Eyes on the Street: Children Play Mere Feet From Citi Bikes — The Horror!

Let’s take a moment to remember the fury of the Upper East Side parents who discovered last month that a bike-share station had begrimed the same block schoolchildren use for midday recess on E. 82nd Street near Second Avenue, next to P.S. 290.

Here are the fear-mongering quotes reported by DNAinfo:

“I’ve been here 12 years and it’s disgusting,” said Janine Whiteson, mother of a fifth grader at the school. “We have 650 kids, and most of them are really little. They could knock into the bikes or fall and hurt themselves. Who knows what kind of people will come in. It’s disgraceful.”

…”It is ridiculous to even consider putting it on a street that is already closed off for part of the day,” [parent Brian Feldman] said in an email. “Random people are going to be walking through the kids’ recess to get on and off bikes or riding their bikes through.”

…In protest of the new location, the PTA sent out an email to parents on Friday. “This is not in the best interest of the 650 children ages 4-11 that use the street for recess, drop-off and pick-up every day,” the email states. “The staff at P.S. 290 is not equipped to handle the additional burden of making sure that adults walk their bikes safely through the street while the children are using it. Imposing this responsibility on the staff will divert their attention from watching and engaging with the children.”

So how’s it going with the new station? Reader Joe Enoch was walking by the play street and saw the “disgusting” scene unfolding before his very eyes.

Chaos.