Ken Coughlin
Recent Posts
TLC Attorney Declares That Bikes Aren’t Vehicles
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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 […]
Reason Makes a Comeback in Central Park
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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. At a meeting Wednesday night with representatives of groups that use the park’s loop road, the Central Park […]
Hundreds Ask NYPD to Cease Irrational Bike Crackdown in Central Park
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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 […]
Tonight: Ask NYPD for a Return to Sanity in Central Park
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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 […]
Coming Soon: More Continuity, Better Visibility on Hudson River Greenway
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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. Photo: Ken […]
JSK’s “98 Percent” Car-Free Central Park Claim Is 100 Percent Wrong
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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 […]
Does a Taxi Driver Need to Hurt Someone Before the TLC Takes Action?
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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 […]
The NYPD’s Holiday Gift to Motorists: Central Park
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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 […]
Tomorrow: TA Rides for James Langergaard on Queens Boulevard
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Site of James Langergaard’s fatal August 14 crash 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. Tomorrow, TA will be holding a special Queens Boulevard Bike Pool ride in honor of James. The ride will pause […]
End Central Park Road Rage: Keep Cars Out
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The Central Park loop drive was never meant for traffic. Photo: Frodrig/Flickr The city’s ongoing effort to have it both ways in Central Park resulted in another near-tragedy last week. Brian Dooda was riding his bike in the park when he got into an altercation with the driver of an SUV. It seems Dooda was […]
Death of Cyclist Shocks Melbourne, Prompts Bus Ban
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As I wrote in a post last week, the City of Melbourne, Australia, is working hard to make cycling easier and safer — but not quickly enough to save the life of one cyclist. The day after my post a 33-year-old Melbourne woman was killed when her wheels slipped on tram tracks on Melbourne’s main […]
Melbourne’s Complete Streets
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In August, I had the pleasure of spending a little more than two weeks in Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne is the country’s second-largest city, with 3.8 million residents in the metropolitan area. Despite its size, from a walking and transportation standpoint (to say nothing of a coffee-drinking perspective), Melbourne almost defines the term "livable city." Trams […]