Want a bigger bike network? Reduce community board’s role, says one local pol
As city officials increasingly embrace a growing bike network and a less car-centric transportation grid, City Councilmember Antonio Reynoso has an idea to speed up the process: take the bike lane approval process out of the hands of community boards.
Bike lanes are a fraught issue for community boards, as the city’s efforts to give cyclists their share of the road can cause pitched battles over parking spaces and neighborhood character. And while the boards don’t have the unilateral power to stop street safety upgrades (including bike lanes), their advisory yes or no votes can delay or kill proposed Department of Transportation projects.
That’s been a major obstacle in creating a gapless bike network that advocates say would accelerate the use of pedal power across the boroughs.
“We’re saying, ‘We have the money, we have the infrastructure, we can do it all,’” Reynoso, who represents Bushwick and Williamsburg, told the Brooklyn Eagle in regards to aggressively building out the city’s bike network. “That’s not the problem we have, the politics is the problem we have.”