By COLlive reporter
Many in the Crown Heights community have expressed concern and dismay about the installation this week of many CitiBike racks on main streets around the neighborhood.
Rabbi Chanina Sperlin, Executive VP For Governmental Affairs of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, told COLlive.com that the Community Council has been “bombarded with calls from upset residents about the mass proliferation of new CitiBike stands that has swarmed over Crown Heights over the past few days.”
Sperlin relates that he and Rabbi Eli Cohen, Executive Director of the CHJCC have been in contact with Borough Commissioner Keith Bray in an attempt to have at least some of them removed.
He says they have also been in contact with Mayor Eric Adams‘ office to express the concern of the community, noting that the community was not consulted on these actions.
Rabbi Eli Cohen said that community representatives met with officials only a month or two ago and expressed concerns about the bunching of CitiBike stands in proximity to Kingston Avenue, in close proximity to each other, and the disruption to the lives of residents and visitors that these stands have caused.
Cohen says that the representatives were told that the issue would be looked into, however, they did not receive any follow-up response.
“Not only did we not receive a response with the results of that investigation but, suddenly without adequate warning, another ten or twelve stands have been placed in a small geographic area without any consultation with merchants, families, or organizations that understand the nuances of life in a community,” Eli Cohen said.
“Of particular concern are the additional six locations that have been set up in close proximity to the main shopping area on Kingston Avenue. We demand the immediate removal of these new stands and that a proper process be set up to study and evaluate the effects of this change on the community.”
Aside from many residents being upset about the loss of many parking spots in prime locations throughout the neighborhood, Sperlin said that Kingston Avenue merchants are greatly affected by these new bike racks, as they reduce convenience for the parents of young families who are their main customers.
This is in addition to the “severe effects of the pandemic on shopping trends and the move to online shopping rather than in small retail stores. These retailers depend on maintaining some modicum of convenience for their customers in order to maintain their businesses. The placement of these stands on and around the main retail shopping street of the neighborhood with its Religious goods stores, kosher food, and other unique establishments places yet another impediment to shoppers coming to the neighborhood.”
“Most of these shoppers are either families with several small children for who biking or public transportation is not an option and many who live in areas of East Flatbush and North Crown Heights which are also not reachable by public transportation. By so drastically limiting parking on and around this retail corridor with the loss of over 50 parking places in a small area, the result will be not moving people out of their cars, but sending them to other neighborhoods where parking is more convenient.”
Cohen noted that Crown Heights already has a double parking and traffic movement crisis on Kingston Avenue. “The added congestion from the stands will only add to this problem creating a more dangerous environment for pedestrians, and especially the high percentage of young children,” he said.
Sperlin says the Commissioner has reached out after hearing these concerns. “He said he will be looking into the matter and will hopefully have some answers for us by the beginning of next week,” he said.
The new citibike locations in Crown Heights contribute to the gentrification of Brooklyn. The @NYC_DOT collected requests, but there was no outreach on where the locations will actually be, and no communication with the community board on the proposed locations (1).
— Yaacov Behrman (@ChabadLubavitch) February 9, 2023
Keep fighting till it’s done!
They are liberals, right?
So they should be open minded enough to understand that different communities have different needs. Sometimes very different. So while some communities do need and want lots of bicycle racks, other communities don’t want or need them.
Thank you rabbi sperlin
Why are we the hub for all the 5G towers, homeless shelters and city bikes! Get your act together
I love Citibike. Every block should have a kiosk.
This is the type of selfish socialist behavior expected
Find Something Better To Do With Your life.
Apparently you don’t know what it mean to look for parking
until you get older and you realize it’s not so simple. they are many more variables to a healthy life
All of the comments like these and the thumbs dpwns to the real concerns of our community to save the neighborhood are not from our community
Thank you for representing the community on this and other issues. Generally speaking, though, if you “do not receive a response” you follow up….. and show them we will take our votes elsewhere in the future
True, but he may have been taken aback that the “response” was just dumping more and more and more of these bike racks we’ve been asking them to remove.
