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.

Click here to hear an audio podcast EXCERPT about the numerous bus lines that have been eliminated in the area.

NYC Dept. of Transportation used faulty data to make their case for more bike lanes

Veteran CBS news reporter Tony Aiello revealed that the NYC D.O.T. has for years based their decisions on traffic patterns, bike lanes, and cycling policies on faulty injury statistics. Cult-like bike zombie followers of Sadik-Con were forced to acknowledge the D.O.T.'s faulty stats..

Here is what veteran reporter Tony Aiello (a real journalist, not a blooger with a fake name) reported on Aug 27th 2010

DOT Apologizes For Reporting False Bike Accident Info

August 27, 2010 6:15 PM

Print Share 29

NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 10: Bicycle commuters make their way across the Brooklyn Bridge November 10, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (CBS 2) – A pedestrian safety advocate is outraged after New York City released inaccurate information about pedestrian injuries caused by bike riders.

The anger came in response to last week’s “Bike Bedlam” series on CBS 2, reports Tony Aiello.

When she lost her husband, Nancy Gruskin gained a mission.

“I’m not here to say, ‘take the bikes of the road,’ not here to say biking isn’t great,” Gruskin said.

Her mission is a foundation dedicated to safe streets in the city. Last year, Gruskin’s husband, Stuart, suffered a fatal head injury when a bicycle rider plowed into him.

Two days after CBS 2 featured Gruskin in the “Bike Bedlam” reports, the city Department of Transportation releases statistics claiming pedestrian injuries in crashes with cyclists plummeted 62 percent since 2001.

Now, though, the DOT is backpedaling, admitting the numbers it released were wrong.

It turns out those numbers have nothing to do with bike vs. pedestrian accidents – they’re from motor vehicle accidents in which bikers and pedestrians were also injured.

When bikes hit pedestrians, no agency collects the incident reports or analyzes them.

Gruskin said she knew that, but the DOT apparently did not.

“It’s an outrage, because it’s all about pedestrian safety, and how can you ensure pedestrian safety if you can’t ensure accurate numbers?” Gruskin said.

On Friday, the DOT told CBS 2 they “regret this error and any confusion it may have caused.”

The city is seeking to improve data collection to be as responsive as possible to all traffic safety issues.

When Gruskin wrote the mayor last year to ask for help with bicycle safety, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan replied with a form letter – it was addressed to Gruskin’s dead husband, Stuart.

“How much more could you be kicked in the stomach?” Gruskin said. “That’s exactly how I felt when I opened the letter from the Department of Transportation.”

Gruskin wrote again this week, and hopes her letter is treated with more respect this time.

Gruskin wants to meet with the DOT commissioner to discuss ways the city could collect accurate statistics on bicycle vs. pedestrian accidents.