Use Your Horse Sense

My country horses (“Horses Can’t Cope,” April 26) have never been in an air-conditioned or heated building; they don’t have sprinklers in the field, nor do they have fan-waving slave boys to feed them bonbons while they lounge in their hay beds and fret over the next week’s weather forecast. They are coping just fine living pretty much as horses have for a long, long time—only without the fear of being dinner to a saber-toothed tiger.

Horses grow a thicker coat in winter and shed it in spring; come summer, they sweat. They accept weather without questions or self-pity. So stop projecting. When horses are not visible near Central Park, it does not mean that they are now riding around in air-conditioned taxicabs.

—Sarah Bellepeppa

Stalwart Fighter

At the risk of sounding like a mutual admiration society, I want to thank Bette Dewing for her kind words about me in her March 15 column (“Trails That Need Following”). Given that she has been a tireless, stalwart advocate for pedestrian and bike safety for decades, I am humbled by her praise.

I also want to add two comments to her discussion of bike safety, particularly delivery bikes.

First, I spent over an hour watching food delivery bikes go back and forth in the West 80s, after sundown. Not one single bike had a headlight. Not one. And less than half had any bell or other warning device. Although this may be “low-hanging fruit,” this certainly gives police officers something concrete on which to write summonses on an ongoing basis.

Second, with respect to the motor-assisted bicycles and fully motorized moped-style delivery bikes that are spreading like kudzu—and are dangerous not only because they make no sound (and have greater weight with which to cause injury), but also because their riders are engaging in illegal practices such as going through red lights and traveling the wrong way on one-way streets—these bikes are already illegal under Section 19-176.2 of the New York City Administrative Code. And the NYPD Legal Department is about to make formal ruling as to whether they can be used at all. If they rule that those bikes cannot be used, I strongly urge the NYPD to engage in a concerted campaign to not only summon those who use the illegal bikes—as well as the restaurant owners who allow their use—but to actively confiscate them. A few weeks of serious crackdown, including summonses and confiscations, is the only thing likely to get restaurant owners to cease using these silent menaces.

—Ian Alterman

Upper West Side

The writer is president of the 20th Precinct Community Council

Construction of protected bike lanes is scheduled to start April 2, and Upper East Side and Harlem small business owners are pretty worried about the negative impact they will have on their bottom line. Our West Side neighbors said, “Goodbye, Columbus Avenue” to their mom-and-pop stores and hello to the chain drugstores and banks, thanks to the bike lanes.
Since the Great Recession, two to eight stores have closed on the blocks along First and Second avenues from 57th to 96th Street and with overtime charges for limited delivery accessibility and reduced parking spots, there’s little hope for new businesses to open and pay high rents.

In addition to damage to businesses, getting picked up or dropped off will be particularly difficult for our residents, especially the elderly and handicapped, with protected bike lanes on one side and Select Bus lanes on the other. Far more people need to take taxis or be transported by car and buses than need bike lanes—for no more than 22,000 cycling commuters, according to the DOT.

Despite complaints to City Councilwoman Jessica Lappin’s office about lawless cyclists and lack of enforcement from 72 percent of her constituents, Transportation Commissioner Jannette Sadik-Khan is adding 10,000 uninsured rental bikes and installing 40-foot-wide bike stations in our neighborhood in July. If you can’t run, be sure to look in every direction when walking on our sidewalks and before crossing our streets.

Susan P. Forman
East 63rd Street

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

Ian Alterman
President of the 20th Precinct
Community Council

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

Bunny Abraham
Central Park West

Sam Katz
President, 20th Precinct
Community Council

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

To the Editor:
I disagree with the Jan. 1 letter by Ian Alterman (“Bike Safety, in Theory and Practice”).
As a driver of 60 years and (formerly) a frequent biker, I have had much experience observing bikers who have to share roads with motorists. They must turn their heads continually to see what is behind them, adding to their danger each time they do.
I wrote to New Jersey traffic authorities years ago to say that bicycle lanes should move in the opposite direction from auto traffic. That way, the bikers and the automobile drivers have one another continually in sight—a much safer situation in my opinion.
I suspect traffic authorities travel in their own cars or in state limousines.

Robert Sonin
East 79th Street

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

Actually, the “helmet law” does not apply to adult civilian bikers; it applies only to children 12 and under, and commercial (i.e. delivery) bikers. So although it is certainly a good idea for  everyone to wear a helmet, civilian adults are not required to do so.

To answer Ms. Abraham’s overall question, the laws can be quickly summarized as follows. All bikers are subject to those provisions of the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law that apply to bikes, including riding with traffic, obeying the lights, not riding on the sidewalk (except children 12 and under), having at least one ear open to ambient sound (i.e. only one ear may be connected to an audio device) and generally operating the bike in a manner so as not to endanger either oneself or others. As well, all bikes are required to have working brakes, front and back lights (for evening travel), a bell or other warning device and reflectors on the tires (or reflective tires). In addition, no rider may use a cell phone while riding.
Finally, Ms. Abraham comments that, “Nothing short of identification on the tail of their bikes…can work so that when a biker is not following the rules of the road they should know that pedestrians will be able to identify them.” Setting aside that bikers generally travel too fast to make such an identification even if an identifying item were required, NYC Administrative Code Section 10-157, which applies to commercial bikers, does require them to have (i) the name of the business and an “identification number” on their bike, and (ii) the name and telephone number of the business on a visible piece of clothing (optimally a reflective vest). It also requires businesses to keep a log book with details of each delivery and delivery person.

Regarding bicycle regulations and safety, groups like Transportation Alternatives and the Precinct Councils are tasked with “getting the word out.” As a member of a Precinct Council, and as someone extremely familiar with and supportive of Transportation Alternatives, I can assure Ms. Abraham that we, in fact, do everything we can to promote safe biking and to obey laws and regulations that apply to bikers.

Ian Alterman
Upper West Side

Note: The writer is vice president of the 20th Precinct Community Council
Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.