By Phoebe Neidl
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

WILLIAMSBURG — A group of “bicycle clowns� showed up on Kent Avenue in Williamsburg Wednesday morning to defend their turf — the new two-way, 1.5-mile bike lane the city installed this past fall.

The lane raised the ire of non-cyclists in the community when “No Stopping� signs accompanied the freshly painted paths. There is now no legal curbside parking along a 20-block stretch of the largely industrial waterfront road, a subtraction of approximately 256 parking spaces, according to the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) web site.

The colorfully clad demonstrators Wednesday were from the environmental group Time’s Up. They say they’re defending the bike lane against threats from a group of vocal opponents, made up at least partially of members of the neighborhood’s Hasidic community, who have reportedly objected to the “immodesty� of the hipster cyclists.

Some opponents have even threatened to block the bike lanes with private school buses, a Time’s Up press release said, which would endanger cyclists by forcing them out into the middle of the road.

But bicycle clown Ben Shepherd reported that Wednesday’s theatrical defense of cycling was positive and successful. “We had a great time,� he said. “I got a lot of smiles. We had a lot of conversations with people in the community. Several people moved their cars out of the bike lane when we asked them,� he said.

The biking advocacy group Transportation Alternatives has also started a Save the Kent Avenue Bike Lane campaign on its web site. “Whenever there is opposition to a bike lane, 80 percent of it is a referendum on bicycling,� says Wiley Norvell, spokesman for Transportation Alternatives. “The other 20 percent is legitimate. It’s things like businesses and manufacturing that need offloading and delivery space.�

The Kent Avenue bike lane is not just any lane. It holds the footprint for part of the planned Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, which would allow bikers to safely travel from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. “It’s the principal link between North Brooklyn — Bushwick, Greenpoint and Williamsburg, the densest biking community in the city — and Downtown and Brownstone Brooklyn, which is a major destination,� says Norvell.

But opponents have gained some support from local officials. In a letter to Brooklyn DOT Commissioner Joseph Palmieri, Borough President Marty Markowitz, Council Members David Yassky and Diana Reyna, state Senator-elect Daniel Squadron and Community Board 1 Environmental/Sanitation Chair Evan Thies write that the lane “has created an adverse and unnecessary impact on residents, local businesses and bikers alike.�

The letter goes on to request that the DOT “remove the newly installed ‘No Stopping’ signs from the east side of Kent Avenue and that you paint over the northbound bike lane until such time as an appropriate community-endorsed solution can be developed.�

After initially approving the Greenway and concomitant parking restrictions in April, Community Board 1 voted in November to write a letter to the commissioner asking the DOT to “revisit Kent Avenue to make a proper assessment of businesses impacted.�

Norvell says “the bike network is becoming stronger because we’re no longer treating parking as sacred. Newer designs are treating parking as any other space on the street.

“Kent is one of only half a dozen streets in New York City where the bike lane affected parking by more than one space ... When safety is up against convenience, safety wins.�

Additionally, the lost parking spaces could potentially be compensated. The DOT’s Kent Avenue plan, available online, says there would be a high availability of curbside parking on side streets off Kent if “outdated, overly restrictive regulations� are removed.

The letter from Community Board 1 also states, “it was obvious that updating obsolete parking restrictions along side streets would mitigate the loss of parking along Kent Avenue.

However, Scott Gastel of the DOT told the Eagle that the potential parking changes on these side streets, running from Clymer to North 14th streets, are still “under review.� He could give no timeframe for how long the review process would take. “We are continuing to discuss the changes with the community,� he said.

“It was always a part of the DOT plan to accommodate businesses on Kent by adjusting the parking restrictions on side streets,� says Norvell. “We would have liked to have seen that done before, but sometimes the order gets messed up.�

“The blocks on Kent are very short, so that to park on a side street makes a difference of about 10 or 15 feet. Most retailers’ needs can be met with these measures,� he says.

For businesses with loading bays and deliveries that take hours due to the quantity, DOT can “maybe cut into the buffers of the bike lane to the outside of the loading zone,� Norvell said.

“You can’t always please everybody. We can be flexible, though. We can still have it all, I think.�

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