UWS residents Protest Proposed 72nd St. Bike Lane Thoroughfare
Only three days before the vote by the full Community Board 7, dozens of protestors turned up to on the UWS on May to blast a proposal by the Department of Transportation to turn 72nd St. into a river-to-rive bike lane that would cut through Central Park
| 04 May 2026 | 05:55
Only days before the full board of Community Board 7 is expected to take a vote on the river-to-rive bike lane that the Department of Transportation is pushing, protestors on May 2 spoke out against it. (
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Protestors turned out on West 72nd St. to protest the cross town bike lane on 72nd St. that the Department of Transportation is proposing. (
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Speakers criticize at plan to turn 72nd St. , a major cross town street, into one with only one lane of traffic each way and a river-to-river bike lane through Central Park. (
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Pamela Greitzer-Manasse will never forget July 22, 2022, the day that changed everything. The professional cellist was just leaving Lincoln Center after a dress rehearsal for the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. As she walked with her husband Jon and one of his former students, both fellow musicians, a moped came bombing through the median at West 65th Street where Columbus and Broadway intersect. The moped hit Greitzer-Manasse, throwing her into the air and knocking her unconscious. She was left with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and remains mostly paralyzed on her right side.
The Manasses were among scores of Upper West Siders who showed up at Verdi Square Saturday morning May 2nd to protest a proposed two-way bike lane (as previously reported in the Spirit) that will traverse 72nd Street from east to west. Organized by the 72nd Street Coalition of Residents and Businesses, the protest gave locals a chance to (loudly) voice their opposition to the plan. Greitzer-Manasse addressed the crowd, taking the opportunity to rail against the entities believed to be in support of the bike lane.
“Funding by huge companies—Transportation Alternatives, Lyft, who owns Citibike, and all the apps, and the politicians who take the money to further their own agendas in spite of all the dangers directly in front of them—you know who you are.” Her words inspired hoots and hollers from the crowd.
Recounting the details of the accident to the West Side Spirit, her husband, clarinetist Jon Manasse, said “The assailant was riding on the sidewalk in the crosswalk. There were no consequences, no accountability for that person, but she’s left without a career as a cellist, and paralyzed, and we’re just fighting for safety for everybody. No one has consulted the residents, or the businesses, as to how this will land for them.”
His wife, for obvious reasons, is particularly concerned for the disabled and the elderly. She says they will now have to cross a bi-directional bike lane with E-bikes going up to 35 miles an hour in order to access a car, taxi or Access-a-Ride taking them to a doctor’s appointment. “It’s going to be extremely dangerous.”
Also in attendance (though in much smaller numbers) were people in favor of the new bike lane. Ira Haironson, 68, is a car owner who says he’s far more worried about getting hit by a car going 60 miles an hour at night than by a bike. He believes, some would say idealistically, that cyclists will behave themselves on the proposed lane. “The bikes will slow down. The doormen will take signs that say slow down and I’m sure that will be fine.”
Austin Celestin grew up in the building above Tip Top Shoes on West 72nd and works in urban planning. “I was excited when I heard about the plan (because) there’s no crosstown bike lane from westbound on 55th all the way to 158th. So for five miles, there’s no protected bike lane access.” Some have suggested putting the bike lane in the center of 72nd Street rather than along the north edge. Celestin isn’t buying it. “If you put it in the center, they’re gonna feel less comfortable getting in and out of the lane.” He’s concerned about the bikers’ safety.
A man named Peter Shaw, who told the Spirit he asked to speak today “because I’m up on the west side a lot,” is more concerned about pedestrians, and about the FDNY. Citing concerns previously voiced by the FDNY about a proposed bike lane on 31st Street in Astoria, Queens, Shaw delivered a fiery message: “Do not build a moat around our homes. Do not entrap our seniors and our children. Listen to our first responders. If the FDNY says ladders can’t reach the windows, hah, that’s pretty damn simple, right? Don’t put barriers there to block them from doing their job. I don’t want to be jumping out of a window because I can’t reach the damn ladder.”
Shaw continued, “Today, we are asking the city to treat 72nd Street like the living, breathing community that it is. Sign the petition! Talk to the press! And tell our officials and DOT stop the secrecy. Respect our neighborhood and come back to the table.”
Lester Wasserman, owner of Tip Top Shoes (among other businesses), a longtime staple on 72nd, addressed the crowd next. As he took the microphone from Shaw, his hands shook as he emphatically delivered his prepared speech. “My business depends on daily deliveries and pickups: UPS, Fedex, USPS. How are workers supposed to move hand trucks through a two-way bike lane? Where do the trucks stop on a street that’s already filled with double-parking? Traffic is already tight. How does removing lanes improve that? How do ambulances and fire trucks get through? And the plan that the city proposed is based on a 2021 Covid era study, when the city was operating under completely different conditions.” His speech drew major applause from the crowd.
The only disruption during the protest came from one of the best-known unhoused people in the neighborhood, Ethan “Freckles” Wise, who arrived on his bike shouting “Make way for the king!” The crowd wasn’t feeling it. Many screamed “Shut up!” A police officer ended up engaging Ethan for several minutes as Wasserman, Greitzer-Manasse, and a self-proclaimed spokesperson for the neighborhood, Peter Shaw, delivered their speeches.
E-bikes are the talk of the town, and not in a good way. According to the NYPD, fatalities in crashes involving “motorized two-wheeled devices” have spiked about 120% since 2014, and 86% in the last year alone. And according to a study conducted by NYU Langone and published April 15 in Neurosurgery, the increase in E-bikes and scooter use has led to a surge in brain and spine injuries among urban riders and pedestrians.
The chorus of voices against these urban missiles is growing louder by the day. Michele Kaufman of the 72nd Street Coalition of Residents and Businesses told the Spirit, “We’re not opposed to bike lanes at all, we just want to make sure that the plan is one that’s safe for everybody who uses the street.”
Standing at a table handing out literature, Kaufman laid out what she feels is unsafe about the proposed bike lane. “Everything. People stepping out into the street are stepping into a two-way bike lane, which is shown to be where people speed the most.” She thinks it may be better for the bike lane to be in a different part of the street, or on a different street altogether, one that is less of a busy residential and commercial thoroughfare.
James Manfredonia, who lives on 72nd and Columbus, is dead-set against the DOT’s plan to move ahead despite the local opposition. “Is anyone gonna stop at that light between Columbus and Broadway? No. The statistics were all concocted by someone who had no other agenda other than to get it done. It’s not going to be pretty.”