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Ghost Bike Missing in Greenpoint
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 25, 2010
Modified Feb 25, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 25, 2010
Modified Feb 25, 2010
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On Tuesday Miss Heather at New York Shitty noticed that the Ghost Bike memorial for Solange Raulston, who was fatally sideswiped by a truck in Greenpoint in December, was gone. The memorial, a tragically common reminder that a cyclist died near a particular spot, was attached to a lamppost at the intersection of McGuinness Boulevard and Nassau Avenue. We've been unable to find out who removed the bike, or why, but there are a couple of clues.
First, Leah Todd, who works with the NYC Street Memorial Project, told us, "On occasion the city will remove a memorial if it's in a park or blocking street facilities, like lighting. If there are complaints, say from a business, it might be removed, too. It varies depending on the locals. But her death was very recent and her friends were visiting the memorial regularly, so it's a shame." No other ghost bike memorials in the area were removed, and one local resident left this long, interesting comment on New York Shitty:
Judging from the glory-hole on the lamp-post, it looks like the A.D.D.-button is gone as well. There could be myriad reasons the items were removed. Perhaps vandals, or miscreants searching for bike parts, or perhaps it was removed by some flavor of city-agency.
I’ve lived in Greenpoint for about 37-years. I totally respect, and personnaly have no issue with such memorials, however, that is a really busy intersection during most of the day, and REALLY busy during rush-hour. There could be upwards of 40-50(or more) people crossing both ways, during one traffic signal cycle.
Since there is a D.o.S. trash-bin on the very corner(which is as necessary as the memorial IMHO), the memorial bicycle and the trash-bin create(d) a bottle-neck of about 4-5 feet that all these pedestrians need(ed) to squeeze through, or walk out into traffic in the street(Nassau Ave).
I wouldn’t be surprized if the city hadn’t received many complaints. The first few times I crossed that intersection, after the memorial was up, the thought of someone tripping over it and getting hurt, or falling face first into traffic and getting run-over, popped into my mind, and then I thought to myself “that prolly won’t be there very long”. I’m sure something less intrusive would likely not be taken down.(if in fact it was taken down for that reason). That’s likely why the one on Kent & McGuiness is stuill there. I believe location, effect on traffic(pedestrian or otherwise), and the hazards it may create, should be taken into account when deciding what type/size memorial is to be erected.
A lady from my block was killed in/at the McGuiness/Nassau intersection about a year or two ago, along with others I’m sure, and folks keep(kept) a memorial on/at the center median lamp-post for a while now. That spot is outside any foot-traffic lanes, so the memorial is left alone.
We've reached out to the friends of Raulston, who installed the memorial, and we'll let you know if we hear anything else.
Tagged
ghost bike
greenpoint
Solange Raulston
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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