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Survey Says: Republican New Yorkers Hate Bike Lanes
By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 18, 2011
Modified Mar 18, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Mar 18, 2011
Modified Mar 18, 2011
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After months of bike lane backlash stories in the media, a new Quinnipiac University poll suggests that New Yorkers may be less opposed to the DOT's bike lane boom than the press would have you believe. 54 percent of New Yorkers actually said the bike lane expansion "is a good thing because it's greener and healthier for people to ride their bicycle, while 39 percent said it's "a bad thing because it leaves less room for cars which increases traffic." And when the survey is looked at by party affiliation, the Republicans lived up to the stereotype of the hardcore gas-guzzling, Fox News cyclist foe.
According to the poll, NYC Republicans (how did they find them?) disapprove of bike lanes by a 59 percent to 35 percent margin. Democrats, on the other hand, live up to their reputation as bike-riding, tree-hugging Chardonnay swillers; they support the bike lanes by an exactly opposite margin, 59 to 35 percent. Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives says, "54 percent of New Yorkers support bike lanes, which is consistent with what were seeing in Park Slope where 71 percent of local residents support the Prospect Park West bike lane installed last year."
But can these surveys be trusted? Streetsblog commenter Eric McClure beats us to the punch: "This just in: Neighbors for Better Opinion Polls, represented pro bono by a high-powered white-shoe law firm, have filed a lawsuit against Quinnipiac University, claiming that the university knowingly manipulated the data in a poll so as to falsely show public support for bike lanes in New York City."
Speaking of Prospect Park West, last night Community Board #6’s Transportation and Public Safety Committees unanimously passed a resolution to move forward with the bike lane. The full board is expected to vote to make the bike lane changes permanent, leaving just a flimsy lawsuit standing between the bike lane Resistance and the TOTAL BIKE LANE DOMINATION BWAHAHAHA!
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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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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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