Scrapped: NYPD says they will crush illegal bikes
and ATVs this summer in street safety campaign
BY DEAN MOSES
The NYPD is taking their
effort to crush illegal motorcycles
in New York City
quite literally.
While announcing a summer
campaign to get illegal, noisy
dirt bikes and ATVs off the
streets, police offi cials in Washington
Heights on Thursday also
displayed a pile of metal debris
that was once a seized illegal
motorcycle in the city.
The message to the city
couldn’t be clearer: Either keep
illegal devices off the road, or the
NYPD will obliterate them.
Illegal motorcycles, dirt bikes
and ATVs have plagued New
Yorkers for some time now. With
the roads supporting signifi cantly
less drivers during the worst of the
COVID-19 pandemic, the number
of these dangerous vehicles bolting
through the streets have only
increased, which came to boiling
point when a 76-year-old man
NYPD showcased the fate of illegal bikes in New York City
while at a press conference outside of the 33rd Precinct at
2207 Amsterdam Ave. on May 20.
was attacked for asking a driver
not to speed through Inwood Hill
Park by West 218th Street on May
16.
Chief of Department Rodney
Harrison joined fellow police
offi cials in the parking lot of the
33rd precinct at 2207 Amsterdam
Avenue to tell the city they are
taking safety seriously.
PHOTO BY DEAN MOSES
The jumbled mess of crushed
metal sat just before an array
of unlawful, confi scated motorbikes.
This pile of junk was once
a two-wheeled machine before
the NYPD pulverized it — and
offi cials say they’re prepared to
do the same to other confi scated
rides this summer.
“We assure you that the city of
New York is not making a profi t
from the seizure of these illegal
motorcycles and the most important
message of the day is: We do
not tolerate these illegal and dangerous
vehicles,” Harrison said.
None of these dirt bikes will be
sold at auction due to concerns of
them returning to the street, so
instead they are crushed at a location
in Long Island. About 1,000
of these vehicles are crushed each
year, according to Deputy Commissioner
for Support Services
Robert Martinez. The recycled
metal is repurposed and reused.
“Our message to the individuals
who ride these motorcycles:
They are illegal and dangerous.
Don’t ride them because if you
do, you are endangering yourself
and others and if we catch you,
we will confi scate these bikes and
you saw where they end up. If it is
not legal, it will go in the crusher,”
Harrison said.
The main issue with these
vehicles is that they are not just a
nuisance, but they are dangerous,
Harrison explained.
He said that many operators
not only ignore traffi c signals,
but block traffi c and drive on the
sidewalk, as well as race down the
city streets.
In response to the reckless
operation of these illegal vehicles,
the NYPD put forward
a new initiative that utilizes
the Crime Stoppers hotline at
1-800-577-TIPS for individuals
to call in and share information
on the whereabouts of these motorcycles
storage locations. For
every confi scated vehicle, callers
— who will remain anonymous —
can receive a $100 reward.
Chief of Transportation Kim
Y. Royster said that combating
illegal dirt bikes and protecting
road users is a part of the NYPD’s
Vision Zero plan, who says that
51 people were killed as a result
of motorcycle accidents and this
year alone has seen 367 injuries
that involve ATVs and dirt bikes.
She also added that many of
these operators are unlicensed,
unregistered and not wearing
protective gear.
Penn Station redevelopment should go through
city’s land use process, opponents say
BY MARK HALLUM
The redevelopment of
Penn Station through the
Empire Station Complex
proposal needs an open process
for residents and City Council
to weigh in, according to those
opposed to Governor Andrew
Cuomo’s project.
State Senator Brad Hoylman is
advancing a bill that will require
that both the expansion of transportation
infrastructure and expansion
of Penn Station through
offi ce space development both
in the sky and the surrounding
blocks goes through the Uniform
Land Use Review Process.
“No height restrictions, no
fl oor area ratio restrictions, no
use restrictions, and you know
what your tax dollars are subsidizing
it to the tune of $1.3 billion,
is that right? Let’s add something
else to this mixture, which is that
Midtown Manhattan has a vacancy
rate of over 17%. Does that
make sense? We don’t need 20
State Senators Liz Krueger, Brad Hoylman and Robert
Jackson (left to right) in front of the Hotel Pennsylvania on
May 23, 2021.
million square feet of commercial
offi ce space, We need supportive,
and affordable housing,” Hoylman
said. “If we don’t pass this
legislation, a general project plan
is literally going to bulldoze this
neighborhood without any local,
meaningful community input.”
State Senator Liz Krueger,
chair of the Senate Finance
Committee, explained that she
was perplexed how the governor’s
plan, showcased in January 2020,
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
seems to offer little in the way of
transportation improvements
apart from a proposal to expand
a block to the south and increase
capacity by 40%.
“Clearly, we need a better Penn
Station and clearly we need more
ability for trains to go in and out
Penn Station. It’s not all about
the aesthetics. It is about whether
trains can come and go, there are
a lot of different ways for us to
get there,” Krueger said. “When
I was reading the governor’s plan
for this deal, it doesn’t even talk
about doing anything Penn Station,
but just like happens to be
sitting there next to it all.”
But Dan Biederman, president
of the 34th Street Partnership, an
advocate in favor of the redevelopment
plan, does not put much
faith the ULURP process as the
way to go with the Empire Station
Complex.
“There are other ways to participate
other than ULURP. I’ve
noticed that the state has put back
a number of deadlines in response
to the opposition. There was originally
supposed to be some kind of
deadline on April something and
now that’s back to June or July, so
I think the process argument is
a little stretched,” he said. “The
opponents are not experts on the
real estate market… Nobody is
saying these offi ce buildings will
be built this year, the market has
plenty of time to recover.”
If anything, Biederman argued
that transit improvements at Penn
Station will increase demand for
offi ce space in what would be a
convenient location.
“I’ve said this a number of
times, if there’s anywhere that
would be a great place to develop
bulky buildings, it’s right on top of
Penn Station, biggest transit hub
in the country,” Biederman added.
In April, Matthew Gordon, a
spokesperson with Empire State
Development, issued the following
statement:
“There has been universal consensus
among community leaders
that Penn Station needs to be
overhauled and expanded, and the
surrounding neighborhood needs
to be revitalized. We are currently
engaged in a robust community
process on how to achieve those
shared goals. To date, ESD has
held more than 50 meetings
with local elected offi cials and
other community stakeholders,
including a virtual public meeting
attended by 200 people last
July. We’ve incorporated public
feedback into the project at every
step — like adding residential
alternatives for three of development
sites — and will continue to
do so as the process progresses.”
4 May 27, 2021 Schneps Media