This Week in the Mercury
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Bikes Hipster Activists Repaint Bike Lane in NYC
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Dec 9, 2009 at 2:36 PM
Check out the crazy bike lane activism going down in Brooklyn, where a Hassidic Jewish community pressured the city to remove a 14-block bike lane through their neighborhood, in part because they objected to the immodest dress of female cyclists (to be fair, there were also complaints about parking).
After NYC caved to the pressure and blacked out the bike lane, bike activists with cans of white spray paint put it back in place over a weekend:
Two things strike me about this incident from a Portland angle:
1. Our bickering over bike funding and inclusion of minorities pales in comparison to two arch-rival New York rabbis fighting over whether bikes will help or ruin their communities.
2. Would Portland bike activists ever go guerrilla and paint a bike lane where the city's been slow to respond? Are we Portlanders too complacent/polite to stripe a lane down Killingworth or SE 39th?
Most Commented on Blogtown, PDX
-
Slate: What's the Matter with Portland? by Dirk VanderHart
-
KATU Poll Brings Bad News for Fluoridation Campaign by Denis C. Theriault
-
My Least Favorite Piece of Misogyny This Week: Girl Friendship Edition by Barbara Holm
-
PTERODACTYL MONSTER ALERT by Erik Henriksen
-
Unsurprising: Kerns Neighbors Might Fight a New Apartment Building by Dirk VanderHart
-
Obama Has "No Apologies" for Spying on Reporters by Dominic Holden
-
Fuck Pacific Rim, Now It's All About Atlantic Rim by Erik Henriksen
-
Professor Blastoff Live at Mississippi Studios by Alison Hallett
-
Help a PDX Hiphop Lover Out by Ned Lannamann
-
Good Morning, News! by Denis C. Theriault
Our Friends
- UrbanHonking
- Culture Shock
- Portland Roundball Society
- Steph Cassano
- Cort and Fatboy
- Street Roots
- Powell's Books Blog
- Portland Transport
- Portland Afoot
- Bike Portland
- Eater: PDX
- Portland Food and Drink
- Mr. Movie
- Sunday Softball
- BlueOregon
- Sightline Institute
- Ultra: Arts Portland
- Bitch Magazine
- Blazer's Edge
- Reading Local: Portland
- Portland Food Carts
- Stumptown Vegans
Our Enemies
RSSGoing to Seattle?
