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Whoopi Goldberg Really Hates Bike Lanes
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 16, 2019
Modified Jan 17, 2019
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Edwin J. Torres / Mayoral Photo Office
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Jan 16, 2019
Modified Jan 17, 2019
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Mayor Bill de Blasio went on The View today to spread the gospel of his new $100 million plan to expand health care coverage for 600,000 New Yorkers (or as the mayor has hyped it, "guaranteeing that every New Yorker has access to quality, comprehensive access to care, regardless of immigration status or their ability to pay") and ended up talking about bike lanes. Specifically, it appears that Whoopi Goldberg's View (lol) is from a car's windshield.
"You know what’s really pissing me off?" Goldberg asked de Blasio.
"What? I’ve never heard you pissed off before," the mayor gamely responds. (The transcript indicates "[Laughter].")
"You’ve built 83 miles of protected bike lanes, okay. And I like bikes, I like people who ride, but I don’t think you understand the impact of taking something like 10th Avenue, which is six lanes down to two-and-a-half, particularly when you have a winter storm and you can’t move—none of that is movable. So you can’t get—nothing flows," Goldberg said.
It's not clear if Goldberg was referring to the bike lane on Amsterdam Avenue between 72nd and 110th, which the DOT says has not meaningfully affected traffic flow, or the planned bike lane on 10th between 52nd and 72nd, which will only require repurposing one lane of traffic, and will delay traffic by five seconds.
At this point, the mayor noted that bike lanes make streets safer for everyone, and that traffic deaths in New York are at historic lows.
Indeed, according to the DOT, streets with protected bike lanes see a 21 percent drop in pedestrian injuries, and a 15 percent decrease in motorist injuries.
"But you screwed the city up," Goldberg responds.
"I come in every day, I come in every day, and I find that because you can’t make a turn anywhere, you can’t go straight anywhere," Goldberg continued. "When there is a storm, people can’t move anywhere, because you got all these medians in the way, and I’m just saying you might want to take a look at some of this. Because now you have Cuomo coming in talking about congestion pricing, and I kind of feel like it’s a set up." (This is not the only time Goldberg has referred to congestion pricing as "a set up.")
Goldberg "comes in" from her $2 million home in New Jersey, along with 300,000 other New Jerseyans, according to Census data; less than 9 percent of all commuters into Manhattan take private vehicles, while close to 60 percent take public transportation.
Studies have shown that congestion pricing is a "scam" if you think charging predominately wealthier New Yorkers to travel into Manhattan is a scam—only 4 percent of New Yorkers who commute into Manhattan take a private car, and more than half of that group are "high income" individuals. Variety has reported that Whoopi Goldberg is paid around $5 to $6 million a year to appear on The View.
The View tapes at 57 West 66th Street, steps from where cyclist Madison Jane Lyden was killed by a garbage truck driver last year, increasing demands for a two way bike lane along Central Park West.
Tagged
bike lanes
bill de blasio
call me claus
cycling
the view
vision zero
Whoopi Goldberg
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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