Plan to Divert Cyclists from Portion of Riverside Park Greenway Gains Community Board Support

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — A plan to ban bicyclists from an 11-block stretch of the Riverside Park Greenway earned the support of Community Board 7 after a nearly two-hour debate Tuesday night.

The full Community Board 7 voted to divert bicycle traffic from the Greenway to existing inland paths between West 72nd and 83rd streets, despite cyclists' insistence that the path is too steep and winding to provide a safe alternative to riding on the greenway. The plan received 31 votes for the proposal, seven against and two abstentions.

The plan originated from Councilmember Helen Rosenthal's participatory budgeting and was supported by the Parks Department in order to make the Greenway safer for pedestrians. Participatory budgeting allocated only $200,000 toward the project, which would limit the ability to make costly improvements to what will become the new bike path.

Cyclists argued Tuesday that the diversion presents unduly challenges to bike riders due to the steep slope near the 79th Street Rotunda, worse lighting on the path, deteriorating pavement in some spots and the propensity for branches to fall from trees lining the path.

Cyclists turned out in great numbers to speak against the proposal, and despite 45 people signing up to discuss the proposal (some in favor of it) only 30 minutes was allocated for public comment by new Community 7 Chair Roberta Semer.

One cyclist advocate, Steve Vaccaro, acknowledged that increased use of the park demands a solution to resolve conflict between pedestrians but that the proposed diversion does not strike a balance.

"This is the nuclear option because one group of park users has decided that their experience would be more pleasant if they could get rid of others," Vaccaro said. "That's not the way that park use should be allocated among competing groups."

Vaccaro also said that amenities such as water fountains, bathrooms, superior lighting and the ability to have safety in numbers will be taken away from cyclists.

Many cyclists also argued that the diversion should be limited to certain high-traffic seasons and times of the day. Sheldon Fine, a member of the community board, agreed with the sentiment and proposed amending the resolution to only enforce banning bikers from the Greenway from April to October and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

An online petition to keep bike access on the Greenway during the winter months has more than 2,000 signatures.

Fine argued that during the winter and late at night the inland path presents dangers for bikers, and at the same times the Greenway is less crowded by pedestrians.

"There are issues of ice in the winter, there's issue of the grade of the slopes, there are issues of isolation at non-peak times," Fine said.

Fine's amendment was split into two separate amendments, based on season and time of day, and both were struck down by the community board. The amendment to enforce the diversion between April and October received 20 votes in favor and 20 against and the amendment to enforce the diversion year-round but only from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. received 13 votes in favor, 24 against and three abstentions.

Parks & environment committee chair Klari Neuwelt said the resolution states that after two years the board will re-evaluate whether the bike diversion should be applied on a year-round or seasonal basis. She also called restricting the diversion to a certain time of day is "totally unenforceable, unpredictable and impractical."

A Parks Department spokesperson attending the meeting said that the diversion should begin to be put in place in the Fall of 2017 and that it should not take long to fully implement the diversion.

Photo: Courtesy of New York City Department of Parks and Recreation