PPW bike lane being threatened w/ lawsuit

Do all good things really need to come to an end?
Is this happening elsewhere?

image from the NYTimes

The NYTimes published this article today about a civil suit being filed against the city to have the Department of Transportation remove the (less then one year old) Prospect Park West bike lane. The suit is backed by a small group of well connected people "with close ties to Iris Weinshall, the city’s transportation commissioner from 2000 to 2007 and the wife of Senator Charles E. Schumer". They argue that statistics of the benefits from the path are skewed in favor of pro-bike path community activists.  Sure, statistics can be tricky and difficult to distinguish from a grey lies but COME ON. I'd really like to know the if the opponents have:

• ever tried biking along 8th Avenue during rush hour - the alternative to the PPW path going north
• noticed the traffic Prospect Park West traffic flowing just fine -- amidst one less lane
• experienced Prospect Park West as a terrifying mess with speeding car, taxis, and Fresh Direct delivery trucks BEFORE the bike lanes were there
• notice how much calmer the traffic is with one less lane
• watched cyclists yield for pedestrians (though I do admit there is a learning curve, which seems natural)
• realized that many cyclists use the bike path daily - even in the heart of winter
• seen local parents bike their children to school using the path
• that a few less parking spots lost does not justify the removal of a world class protected bike lane in the heart of Brooklyn

Well, I have.

Prospect Park West, which was once impossible to bike along, runs along the corridor which one must crossed to enter the park from the residential Park Slope neighborhood. A protected two-way bike lane running along a park sounds completely reasonable if not completely necessary. If you also agree PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE help save a vital NYC bike path by attending Community Board 6's Public Hearing on Safety Improvements to Prospect Park West

When: Thursday, March 10 @ 6:30PM
Where: John Jay Educational Campus Auditorium
237 7th Avenue, between 4th/5th Streets)
Brooklyn, NY 11215

Previous posts:
Save Prospect Park West,  19, October 2010
Rally to keep the lanes, 28, October 2010