Overflowing, Passionate, And Civil Crowd Pack Citi Bike Hearing, And It’s About More Than Just Spokes

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In an exhaustive and rather stunning example of civil community discourse, a range of neighbors in the Community Board 6 district gathered last Thursday at the 78th Precinct for a public hearing which focused on the current placement of the new Citi Bike docking stations.

Beginning in August, docking stations have been installed throughout Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, the Columbia Street Waterfront District, and Red Hook as part of the second wave expansion of Citi Bike. Last Fall, Community Board 6 unanimously approved Citi Bike expansion to the area.

The new program has been met with great enthusiasm as well as frustration, at one point boiling over with a neighbor — frustrated with stations being placed in front of his home — screaming at the CB6 board during a General Committee meeting on September 14. Citi Bike was not part of that meeting’s agenda.

This hearing was led by Eric McClure, CB6 Transportation/Public Safety Committee co-chair, who — along with other committee members — held an impressively organized meeting. Each member of the public who wanted to speak was allotted three minutes. The committee organized the speakers by “pro” and “con” for the status of the docking stations, which allowed varying perspectives throughout the hearing.

McClure announced that 48 people signed up to speak at the hearing, however, some were not present when they were called up.

Almost all speakers kept within their three-minute timeframe. McClure had to ask the room multiple times to hold applause in order to make the meeting as efficient as possible. While applause did come at points throughout the meeting, the flow was still manageable.

Early last week, CB6 wrote a letter citing their frustration that the DOT declined to attend the hearing. “It baffles us as to why your team would opt to not hear directly from the community,” wrote the board in the letter from CB6 sent to DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and signed by CB6 Chair Sayar Lonial and Transportation Committee Co-chair Eric McClure.

As an introduction to Thursday night’s hearing, CB6 Board chair Sayar Lonial said the board “restates their disappointment” with the DOT’s choice not to be present.

The loss of parking spots was perhaps the largest point of comment — and disagreement — which took place during the meeting.

However, there were neighbors, that not only supported the Citi Bike program but believe it should be expanded within CB6.  “The thought of losing the dock that’s on my street terrifies me,” said neighbor Lily Geller. “Without density, the whole project fails.”

In their own words: The residents speak.

“I defy you to find somewhere — in the city charter, in the state constitution, in the constitution of the United States that guarantees you a free parking space. And I don’t think there’s an 11th Commandment ‘Thou shalt have free parking.’” — Gail Hines, Park Slope resident.

“You need to pass legislation forcing developers to provide affordable parking to the citizens …the fact that the DOT doesn’t have a representative to face the community — who pays their wages — is disgraceful.” — Bill Porter, Upper West Side who comes to visit friends in CB6 neighborhood

“I have two young children. I need a car. I need to get around. I need to pick them up and go shopping.” — Dennis Sciria, who founded “Say No To Citi Bike”

“I’m not opposed to the whole program — I’m opposed to the density.” — Michelle Arbeeny, Cobble Hill

“I’m now retired…I can’t ride it [Citi Bike] to Crown Heights, but I have grandchildren in Cobble Hill, so I go back and forth between Park Slope and Cobble Hill on the bike.” — Lori Chaumont, Park Slope resident

“It just seems like it was done at the expense of a segment of society. It feels like it was a deliberate slap in the face. I feel like there are so many compromises that can be made to work better…” — Robert Krakovski, Park Slope resident.

“I’d like to see more Citi Bike stations near the Food Coop. There are 16,000 members there. I realize we are a cliche, but there’s a lot of us.” — Leah Solomon

“I’m pretty computer-savvy for ‘a leftover’. So how come I didn’t know anything about this? I don’t think that’s transparent…It’s not about new against old, we don’t want the bikes removed. We want them to put in sensible locations.” — Gene Natale

“The thought of losing the dock that’s on my street terrifies me…without density, the whole project fails.” — Lily Geller

Council Member Brad Lander recorded the video via Facebook Live. You can view it here:

Posted by Brad Lander on Thursday, October 20, 2016

“There are approximately 25,000-30,000 parking spots in CB6. Citi Bike has taken away 150-200 of them – about ½ of 1 percent,” wrote Brad Lander in a statement. “I know that is small comfort if several of them are right near your house. But it is also important to remember that 57% of the households in our community don’t own cars. And for every parking spot lost to Citi Bike, there are approximately 5-8 bike-share trips per day (far more times than a typical side-street parking spot would be used).”

McClure estimated that 77 parking spots for cars have been repurposed for the 30 stations in Park Slope. Specifically, this includes Flatbush Avenue to 16th Street, and 4th Avenue to Prospect Park West.

“The Leftovers”

A common term heard through the hearing was “the leftovers” — used by some — but certainly not all — of the older, long-time residents who spoke.

Katia Kelly wrote about the term last March on her blog Pardon Me For Asking:

“Carroll Gardens has dramatically over the past ten years. Sadly, these days, I hear from many old-time Carroll Gardeners that they feel unwelcome in the neighborhood where they have spent most, if not all of their lives.

‘Do you know what they call us?’ many long time residents have asked me over the past few years.  ‘They call us ‘leftovers’.

The ‘they’, I am told, are many of the newcomers and especially real estate agents who can’t wait to make a commission when a brownstone that has been held by one family for a long time finally comes on the market.”

The long-time residents who spoke at the meeting were primarily from Carroll Gardens. Most accepted that Citi Bike will remain in the neighborhoods. Some floated the idea of moving docking stations to wider sidewalk areas to open up lost spots. In addition, they prioritized better access to older residents.

CB6 will now compile the responses and deliver them feedback to the DOT. At this point, there is no timeframe as to when and what changes will be made.

While the hearing’s focus was purely on Citi Bike, it also provided a slice of life revelation of what is boiling under the surface of the CB6 neighborhoods as the old, new, and everyone-in-between residents continue to address the struggles of progression and change.

Updated October 24, 12:45pm: We have adjusted the statement by Eric McClure to clarify the 77 spots are in Park Slope, as opposed to the entire CB6 district.