Eyes on the Street
Streetsblog Basics
Eyes on the Street: “RUDE 1” Jumps the Curb on East 12th Street
Via EVGrieve, this was scene on East 12th Street near First Avenue on Wednesday evening. A crew of local bloggers and tweeters have crowdsourced some of the details about what happened. Five people were hurt, luckily none seriously, according to EVGrieve's email tipster. Neighborhood blogger Chris O'Leary found out from an officer at the scene that the driver was drunk and fled on foot. He also tracked down this picture, via Twitter, of what looks to be the offender's vehicle. (And found another aftermath shot here.)
April 2, 2010
Eyes on the Street: NYPD Chivalry Is Dead on 34th Street
Thanks to tipster ddartley for the latest chapter in NYPD's ongoing mistreatment of bus riders on 34th Street. Yesterday, eight cruisers from northern Queens (precincts 110, 111, 112, 114 and 115) sat parked in the bus lane between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. During evening rush hour. You know, we're starting to think there may be a pattern here.
March 12, 2010
Eyes on the Street: Wall-to-Wall Press Coverage of Tillary Street Bike Lane
A reader sent in these photos from a media scrum last Friday evening in the Tillary Street bike lane in Downtown Brooklyn. Notice how the press vehicles have completely blocked the two-way protected lane, forcing cyclists onto the other side of the barrier.
January 14, 2010
Eyes on the Street: Hey Pal, Where’s the Fire?
We're accustomed to the dangerous disrespect shown by NYPD to non-driving commuters, but a tip we received yesterday shows that cops haven't cornered the market on civil servants putting lives at risk. Our reader reports from Union and Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn:
January 7, 2010
Eyes on the Street: Crossing Guard Clamps Down on Crosswalk-Nudgers
This vid from BicyclesOnly shows a school crossing guard, at Madison Ave. and 96th St., who takes her job seriously. Whenever the light on Madison turned green, BO writes, she entered the intersection to assert the rights of those passing through on foot. Good thing, too.
December 10, 2009
Eyes on the Street: Placard Abuse, From Sea to Shining Sea
We got a tip yesterday about an errant driver hogging a curbside spot in a residential area:
December 3, 2009
Eyes on the Street: Bigger Sidewalks, Better Bike Lanes, Safer Streets
Clarence Eckerson sends these shots of DOT street safety improvements taken on a recent ride near the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront. Above is the newly traffic-calmed intersection of Joralemon and Hicks -- part of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project -- which now sports two sidewalk extensions. (According to the Post, a third corner was slated for a curb extension, but DOT changed plans after residents said they were worried about how fire trucks would negotiate the turn.) Says Clarence: "I am sure the speed reductions will be dramatic, the equivalent of a chicane."
November 23, 2009
Eyes on the Street: Access Denied
Here's another case of dangerously uncivil servitude, via Gothamist's John Del Signore, who came upon an Access-A-Ride driver parked in the elevated Sands Street bike lane. It's no surprise that Del Signore's complaint to the driver was answered with a shrug (or, more accurately, a "What's the big deal? Just go around."). But when he sent the photo to NYC Transit for comment, here was the response:
November 12, 2009
Eyes on the Street: You Don’t Belong in the Bike Lane, Sir
A reader sends this photo of a huge rig using Kent Avenue's new protected bike path as its own, highly illegal shortcut. Our tipster says the trucker was bearing down on him at a rapid clip for several blocks before slowing down enough to hear an inquiry through the window: "What do you think you're doing?" The driver's response was unenlightening and filled with obscenities, we're told. This shot was taken after the confrontation.
November 11, 2009
Eyes on the Street: Disrespect, and Defiance, at the Bus Stop
This was the scene in Washington Heights Friday evening, after this guy, along with two others, parked their gigantic rental truck directly in front of a trio of elderly people waiting for the M4 at W. 187th Street and Fort Washington Avenue. Rather than sit passively with the spewing behemoth a few feet from their faces, one of them, a woman shown after the jump, took out her cellphone and began taking pictures.
November 2, 2009