Update on Sandy

Please go to the Friends of Ocean Parkway Facebook page for information posted on Hurricane Sandy. News stories and photos were posted on FB in order to get the information out as soon as possible bypassing Friends of Ocean Parkway blog that you are now reading.  We will return shortly to the process of posting information on the blog first that will be shared on the FB page. The greenway was seriously impacted by fallen trees and significant flooding up to Avenue X.  Many homes and businesses sustained terrible damages by the flood and the wind that evening. The photos and videos tell a dramatic story that cannot be adequately described in a post.
I hope you were spared the wrath of Sandy. If you were impacted like so many I pray that you and your family are now safe and warm and you are beginning to recover from such a terrible experience.

Bike-Share Equipment Apparently Damaged by Flooding

Bike racks for the New York bike-share program
 in August, stored in the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Bike-Share Equipment Apparently Damaged by Flooding - NYTimes.com

By MATT FLEGENHEIMER
Published: November 14, 2012

New York City’s seemingly star-crossed bike-share program, once promised for last summer but delayed until the spring amid software problems, has found its way into Hurricane Sandy’s unsparing path.


The storm dumped several feet of water at some points across the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where the city had been storing equipment like bicycles and docking stations in Building 293, near the northern tip of the yard and the waters of Wallabout Bay.

Building 293 was among those that flooded, and a spokesman for the mayor’s office said Tuesday that there appeared to be damage to program equipment, including docking stations for bicycles, as a result.

“We’re working on it,” Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s transportation commissioner, said when reached by telephone on Tuesday afternoon. “We had six feet of water in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.”

Officials said it was premature to estimate whether the flooding could affect the program’s start date, scheduled for next March.

The city’s Transportation Department would not describe or detail the extent of the damage; officials released a brief statement on Tuesday saying that the agency was “making an assessment” and would provide updates if the program’s rollout might be affected.

The dock stations would appear to be particularly vulnerable to any flooding, given their electronic components, though officials did not respond to questions about potential damage.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard declined to comment on the bike equipment specifically, but said some of the 275 businesses at the yard “suffered significant losses to machinery, equipment and inventory.”

Asked about the financial and insurance ramifications of any damage to equipment, Julie Wood, a spokeswoman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, noted, “We don’t own the bikes.”

Alta Bicycle Share, the company operating the bike-share program, referred questions to the Transportation Department.

Since the introduction of the program, seen as a likely centerpiece of the Bloomberg administration’s transportation legacy, officials have often been fiercely protective of details and developments — from the process of selecting an operator and sponsors, to the reasons for the program’s delay last summer.

After the storm

3pm on Election Day...
a lonely and shuttered Nathan's is a symbol of the desolation of the Coney Island amusement area after  Sandy's visit.

From Screwed on the Boardwalk: After the storm

Screwed on the Boardwalk: After the storm

Mayor says motorists are less important in his kingdom

Bloomberg said those who cycle, use mass transit or walk are
 "more important" than motorists who clog New York City roads.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg says mass transit, cyclists '
more important' than drivers who clog roads - NYPOST.com


Mass transit riders, cyclists and pedestrians are "more important" than motorists, who clog up the roads, Mayor Bloomberg said today.

Speaking at a transportation conference at New York University, Bloomberg said people often forget streets weren't made for cars.

"The streets were there to transport people," he said. "They are not for cars ... One of the original ways was walking."

Mass transit is the only way to stop the economy-crushing gridlock that plagues urban centers, he said.

"Cyclists and pedestrians and bus riders are as important, if not, I would argue more important, than automobile riders," he said.

Dan Brinzac
Bloomberg said those who cycle, use mass transit or walk are "more important" than motorists who clog New York City roads.
Nothing can be done to stop truck traffic - which delivers most goods into the city - but mass transit can help ease congestion, he said.

"Mass transit is the only way to work ourselves out of congestion," he said.

Bloomberg told the roomful of transportation wonks at the Designing Cities conference - hosted by city Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan - that New York was remarkably safe.

"You can walk through this city if you're a woman during the daytime in any neighborhood in the city and not have to look over your shoulder," he said.

At night there's only a handful to avoid, he said.

"If it wasn't for iPhones and iPads our crime rate would be dramatically lower," he said.

He joked, "They (crooks) take iPhone 5's but they don't take Galaxy 3s."

Armstrong Stripped of His 7 Tour de France Titles

Read ====>Armstrong Stripped of His 7 Tour de France Titles - NYTimes.com
“We’ve come too far in the fight against doping to go back to the past,” Pat McQuaid, the president of the cycling union, said in a news conference on Monday in Switzerland. “Something like this must never happen again.”
He added that Armstrong, the sport’s biggest star for more than a decade, “has no place in cycling.”

In search for the bike path on Church Avenue

Many riders down Ocean Parkway work their way down through Prospect Park that provides the most direct route to the Ocean Pkwy greenway.  But if you are unfamiliar with the territory it can be quite confusing as you exit from the path onto the Church Avenue/Ocean Parkway intersection.  Following the path works only as far as getting to the other side of Church.  Then what?  Here is where the Parks Department and Department of Transportation need to work together to provide improved and logical signage for a seamless route to the southbound bike path on the west mall.  The following photos illustrate the obstacles that riders face to continue on a safe and enjoyable journey.

Path from Prospect Park opens onto busy Church Avenue.

Looks like the path continues down the east mall but...

...riders confront No Bicycling sign.  Now what???

View from the east mall.
What cyclists see after they cross Church Avenue.
You need sharp eyes to find the sign across the way.
 No signs on this side to direct cyclists to cross here.

Sign looks pretty visible,  Not!

Can the bike path sign be any more confusing? Walk? Where? Why?

Bike smart even if you do have the right of way.

Crossing eight lanes of traffic to get to the other side.

Cyclist attempts to cross over on north side of Church Avenue.  

Cars often get caught in the crosswalk to avoid setting off red light camera

View from the west mall.  Don't expect any consideration from drivers.

Heading towards Prospect Park across Church Avenue.

The 30 mph limit ends upon entering
 the entrance to the Prospect Expressway.
For many it ended  many blocks  earlier.