Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bike. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Senator Daniel Squadron's town hall hearing on the LES - Click here to hear audio podcast EXCERPTS
Senator Daniel Squadron hosted a town hall event to hear first hand from residents from Chinatown and the Lower East Side on November 30th. There were many issues raised, too numerous to list here, but we've attempted to provide you with an audio podcast excerpt of some specific complaints raised about Chinatown pedestrian safety issues.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Seniors, children and disabled menaced for a decade at local Chinatown "Park"
Click photo to enlarge A cyclist uses the bronze plaque of the Lin Ze Xu statue. The cobblestone planter was designed and installed by D.O.T.
The cement which was used to smooth over the cobble stone, was put there by vandals in the middle of the night - dressed as construction workers. Smoothing over the cobblestone was done in order for skateboarders to use the planter as a ramp to skate on.
This exemplifies a level of disrespect that is so profound it is beyond words.
click photo to enlarge
click photo to enlarge A Cyclist using a bronze plaque placed in front of the bronze statue of Commissioner Lin ZeXu - a hero to millions of Chinese. Not only is this disrespectful, this cyclists is oblivious to the danger he poses to pedestrians trying to simply cross the park.
click photo to enlarge
click photo to enlarge
click photo to enlarge
click photo to enlarge
"In 1961, a local law named this island within Chatham Square in recognition of the contributions of Lt. Kimlau and the veterans post. That year, the post erected this memorial, designed by architect Poy G. Lee (1900-1968). Standing at the head of Oliver Street, it is reminiscent of a triumphal arch. The memorial stands eighteen feet nine inches in height and is sixteen feet wide. Inscribed on the memorial is a dedication in both English and Chinese: “In Memory of the Americans of Chinese Ancestry who lost their Lives in Defense of Freedom and Democracy.”
What is the bronze plaque for? Commisioner LinZeXu - a hero to the Chinese people
click link below to see VIDEOs
Chatham Green Private property, Foley Square, Chinatown Banks - VIDEO
"Chinatown Banks" as it is known to skateboarders and cyclists (Chatham Square - its official name) continues to be a favorite for bikers and skateboarders, some who travel from outer boroughs just to skate or bicycle on the gently sloping "ramps" stupidly designed and installed by The City Of New York.
"Chinatown Banks" as it is known to skateboarders and cyclists (Chatham Square - its official name) continues to be a favorite for bikers and skateboarders, some who travel from outer boroughs just to skate or bicycle on the gently sloping "ramps" stupidly designed and installed by The City Of New York.
UPDATE: Community Board 3 has seen the photos in this posting, and are speaking with NYPD, and the Department of Transportation, and The Parks Dept. Community Board 3 will have this issue on their agenda to be heard in January - CCRC will keep you posted.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Blog to Blog
The following is a post from another blog : Politics as Puppetry
The author took the time understand the CCRC point of view, for that we're thankful.
Read on:
"Streetsblog posted its own call to action about today’s hearing on remodeling Chatham Square which, when read in the context of CCRC’s much more detailed analysis, just seems a little flimsy, and flippant at that - Streetsblog groups local response under generic ‘opposition’, and pushes for the present plan as handed down by NYC DoT and friends, despite the fact that the main opposition seems to be from folks who don’t oppose the project, but rather oppose doing it NOW.
This case, and the recent rise of anti-bike lane activism in Brooklyn reveals how certain ‘green’ policies can work as a kind of class warfare, with the New Urbanist trend being only the latest of many architectural salvos for the city delivered from on-high by city administrators to the unwashed/ignorant residents, unable to see the social benefits of a overhaul of their street life. Honestly, I’m not even totally convinced of the utility of green streets - transportation is a sizable but not immense part of CO2 emissions, and the green-streets improvements feel increasingly like a form of social control purpetuated by New York’s ascendent young, mobile and wealthy urban class with its ‘green’ mores (notably different from a serious environmentalism).
Not to say that ‘livable streets’ policies won’t work, but rather to say that they’ll work better if done in collaboration with the residents of those streets. Instead of putting out calls for ‘advocates’ to descend on hearings to support “green here, green now.”
The author took the time understand the CCRC point of view, for that we're thankful.
Read on:
"Streetsblog posted its own call to action about today’s hearing on remodeling Chatham Square which, when read in the context of CCRC’s much more detailed analysis, just seems a little flimsy, and flippant at that - Streetsblog groups local response under generic ‘opposition’, and pushes for the present plan as handed down by NYC DoT and friends, despite the fact that the main opposition seems to be from folks who don’t oppose the project, but rather oppose doing it NOW.
This case, and the recent rise of anti-bike lane activism in Brooklyn reveals how certain ‘green’ policies can work as a kind of class warfare, with the New Urbanist trend being only the latest of many architectural salvos for the city delivered from on-high by city administrators to the unwashed/ignorant residents, unable to see the social benefits of a overhaul of their street life. Honestly, I’m not even totally convinced of the utility of green streets - transportation is a sizable but not immense part of CO2 emissions, and the green-streets improvements feel increasingly like a form of social control purpetuated by New York’s ascendent young, mobile and wealthy urban class with its ‘green’ mores (notably different from a serious environmentalism).
Not to say that ‘livable streets’ policies won’t work, but rather to say that they’ll work better if done in collaboration with the residents of those streets. Instead of putting out calls for ‘advocates’ to descend on hearings to support “green here, green now.”
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