Does not like Citi Bike
To The Editor:
A recent Daily News editorial said Citi Bike “has entered a death spiral” because “36 percent of its initial subscribers had chosen not to renew” their annual memberships.
Pedestrians everywhere are cheering. Citi Bikers have been as law-breaking as other bikers — riding on sidewalks, in Washington Square Park, the wrong way on streets, ignoring traffic lights, etc., etc.
And there’s a hilarious ad for a storage company I saw on the subway: “Bloomberg’s gone. You can put the bike away now.”
New Yorkers are voting with their feet — literally. We want those huge bike racks off our sidewalks, out of crowded intersections blocking crosswalks.
We want Citi Bikes gone.
Noreen Shipman
Ride on, my friend
To The Editor:
Re “Carey Vennema, 93, leader in Save the Village effort” (obituary, July 31):
The sight of Carey on his three-speed is clearly etched in my mind, a distinctive piece of patchwork of the collective Village quilt.
Carey will be missed. And the Village is forever grateful for all he contributed.
Mason Bendewald
Praying for Petro peace
To The Editor:
Re “Petrosino plaintiffs roll out bike-site appeal” (news article, July 31):
I am not a member of the Petrosino-area community, but have watched this closely, both in person, and via the YouTube videos. It seems to me that there are multiple problems needing to be solved: Restoring a public art area, allowing for bike-share use, and correcting cyclist bad behavior.
Personally, I’d like to see this crisis used to increase the number of bike-share units.
This standoff can’t last forever, and both sides, however right or wrong, need to get beyond the total-victory mindset. Too many Downtown issues have been lost completely, on principle.
But it is a tiny park, and compromise must happen. There is every opportunity here to make maximal beneficial use of minimal space.
Should the city prevail in court, it will be very telling to see if it would take a step back from its clear incursion, and respond to such a compromise. It would be even more telling to see if the city would be willing to begin to experiment with more creative bike-dock placement. What better laboratory than Petrosino?
If they cut the number of bike-share units in Petrosino by moving further north, rededicate a public art area, and then add the Petrosino Friends “Lafayette north of Spring” idea on top of it, everyone gets to walk away with something.
Patrick Shields
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