Community News
SUNNYSIDE RESIDENTS RALLY
AGAINST SAFER SKILLMAN
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I AUGUST 2018 25
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Hundreds rallied in Sunnyside on
July 25 to blast Mayor Bill de Bla-sio’s
decision to go forward with the
protected bike lanes on Skillman and
43rd avenues.
Residents, business owners and
multiple religious and community
groups who oppose the DOT’s bike
lane plan gathered near the Sunnyside
Arch on 46th Street for the “Save Our
Neighborhoods” rally, organized by
a group known as Queens Streets
for All. Both speakers and attendees
lambasted the mayor for not support-ing
the community’s opposition of the
bike lanes.
Detractors who attended the rally,
including self-proclaimed cyclists, said
that the protected lanes were not the
right decision for their community.
They denounced the popular claim
that the fight was just about the loss
of 116 parking spaces, instead citing
safety and negative effects on local
small businesses as their reasons for
protesting.
“This is not about parking spots.
This is about our neighborhood,” said
Community Board 2 Chairwoman De-nise
Keehan-Smith. “This is about our
first responders being able to maneu-ver
their vehicles through our narrow
streets. This is about the children who
have to get off a bus and walk directly
into the path of a bike lane.”
“We all know, the bicyclists are
not always the best at observing the
laws,” she continued. “They don’t stop
for lights — they will run us over,” a
sentiment that was met with cheers
from the crowd.
Keehan-Smith said that the real
safety focus should instead be on
Northern Boulevard, where five chil-dren
have died in car crashes over
the last six years — including, most
recently, Giovanni Ampuero in April
of this year.
Others like Gary O’Neill, owner of
the Aubergine Cafe on Skillman Av-enue,
said that the community wants
to see “incremental changes that we
can be all in favor of, instead of this
‘take no prisoners’ attitude from the
mayor’s office and from the DOT.”
“This is an existential threat to our
community,” said Dorothy Moorhead,
a Skillman Avenue business owner
and member of Community Board 2.
“Skillman Avenue is the heart of our
community, 43rd Avenue also.”
But some, like Macartney Morris,
who is the chair of the Transportation
Alternative Queens committee, said
that the rally was, in reality, about the
loss of parking spaces and was an
attempt by those against bike lanes
to disguise the true motivation for
their opposition.
“Let no one be fooled at tonight’s
'rally': @qnsstreets4all may have
learned to disguise their motivation
but all this hullabaloo against #Saf-erSkillman
is only to save 116 park-ing
spots. 116 parking spots vs the
safety of thousands. That’s it. That’s
what we’re dealing with here,” wrote
Morris on Twitter.
In another thread, Morris said that
the “Safer Skillman” movement was
brought about in part due to a “van
crashing into Mr. O’Neill’s Aubergine
Cafe in 2007.”
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer,
noticeably absent from last night’s
rally, sent out a thread of tweets in
solidarity with bike lane supporters.
The councilman was previously on
the fence about having bike lanes
on Skillman and 43rd, but ultimately
decided that “bike lanes save lives.”
In the thread, Van Bramer also men-tioned
that “good people are opposed
to the bike lanes
based on honest concerns,” but that
facts mattered concerning this issue
where misinformation and fear were
being spread.
On their own Twitter account,
Queens Streets For All thanked at-tendees
for coming to the rally and to
“keep tuned for the next one.”
Photos by Jenna Bagcal
/www.qns.com
