A yard sign campaign - #StopTheBikeLanes

Jonathan Yee is organizing this fundraiser.

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In September 2023, without any notice, the NYC Department of Transportation installed protected bike lanes on both sides of the street on 53rd Ave between Underhill Ave and Oceania St, and on Oceania St from Horace Harding Expressway to 46th Ave in Queens, NY. On the entire bike lane route, one side of street parking was removed. And where the streets contain island medians, both sides of street parking were removed. On the sides of the street where the parking was removed, “NO STOPPING” signs were installed and placed in front of people’s homes. On the side of the street where parking was allowed, two parking spots were removed at the very front of each block. This means that 20 parking spots on a block became 6 to 8 parking spots. Where there are island medians, 20 parking spots on a block became 0. Homeowners can no longer STOP, let alone park, in front of their own homes.

People in the community were shocked by these changes. Virtually everyone only found out once they lost the ability to park in front of their own homes after the “NO STOPPING” signs popped up and the bike lanes began to be painted. People received $115 tickets for parking in front of their own homes. The community found out that apparently, an unelected, fully appointed community board made up mostly of people who do not live in the neighborhood and whom not many people know about, requested to the NYCDOT that there should be protected bike lanes.

Angry residents swamped local elected officials with complaints. Councilmember Sandra Ung, Councilmember Linda Lee, State Senator John Liu, and Assemblymember Nily Rozic cosigned a letter calling for the NYCDOT to revert the bike lanes and allow for parking. At the Community Board 11 October general meeting, hundreds of angry residents showed up to protest. The community board members seemed dazed by these hundreds of angry residents at a meeting which normally has 20 people showing up. They had no answer. One month later, the Community Board released a letter calling for the NYCDOT to revert the bike lanes that the Community Board initially asked for.

Armed with the newfound knowledge that the community was totally against the new bike lanes, the NYCDOT, instead of simply changing the configuration of the bike lanes (which had not been fully painted yet) to allow for parking, doubled down and continued painting the protected bike lanes anyways. The NYCDOT has not provided any response to the public outrage and is hoping that this will blow over. It seems like the NYCDOT has no plans to stop steamrolling through the community and wants to expand the protected bike lanes and remove even more parking in front of peoples’ homes. The NYCDOT’s actions are unacceptable and reminiscent of what happens in a Socialist state rather than in America.

53rd Ave and Oceania St are quiet, wide, suburban, residential streets lined entirely with 1 and 2 family homes. There is not one store on the path of the bike lane, and not many stores in the neighborhood at all. Car traffic is light and there has never been an issue with riding bikes in this residential neighborhood. These protected bike lanes have been installed for 3 months and the consensus among residents is that maybe 1 biker a day, if even, is seen using them, and the bike lanes are not used during rush hour. Residents should not have their lives upended just so that a few people who do not live here can go for a joyride through the neighborhood on the weekend to go to the park.

This GoFundMe campaign is to create yard signs to place in front of houses on 53rd Ave and Oceania St on the bike lane route. The yard sign is based on the “NO STOPPING” signs that the city installed in front of peoples’ homes. 250 signs should approximately cover all the houses on the route. The community’s showing of public discontent has produced results with local elected officials writing a letter and the Community Board writing a letter. The NYCDOT initially pushed the bike lanes under the false pretense that there is widespread community support for the bike lanes ( https://www.qchron.com/editions/queenswide/cb-11-passes-bike-lanes-unanimously/article_2df97973-8072-5487-9827-192781720b96.html ).

The yard signs make it clear that the community is against the bike lanes.

There is also an online petition:

https://www.change.org/p/nycmayor-nyc-dot-minority-communities-are-not-checkboxes-to-tick-off-for-your-quotas-imposing-bike-lanes-without-our-input-disregards-our-needs-and-voices-listen-to-the-communities-you-serve-donttreadonme-stopthebikelanes?redirect=false

53rd Ave where one side of street parking was removed.