Just tonight you have parked on the avenue 4-5 Raskin vans/trucks, 2-3 Shmira/Shomrim trucks, a “Hatzolah Air” van, a literal campervan, U-Haul, school bus, and multiple other commercial vehicles which do not belong on the avenue. How about the Shmira “good shabbos sign” with its unsightly massive generator/box behind it taking up 2-3 parking spots. Who exactly requested that be installed? Was there any community consultation? Or the community has to just suffer along from their turf war? Should we talk about the Tzach Mitzvah Tank that has been blocking off at least 2-3 spots on the corner of Kingston and President for the… Read more »
Wow thank you for confirming that BH we are a community full of Chessed & Mitzvos. Think about how useful (AND USED ON A DAILY BASIS) and beneficial these vehicles and amazing wonderful organizations are. Instead of looking to blame your own, try walking a bit. Near Schenectady Ave. There are DOZENS of Abandoned & Derelict half smashed possibly stolen vehicles, As well as many vehicles with counterfeit fraudulent “paper plates” parked in front and near every single drug & crime filled building off Schenectady Avenue. And I’m not going to even begin with the amount of abandoned vehicles near… Read more »
With alternate side parking rules, those care would have been ticketed enough to get booted and towed, no? is it even possible to abandon a car on the side of the street indefinitely in NYC?
Lol. The Traffic agents with their ticket machines only ticket vehicles that have legal plates & are legally registered.
All the vehicles with No plates, or fake paper home printed plates don’t get ticketed.
You can see for yourself during alternate side parking by Schenectady Avenue and Montgomery/Crown/Carroll/President
It would also be a very easy, convenient & flexible time for the NYPD to tow away these abandoned/derelict vehicles during alternate side parking because there are no other cars in the way.
The law is clear. Commercial vehicle / non-private vehicles are prohibited from parking on streets within residential neighborhoods. Enforcement is needed to address all vehicles that do not follow the law. This includes derelict vehicles as well. People and/or organizations will make a choice to either solve or add to the problem. Can’t have it both ways but I agree, street parking is a problem citywide.
You do realize that the tzach mitzvah tank is parked outside of a tzach building. Right? It’s not randomly taking up the most convenient space.
This is crazy. And you guys need to take care of it
Blah blah blah.
Maybe it’s time for some more photo ops….
Instead of putting the bicycles on the parking spot, place them on the sidewalk/grass.
We need to make a protest
I’m ready
are pushing more and more people out of NY. They keep making it harder to live here. I wish we had a leadership who were effective.
I’m here bc of the Rebbe and 770, otherwise….
a frustrated tax paying community member
So we can actually take public transportation from east flatbush and remson village and North ch to Kingston avenue.
Can we keep the bike racks but put them on the sidewalk? With just 10 bikes instead of 30?
We don’t need any bikes in this small over trafficked area.
My two cents:
Citi bikes are a rip-off for sure!
We feel so entitled to park our fat minivans for free subsidized by every tax-paying New Yorker that we’re offended when some of the street (which belongs to everyone) is reclaimed for alternative forms of transportation.
Replace the the CitiBike docks with bike lockers so that more families will use cargo and Dutch-style bikes!
Ever heard that speaking politely will get you FAR better than trying to insult our community?:)
Stop with your talks next show the community your action. Not just posing with the gov by your chanuka parties. There is NOT one bike station on 7th Ave in park slope. It is very clear that we are being targeted, but unfortunately we do not have a strong enough had to fight for us.
While everyone enjoys a nice bike ride, I believe the proliferation of citi bike rental spaces in our precious parking areas is a deliberate attempt by the democrat party to foist its woke agenda upon our community. They know that we are a community based population Ie Shopping, schools, homes, restaurants, Synogogues, all service a close knit group of people living in the same area and they also know that we are voting Republican more and more and that their woke ideology is an anathema to all we believe in. It is clear to me that if they could destroy… Read more »
How about trying something new? You might even lose a few pounds!
Can you shop and put 3-4 or 5 kids under 5 on a bike while doing your errands?
The community is mostly filled with families. Not single people.
