@m4ximusprim3: What do they sell on Canal Street? Tchochkes. ..a Yiddish word. Chinese throwing stars: 6 pointed. Woody Allen... Draw your own conclusions! :[]
"A small portion of this lane is being removed as part of ongoing bike network adjustments in the area, which have included the recent addition of a barrier-protected connector lane on nearby Williamsburg Street and the completion of a unique, two-way protected lane on parallel Kent Avenue," Department of Transportation spokesman Seth Solomonow told NBCNewYork.com. "We will continue to work with any community on ways we can make changes to our streets without compromising safety."
So it's been re-routed, it seems. Are there no Hasids on Williamsburg Street or Kent Avenue? Or do the Hasids there just have better control over themselves? The safety issue DOES seem trumped up. This is because safety is the ONLY way that the Hasids can legitimately control how a public street gets used. Were I a hipster, I would demand to see the safety study that led to this decision.
But I would also continue my practice of showering once or twice a day, and would soon be shunned.
Kudos to the hipsterettes who plan on cycling with their tatas out in protest. There's nothing like a parade of sad, pale, floppy, underdone pancakes sailing down Bedford to communicate discontent.
@BettyCrocker: I laughed too hard now I can't stop coughing.
Just a little background on Kent Ave. & Williamsburg St. - This leads to the on-ramp/off-ramp of the BQE. It's heavily trafficed by large trucks plus all the other BQE traffic.
Williamsburg St. is a narrow two lane stretch that becomes 3 lanes from west of Kent Ave to east of Flushing Ave - 1 block - for the purpose of directing traffic to and from the BQE.
I'd really love to see how this is safer than say Lee Ave or Bedford Ave both of which are residential streets that join Williamsburg to more civilized parts of Brooklyn.
The pool at my local community centre used to have "clothing optional" nights due to the heavy population of hippies, but they had to give those up when the yuppies started complaining. I mean, they were 10pm-midnight, it's not like Precious and Skylar were getting forced out of their baby aquafit classes so Grandpa could get his freak on or anything.
I think it is important to remind those readers whose responses are peppered with -perhaps not zealous- antisemitism that the Hasids living in Brooklyn are the survivors of a cultural group that has been persecuted, chastised and MURDERED for hundreds of years. In fact the Hasid community in Brooklyn is, I believe, one of the 2 surviving Hasid communities in the world.
And this gives them the right to eliminate a form of transit used by their neighbors... why, exactly?It's the "we own the streets and fuck everyone else" nonsense that's really being criticized here - on both sides.
And yes, the cyclists can be rude and unsafe.Removing the bike lanes because you don't want little Eli (who can't control himself, natch) staring at a length of lanky, pasty hipster thigh or a saggy, bra-less pierced man boobie?
@sarahjomeister: You make an excellent point, and all those who are trying to nitpick your statement need to realize that they are feeding into the persecution. Everyone who ever lived in an era or country that persecuted Jews (Spain 1492, Portugal right after that, Germany in WW2, more other places and times than I can count) felt they had a good reason to persecute the Jews. A stupid bike lane is not a good reason to trot out your tired stereotypes about Jews caring only about money, and needing to respect the hipsters who give them money. All forms of anti-semitism are unacceptable, and all your excuses for it are also unacceptable. This thread, and the one yesterday, disgust me. I cannot believe that someone wrote on yesterday's thread that all the Hasidic Jews should go somewhere by themselves. How about an abandoned island near Venice? Or across a bridge in Rome? Or a walled-off area in Warsaw? Is that what you would prefer?
@BettyCrocker: i'm not suggesting that it gives them the right to do anything of the kind. mine was merely a comment on the level of antisemitism that seems to dominate the responses to this article. call me self-entitled, call me douchey, but the shit i've read on this page scares me because accusations about jews as money hoarding monsters are all too familiar.
@BettyCrocker: They didn't "come into a community", there have been Jews there since the early 1900s. The hasidim obviously came later, after WWII, but its been 60-70 years already.
@uncivilly obedient: New York has been around for a lot longer than that, and our public sidewalks and streets belong to ALL of us. We instinctively get annoyed by attempts to privatize public spaces.
If the issue was truly safety, the DOT would have been called. This is about the Hasidim imposing their own religious doctrine on the public, on the sneak, in the middle of the night, and the NYPD's complicity in it.
It doesn't help that the hipsters have bad manners and are self-entitled as well.
But telling people what they can wear in public? And failing that, removing a means of public transit?
Sorry Hasids. If evangelicals tried this shit, I'd be on a unicycle with a couple of pinwheel pasties and a banana hammock, juggling live gerbils in front of them, their wives, and snotty kids.
Give me any reason why they should be able to do this. One valid one would do.
@BettyCrocker: I agree with you. I was only addressing your use of the words "come into a community".
Btw, let me know when you plan on showing up on unicycle with a banana hammock, juggling live gerbils. I would love to see it.
I biked the 5 boro tour last year and when I passed through this area hassidic women were there with their kids. It was someting to do on a rainy Sunday.
@BettyCrocker: right on! and I don't understand if someone's faith is so strong and devout, shouldn't that be enough to resist any temptations of the flesh?
ladies and gentleman, welcome to the Battles of the Self-Righteous and Entitled! Tonight we you will witness an the epic whining match of Hipsters vs. Hassids! Tune in next time when we showcase Evangelical Christians vs. Park Slope Moms...
But seriously?
Bike lanes are: a very important part of a planned transportation infrastructure, and should be used and respected as such.
