CB 7 Gives Thumbs Up to Controversial 72nd St. Bike Lane

In a jam-packed Symphony Space auditorium, the Upper West Side’s Community Board 7 voted 26 to 19 on June 2 in favor of a controversial resolution to convert the northern edge of 72nd Street into a two-way, protected bike lane.

The community board doesn’t have the final say; it’s only a recommendation but the recommendations often carry weight with various city agencies and elected officials.

Ultimately the decision falls to the city’s Department of Transportation. Mayor Mamdani has said he will defer to the DOT’s ruling. In an April press release, NYC DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said “Designs like this make our streets safer for everyone, whether you’re biking, walking, or driving. This proposal reflects our commitment to safer streets and meets the growing demand for cycling, making it easier for New Yorkers of all ages and abilities to get across Manhattan safely.”

But a vocal contingent of people who live on or near 72nd Street strongly disagreed.

Pamela Greitzer-Manasse, who suffered a catastrophic brain injury and was left paralyzed on the right side after being hit by an E-bike in 2022, was the first of scores of Upper West Siders who were given one strictly enforced minute to take the mic and speak their minds. Like many of her 72nd Street neighbors, she fiercely opposes the plan.

"I’m fighting for safety,” said Pamela Greitzer-Manasse, who’s still fuming about the board’s decision. “I’m fighting for the guy who’s riding on the sidewalk to get a ticket. We just want the bad behavior to stop. And the more infrastructure you build will not change the bad behavior. The more bike lanes you build, the more egregious behavior will be allowed.”

In May, the West 72nd Street block association conducted a survey that Greitzer-Manasse says showed a majority of nearly 200 respondents oppose the redesign. (The actual data showed 59% ‘do not like’ the plan, while 38% do.) She is livid that, from her perspective, residents’ concerns were dismissed.

“What was shocking to me is that the guy who runs the CB7 board meetings [Alex Bell], the last thing he read was a letter from our block association. The president had the gall to say the block association looks forward to working with the DOT. It really made it sound like most people were all for it. This is our block. And they are deciding what is best for us on our block.”

Reached by the Spirit, Rita Genn, who runs the block association, said “We are completely neutral. We do not have a position on this. We’re just really a conduit to bring people together and communicate. We want to do what’s best for everyone in the community.” She referred the Spirit to the association’s statement, which read in part: “Our goal is to ensure that W72nd Street can be a safe and inclusive corridor for all. We support this much-needed investment in our community and urge CB7 and DOT to incorporate feedback received at recent meetings and at the upcoming walkthroughs into the final street design. This inclusive approach will ensure safety improvements for all users and support our local businesses.”

On the other side of the aisle, dozens of UWS residents voiced their support of the bike lane at the meeting. “I feel like that once you’ve installed protected bike lanes, you decrease the chaos,” said local advocate John Noble. “As an educator, I think that we should be sending a signal to our children that we want to create safe spaces for them to bike safely across.”

Morningside Heights resident David Vassar, a self-proclaimed cycling ambassador, has been riding a bike since he moved to the city 33 years ago. “And I love being able to do that, but as I get older, protected bike lanes become all the more crucial. So I really think protected bike lanes are the way to go. That will encourage more people, who are otherwise reluctant, to get on bikes. If it discourages people from driving, so be it.”

Longtime UWS resident Jason Lowenhar told the committee, “When I’m functioning as a pedestrian, I find it so much safer to cross the street with a bike lane, because I know where to look for the bikes. And when I’m riding as a cyclist in a protected bike lane, I am a safer, better cyclist because I can look out for pedestrians and don’t have to be turning around watching out for cars all the time.”

”Please support this proposal,” Lowenhar said as he wrapped up his minute. “Thank you.”

Janet Schroeder isn’t having any of that.

“It’s madness, it makes absolutely no sense,” said Schroeder, founder and director of the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance (EVSA). “It is a TA (Transportation Alternatives) takeover of our streets. They want to make our streets E-bike superhighways.”

She theorizes that the vote, which was supposed to take place May 5, was postponed to June 2 so CB7 could add seven new votes, nearly all of which landed in favor of the plan.”

The board has been infiltrated by the bike lobby for years. Ken Coughlin has been on board of TA for years.* He is the main person, the chair of the transportation committee for CB7. One of many on the board who love the TA have either lobbied for them or worked for them. Had this meeting been a week ago, those votes wouldn’t have been there. They knew they needed those new board members there.”[*Spirit note: Coughlin is not actually on TA’s board but he is on its advisory council.]

”There’s a perception that this will be a nonstop superhighway,” said Carl Mahaney, Director of StreetopiaUWS, an outreach and advocacy group whose mission is to “bring a new generation of ideas to the Upper West Side of Manhattan. “I think if you look at any of the other bike lanes on the UWS, there’s an ebb and flow. There will be long stretches of moments to cross.

“Not to diminish their concern,” he continued, “but we have this agency and they are tasked with designing streets that are safe and inclusive and accessible to all. At some point we have to step back and trust the DOT and their professional judgment that this project is in the best interest of the community.”

Part of the opposition, he believes, can be attributed to fear. “Maybe a fear of change, a fear of disruption, maybe to one’s routine. It may be dysfunctional, but it’s the street you know.” Mahaney added that similar bike lanes have worked in other parts of the city. “I think this project is not terribly radical,” he told The Spirit. “These are standard treatments in the DOT’s tool kit. It’s just late arriving to cross-town lanes on the UWS. Change is just hard.”

EVSA director Schroeder says the problem isn’t about fear of change; it’s that the DOT’s proposal is based on what she calls “false statistics.” She says many if not most E-bike accidents go unreported to the NYPD, and issued a grim warning about the plan. “Blood is going to be on the hands of all the people who voted for this bike lane once those accidents start happening—and they will. They will.”

Bike lane safety was propelled to the forefront after a man on a stand up electric scooter collided with man on a pedal-powered bike in the bike lane of the Queensboro Bridge on May 28, killing both of the men. Social media activity exploded in the aftermath with some calling for outright bans of e-vehicles and other lamenting that the lack of enforcement of existing rules by the NYPD creates a very dangerous environment for pedestrians from bikers who frequently ignore traffic rules regarding red lights, one way streets and driving on sidewalks.

The DOT said it is holding a walk through on June 5 to explain the plan to merchants along West 72nd Street who had objected to the original plan. City Council member Gale Brewer is expected to be there, but the walk through is closed to the press.