Ken Coughlin

Here's a story about a cyclist named Lee, who got a ticket for "running" a red light.

One morning in May, I was riding my bike up Park Avenue in the East 70s, a stretch that is rife with double-parking at that hour. Seeing a cab and another vehicle stationary ahead of me in the right-hand travel lane, I carefully checked behind and then pulled into the middle lane. As I passed the cab it began to move -- parallel to me and into my lane. It was quickly clear to me that the driver saw me but meant to occupy my space, whether or not I was in it. I shouted and swerved. The driver advanced a little more, then stopped and leaned on her horn. Then, seeing an opening, she whipped around me.

It may now be safe for cyclists who want to get some exercise -- as opposed to waiting for lights to turn green or for officers to finish writing $270 tickets -- to return to Central Park.

A crowd of 300 people, outraged at a police ticket blitz that threatens to effectively eliminate Central Park as a place of recreation for cyclists, ran into an unyielding blue wall at last night's meeting of the Central Park Precinct's community council. The precinct commander, Captain Philip Wishnia, offered no hope that his precinct's enforcement of red-light laws at each of the loop road's 47 traffic lights will abate, nor any assurances that his officers will exercise meaningful discretion.

Major crimes in Central Park may be up by 50 percent, but that hasn't stopped significant resources from being spent on the ongoing NYPD crackdown targeting recreational cyclists in the park. Precinct officers are stopping cyclists for a variety of infractions, including spot equipment checks for missing bells and lights, but most notoriously are handing out $270 tickets to riders who roll through any of the loop drive's 47 traffic signals, even if the only other living being in sight is a squirrel.

A meeting of Manhattan Community Board 7's Parks and Environment committee Monday night touched on several items of interest to the thousands of cyclists who use the Hudson River bike path, including the last remaining gap below the George Washington Bridge and the dangerous lack of lighting on some stretches of the greenway.

DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan appeared on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show last Wednesday to talk about the agency's plans to, as Lehrer put it, "spread the Times Square model." When Lehrer invited listeners to call in with their ideas for other streets that should be made car-free zones, "Steve from Manhattan" asked why the Central Park loop wasn't being closed to traffic, calling it "obvious" and a "no-brainer." In her response, the commissioner said that Central Park's loop road already is closed to traffic "98 percent of the time."

The first thing I noticed was a blur of yellow to my left, and a split second later a bump on my arm and something brushing my leg. I had just crossed Fifth Avenue, heading east on 72nd Street on my bike. I was riding, as is my custom, as close to the parked cars as I could while minimizing the hazard of getting doored. It was about 10:10 on a lovely March morning and traffic was light.

After introducing some yuletide sanity two winters ago, the city is back to sending a schizophrenic message to New Yorkers this holiday season: Please use mass transit, but if you choose to drive, we've made it easier by increasing the hours when cars are permitted on a section of Central Park's loop road. Only this time it's the NYPD, not the Department of Transportation, behind the double message.

This past August, a young cyclist and a beloved Transportation Alternatives volunteer, James Langergaard, was struck and killed by a car at Queens Boulevard and 69th Street.