Bike lanes are not: additional sidewalks, parking spots, skate parks, or taxi stands.
As one who cycles pretty much every day for all activities, this is part of a MUCH larger issue concerning how NYers share the little real estate we have.
In closing, a note to pedestrians who insist on walking in the bike lane with their ipods blaring: Please remember that you shouldn't be there in the first place, so if you get yourself in trouble because you can't hear someone yelling to get the fuck out of the way, it's nobody's fault but your own.
@akunitz: Re: last paragraph - agreed. Though please remind your flock that they should, at a minimum, slow down as they approach red lights. Thank you.
Growing up in Hasid Williamsburg has prepared me for the injustices in life. Having said that, this is at least part of my own bias showing but I'm on Team Hipster here. I don't see how it is any less safe to have a bike lane there than any other street in the city. Clearly they are just catering to the religious end of the complaints. The greater danger, I think, are those buses that suddenly park diagonally to pick up/drop off kids and block two streets' worth of traffic. This is dangerous for pedestrians, cyclists and even other drivers. But no one in power says anything about that.
All you Hipster imperialists! Colonizing the land of Williamsburg! Where do you expect the Native Hasids you are driving out with your rent-money-from-home to go? To Manhattan?
I know nothing of this ongoing battle. I just know that when it comes down to Fundies of Any Faith vs. Anyone But Some Other Kind of Nationalist Dipshit, I can't help but side against the Fundies.
If your faith is THAT strong and perfect, then cyclists can't threaten it. Get a grip.
12/18/09
My peoples like their right-of-way
...We love to complain
... But let the bike lane
Be full of hot women all day
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
Next up: Kosher Moo Shoo Pork substitute. It's a sad world we live in, lobstr.
12/18/09
"A small portion of this lane is being removed as part of ongoing bike network adjustments in the area, which have included the recent addition of a barrier-protected connector lane on nearby Williamsburg Street and the completion of a unique, two-way protected lane on parallel Kent Avenue," Department of Transportation spokesman Seth Solomonow told NBCNewYork.com. "We will continue to work with any community on ways we can make changes to our streets without compromising safety."
So it's been re-routed, it seems. Are there no Hasids on Williamsburg Street or Kent Avenue? Or do the Hasids there just have better control over themselves? The safety issue DOES seem trumped up. This is because safety is the ONLY way that the Hasids can legitimately control how a public street gets used. Were I a hipster, I would demand to see the safety study that led to this decision.
But I would also continue my practice of showering once or twice a day, and would soon be shunned.
Kudos to the hipsterettes who plan on cycling with their tatas out in protest. There's nothing like a parade of sad, pale, floppy, underdone pancakes sailing down Bedford to communicate discontent.
12/18/09
:)
12/18/09
Just a little background on Kent Ave. & Williamsburg St. - This leads to the on-ramp/off-ramp of the BQE. It's heavily trafficed by large trucks plus all the other BQE traffic.
Williamsburg St. is a narrow two lane stretch that becomes 3 lanes from west of Kent Ave to east of Flushing Ave - 1 block - for the purpose of directing traffic to and from the BQE.
I'd really love to see how this is safer than say Lee Ave or Bedford Ave both of which are residential streets that join Williamsburg to more civilized parts of Brooklyn.
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/18/09
12/13/09
12/12/09
Damn yuppies. Get offa my mushroom garden!
12/12/09
Answer: Union Pool.
/corrected.
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
And this gives them the right to eliminate a form of transit used by their neighbors... why, exactly?It's the "we own the streets and fuck everyone else" nonsense that's really being criticized here - on both sides.
And yes, the cyclists can be rude and unsafe.Removing the bike lanes because you don't want little Eli (who can't control himself, natch) staring at a length of lanky, pasty hipster thigh or a saggy, bra-less pierced man boobie?
A preposterous self-entitled work of doucherie.
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
(This applies to the hipsters too.)
Ghettos suck, whether forced or self-imposed.
12/09/09
12/09/09
If the issue was truly safety, the DOT would have been called. This is about the Hasidim imposing their own religious doctrine on the public, on the sneak, in the middle of the night, and the NYPD's complicity in it.
It doesn't help that the hipsters have bad manners and are self-entitled as well.
But telling people what they can wear in public? And failing that, removing a means of public transit?
Sorry Hasids. If evangelicals tried this shit, I'd be on a unicycle with a couple of pinwheel pasties and a banana hammock, juggling live gerbils in front of them, their wives, and snotty kids.
Give me any reason why they should be able to do this. One valid one would do.
12/09/09
Btw, let me know when you plan on showing up on unicycle with a banana hammock, juggling live gerbils. I would love to see it.
I biked the 5 boro tour last year and when I passed through this area hassidic women were there with their kids. It was someting to do on a rainy Sunday.
12/10/09
12/09/09
But seriously?
Bike lanes are: a very important part of a planned transportation infrastructure, and should be used and respected as such.
Bike lanes are not: additional sidewalks, parking spots, skate parks, or taxi stands.
As one who cycles pretty much every day for all activities, this is part of a MUCH larger issue concerning how NYers share the little real estate we have.
In closing, a note to pedestrians who insist on walking in the bike lane with their ipods blaring: Please remember that you shouldn't be there in the first place, so if you get yourself in trouble because you can't hear someone yelling to get the fuck out of the way, it's nobody's fault but your own.
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
I'm Team Cycles.
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
12/09/09
If your faith is THAT strong and perfect, then cyclists can't threaten it. Get a grip.
12/09/09