FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 2, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Sunnysiders rail against mayor's bike lane decision
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com/ @jenna_bagcal
Hundreds rallied in Sunnyside on July
25 to blast Mayor Bill de Blasio’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 supporting
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. Th ey
denounced the popular claim that the
fi ght was just about the loss of 116 parking
spaces, instead citing safety and negative
eff ects on local small businesses as
their reasons for protesting.
“Th is is not about parking spots.
Th is is about our neighborhood,” said
Community Board 2 Chairwoman Denise
Keehan-Smith. “Th is is about our fi rst
responders being able to maneuver their
vehicles through our narrow streets. Th is
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. “Th ey 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 fi ve children 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 Avenue, 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 offi ce and from
the DOT.”
“Th is 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 #SaferSkillman is only
to save 116 parking spots. 116 parking
spots vs the safety of thousands. Th at’s
it. Th at’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. Th e 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 mentioned
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 attendees for
coming to the rally and to “keep tuned
for the next one.”
Photo by Jenna Bagcal/THE COURIER
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