Neighbors John and Carol and our very own CityRack A couple of friends from Germany arrived at a dinner in our neighborhood helmets in hand having left their bikes on the street. Horrifed, I queried: where?! Then they described that piece of "city furniture" we all walk by and pay no mind. It's a CityRack, and it is an ideal spot to leave your velocipede if you just can't bring it with you.
What do our local restauranteur, Henry Rinehart, and cycling advocate Peter Frishauf know how to do better than most? How to move bureaucracies. I do believe that they are at the root of the installation of those utilitarian but sleekly designed bike racks that are popping up in our neck of the woods.
Henry's Restaurant was the first place I noticed these a couple of summers back. And now that I mention it, you, too, will see that the brunch crowd at Broadway and West 105th Street are enthusiastic adopters. There are cycles aplenty lashed to that cold steel.
Peter is a more recent victor alongside his neighbors KC Rice and Asya and Ted Berger. First they let their fingers do the walking, I am guessing from Peter's Twitter feed. They simply made an official location suggestion. Lo and behold -- as Bob Dylan and the Band sing over and over in the new, fabulous release of the Basement Tapes -- we now have a two-bike rack right on this block of West 103rd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue.
Peter reports that to get a CityRack, DOT often checks to make sure the building wants one. A co-op board or other owners and neighbors can make the request for rack placement.
And the best part? No alternate side of the street rigamarole! Plus you can dress it up for Halloween.
To request one on the street where you live, either enter your suggested location at the city's website or download a request form here.
As the fabulous and much missed Freddy Mercury sang:
Bicycle, bicycle, BICYCLE!
I want to ride my bicycle.
I want to ride my bike.
I want to ride [and park] it where I like!
By Caitlin Hawke
What do our local restauranteur, Henry Rinehart, and cycling advocate Peter Frishauf know how to do better than most? How to move bureaucracies. I do believe that they are at the root of the installation of those utilitarian but sleekly designed bike racks that are popping up in our neck of the woods.
Henry's Restaurant was the first place I noticed these a couple of summers back. And now that I mention it, you, too, will see that the brunch crowd at Broadway and West 105th Street are enthusiastic adopters. There are cycles aplenty lashed to that cold steel.
Peter is a more recent victor alongside his neighbors KC Rice and Asya and Ted Berger. First they let their fingers do the walking, I am guessing from Peter's Twitter feed. They simply made an official location suggestion. Lo and behold -- as Bob Dylan and the Band sing over and over in the new, fabulous release of the Basement Tapes -- we now have a two-bike rack right on this block of West 103rd Street between Broadway and West End Avenue.
Peter reports that to get a CityRack, DOT often checks to make sure the building wants one. A co-op board or other owners and neighbors can make the request for rack placement.
And the best part? No alternate side of the street rigamarole! Plus you can dress it up for Halloween.
To request one on the street where you live, either enter your suggested location at the city's website or download a request form here.
As the fabulous and much missed Freddy Mercury sang:
Bicycle, bicycle, BICYCLE!
I want to ride my bicycle.
I want to ride my bike.
I want to ride [and park] it where I like!
By Caitlin Hawke
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