Late this Friday Night on Albany near Carroll a station with a half block of Citi Bikes was installed. An area where the community did not need, did not want it. A street that is already narrow, difficult and full of the road rage types that pass through our neighborhood. A location that will make driving ten times more difficult and put the bikers lives at considerable risk of traffic accidents. So therefore the City decided to place it where it disrupts a community and causes the most harm. Then instead of going way above them, you go to complain… Read more »
They are destroying our community – this would never happen on 13th Ave!
They would not let it !!
Please keep fighting in til they are all taken away
Crown Heights is not exclusively orthodox Jewish, there are plenty of non Jews living in what we think of as central Crown Heights. Maybe the non Jews of Crown Heights do like the citibikes. Why should we have the right to dictate ?
Unless every Bochur over 18 votes you can’t complain. If you outvote these liberal lefty DemocRATs than you can talk. Otherwise they laugh at you.
Time to move out of crown heights
I see the main issue is that the bike lanes take away parking spots. Do you know that there are close to 100 spots that are taken away by local Mosdos and businesses? Buses should be parked in lots, not on streets. There are 10-12 buses on CH streets taking valuable parking spots. Mitzvah Tanks should be parked in lots, not on streets. There are 8 Mitzvah tanks on CH streets taking valuable parking spots. There are truck trailers with mattresses, benches, and other holiday stuff parked illegally on CH streets taking valuable parking spots. There are local “car rental”… Read more »
There are almost 100 abandoned & derelict vehicles taking away your parking, many half smashed. Many with counterfeit fraudulent plates, many with no plates. All parked on residential streets leading up to Schenectady Ave, Utica Ave & Nostrand Ave.
Some of these vehicles are more than likely stolen, some of these vehicles are meant for drug drop points.
Let’s focus on that first.
U sponsor the parking lots also it’s not just the parking it’s that no one wants to see this [liberal agenda] every 2 feet u walk and also who the he uses these bikes if u want a bike so bad buy one or walk to Franklin Avenue and rent it there
There is a shortage of land for us to build schools. Instead our Mosdos need to go and buy far out in East Flatbush. Where tell me is there an empty lot for Mosdos and all these other tanks etc to go park? As far as the trailers that are parked there from Tishrei to Tishrei, yes you are right. Its not right they are parked there and the streets cant be cleaned properly due to these unmovable monsters. Two wrongs dont make a right.
The article states that community activists are in touch with the mayor’s office. The problem is that the CH community activists react instead of acting in the first place. When the 1st bike rack was installed on Eastern Parkway, that was the opportunity for the community activists to make their case and prevent further installations. Poor voter registration and turnout over the past 30 years in Crown Heights hampers community activists ability to advocate for our community. Unless someone is Chas v’sholom in a hospital etc, there is no excuse for not voting. In addition, any U.S. citizen who is… Read more »
If it were true that every single trip taken by car throughout crown heights is a family with children or a large grocery shopping trip, then you could argue that the bikes are essentially useless to our community. However I’m sure we can all agree that many of the cars on the road are one single person, let’s say an adult male, who is simply travelling from one part of CH to another and the most convenient form of transportation is his car. Taking a citibike can be much quicker and more convenient (no traffic, no looking for parking) and… Read more »
More CITI bikes……Not enough…..more
Maybe it’s time people start walking and using bikes 🚴.
This neighborhood needs un update .
Needs to be more people friendly like no garbage all over the street and cars all over the place beeping or almost hitting u !
It’s about time we got these in our neighborhood. I don’t understand the obsession of the 20% of people in crown heights with cars that want to keep there parking spots and don’t want to let people without cars have an easy and cheap way of transportation.
Let the 80% without cars have something for once.
Where did all the Revel mopeds go? They’re convenient, and do not take up as much space as bike racks, they’re also faster when it’s freezing, have helmets for safer commute and if you do not follow traffic rules (especially one way rule) get banned from using mopeds.
I’m impressed that people are promoting healthier and alternative way of commuting while not having much experience with biking up any of CH av (Troy, Kingston or NY).
To end my argument I think we should all switch back to horse and buggys.
Why can’t they place these Citi Bike contraptions on sidewalks & on the island on EP.
Brooklyn Borough Commissioner Keith Bray
6468921350
As someone who enjoys bike riding and appreciates the idea of bikes to rent… The Citibikes are anyhow stiff and uncomfortable to ride, in my experience.