    Obesity is on the rise? are you telling people what to do ? thats communism

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    15 years ago

    the whole bike lane is a moronic idea do you ever see bicycles in the bike lane who ride a bike in this cold why arent the bike lane not in effect during the winter months?