Mayor’s bike lane plan is a
step in the right direction
Politics come second to family
26 COURIER LIFE, AUG. 2-8, 2019
EDITORIAL
About a year ago, an editor
of this newspaper
recommended that I
write about how my wife and
I, who are on opposite sides of
the political spectrum, manage
peace between us in these
divisive times in our nation.
He thought readers would be
interested.
I was not able to fully answer
this question until now.
It is safe to say that we disagree
on many issues, but the
event that epitomized our political
divergence was our reaction
to the 2016 presidential
election. I cheered while my
wife literally cried once the
race was called on television.
In fact, when I was the Republican
and Conservative
Party candidate for City Council
in 2009 against Vincent
Gentile, I was not fully sure
she voted for me!
Since the fi rst day we met
on a couple of bar stools at
O’Sullivan’s on Third Avenue
in Bay Ridge in 2005, we have
argued about criminal justice
reforms, the role of government,
politicians, and many
other topics.
Over the years, we have
learned to listen to each other
more, but also to just avoid
subjects that were too heated
for us to discuss.
This pretty much followed
the advice of Jeanne Safer,
Ph.D., a psychotherapist in
New York City who wrote the
book “I Love You, but I hate
Your Politics: How to Protect
Your Intimate Relationships
in a Poisonous Partisan
World.”
She recently wrote, “Sometimes
the way out is not to
discuss politics at all, or to
actively avoid particular issues,
which was the solution
for my conservative husband
and me, a liberal, 39 years ago.
But it only worked once I accepted
that I could never convince
him of the error of his
ways on abortion or anything
else because he didn’t think
his ways were in error, and
never would. I discovered that
it became possible actually to
have a dialogue with him once
I tried to understand his perspective
and to offer mine in
the same spirit.”
The reason I can confi -
dently say we will survive our
different political beliefs is because
of recent events. We just
adopted our new born baby
boy, Robert Kaleb Capano.
My wife and I have been
in South Carolina, where the
biological mother gave birth.
Once we found out she was in
labor, my wife hopped on an
airplane right away and was
there within an hour after he
was born. I took off to the Palmetto
state soon after. Due to
the complex laws involving interstate
adoptions we continue
to wait in South Carolina before
we can introduce Robert
to his Brooklyn home.
After I met him for the fi rst
time, I fi nally understood fi rsthand
what many parents have
said — your entire outlook on
life changes. Truth be told, my
wife was always the one who
wanted a child more than me.
However, if I knew then what I
feel today, this would not have
been the case. I will always be
grateful to her.
After only a few days with
our son and hearing what is to
come, I have an even deeper
appreciation and respect for
mothers and fathers, including
my own.
We have tried for about
fi ve years to have our own
child, but God had different
plans, which led us to today.
As my aunt said, “If you want
to make Him laugh, tell Him
your plans.”
Now, political differences
between us seem silly in the
grand scheme of life.
Our world will revolve
around raising him. Fortunately,
we have many family
members that are experienced
parents to help us along
this new, and most important
journey of our lives.
The only political statement
I will make in this column
is that our experience,
as well as those of all adoptive
parents and birth mothers,
demonstrates why abortion
should be an absolute
last resort.
Although I may not vigilantly
express all of my political
point of view at home, I
will continue to with all of you
bi-weekly.
Bob Capano has worked for
Brooklyn Republican and Democrat
elected offi cials.
THE RIGHT
VIEW
Bob Capano
Mayor de Blasio’s $58.4
million bike safety
plan can’t come soon
enough.
Hizzoner announced last
Thursday a sweeping, multimillion
dollar plan to vastly
expand the city’s bike lane network
in the wake of a bloody
year that’s already claimed
the lives of 18 cyclists, including
13 in Brooklyn.
De Blasio will funnel the
$58.4 million to the Department
of Transportation to
construct 80 miles of protected
bike lanes by the time
he leaves offi ce in 2021 as part
of a grand scheme to lay out
a connected network of bike
paths that span the fi ve boroughs,
and hopefully prevent
future fatalities.
Time will tell if the mayor’s
plan will ultimately snap
the alarming trend of cyclist
fatalities across the city, but
it is a step in the right direction;
a step that must be taken
in our borough.
Brooklyn routinely rates as
the deadliest place to bike in
New York, according to fi gures
provided by the DOT, which
showed that more cyclists
have died in Kings County
than other boroughs in all but
four years since 2008.
So, it seems fi tting that —
in addition to the 30 annual
miles of bike lanes — the mayor’s
plan calls for the construction
of an additional 75 miles
of bicycling infrastructure in
10 priority districts, seven of
which are in Kings County.
These priority zones include
parts of Bay Ridge, Borough
Park, Midwood, Sheepshead
Bay, Coney Island, East
Flatbush, Bedford-Stuyvesant,
Bushwick, Brownsville,
and East New York.
De Blasio also vowed to
speed up construction of an
ongoing Fourth Avenue bike
lane through Park Slope and
Sunset Park, connecting
with existing bike paths that
will take riders to Downtown
Brooklyn, Prospect Park, and
Bay Ridge, in addition to forging
new eastbound routes connecting
with Ocean Parkway.
As de Blasio was announcing
his plan, a truck driver
was struck a cyclist in Greenpoint,
sending the biker to the
hospital with a fractured ankle.
Another cyclist was struck
and killed Monday in Sunset
Park when she swerved into
the path of a massive 18-wheel
Freightliner truck traveling
behind her to avoid a parked
van’s open door. These incidents
prove that the city must
take action.
While de Blasio’s plan is
a good start, no plan will be
perfect. There will still be cyclists,
motorists, and pedestrians
who don’t always follow
the rules of the road, which
will lead to more incidents.
It’s impossible to change
the way everyone acts on our
streets. But the mayor’s plan
should help keep cyclists alive.
And everyone should get on
board, because too many lives
have been lost.