We recently brought you This Post about the conflict happening in the Williamsburg community of NYC. As a follow up, there are those in support of removing the bike lanes, such as Elke Reva Sudin, author of “Hipsters and Hassids: Words Apart in Williamsburg” and the Hipsters and Hassids Blog.
In addition to repainting the removed bike lanes, a New Orleans style funeral was held for the loss of the bike lane. “An injury to one bike lane is an injury to all bike lanes,” event leader Ben Shepard told fellow cyclists gathered to mourn the loss of the Bedford Avenue lane, closed by the city last month. About 35 cyclists wound along Wythe Avenue to the corner of Bedford Avenue and Wallabout Street, where taps played over a speaker.
Tomorrow, a naked protest is scheduled to be held. Many people are concerned for the repercussions that a naked ride may cause. Just as one bad driver can create massive ill will among cyclists; a few naked hipsters protesting the religious community’s aversion to scantily clad cyclists could be viewed as harassment and give cyclists a bad name as New Yorkers take sides.
South Williamsburg resident Leo Moskowitz told Gothamist that the Hasidic community’s opposition to bike lanes has nothing to do with cyclists’ clothing, or lack thereof. “There are people who are trying to play that the nudity is the issue, but it’s not,” he said. “The main concern is the safety of our kids. There are lot of institutions and families on that Bedford Avenue stretch, and we are always really concerned about the kids being picked up and dropped off. There are sometimes small accidents where the cyclists are violating the law because they don’t stop for flashing school buses.”
