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Bike Lanes: They're For Valet Parking Too
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 27, 2011
Modified Mar 27, 2011
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 27, 2011
Modified Mar 27, 2011
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Last night, we received an email from a tipster concerning the apparent blatant misuse of bike lanes near Giando's restaurant on Kent Ave. in Williamsburg:
It’s 10:40 p.m. Saturday and Giando’s restaurant has valet-parked five cars in the bike lane - and six more on the sidewalk. Even crazier: all of this has the apparent blessing of the NYPD, which has a cruiser at the corner keeping an eye on traffic. (Note: a police car parked at Giando’s is standard for big events, but parking in the bike lane and on the sidewalk is a first.)
I’ve seen one biker come by so far, swerving into the oncoming car lane to avoid all of this.
The tipster sent us an update this morning on what happened later in the evening:
So Giando's seemed to realize around 11:30 p.m. that this was a bad idea. That's when there was finally enough room in the main parking lot... to move one car back. The bike lane was clear by around midnight through a combo, it seemed, of car owners leaving and valets moving the cars on their own volition. Before it was clear, I saw at least half a dozen bikers come through - weaving into the oncoming car lanes to get around all of this.
In 2008, Giando's was tangentally associated with an unauthorized detour sign which was put near the intersection of Kent Avenue and Broadway; it turned out the sign was installed by "concerned residents and business owners" who were outraged by the then-new bike lane and the subsequent loss of parking. This also isn't the first time we've heard of bike lanes being used for valet parking. Has anyone else seen the Kent Avenue bike lanes being used for cars before?
Tagged
bike lanes
giando's
kent avenue
misuse
nypd
police
valet parking
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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