Williamsburg, NY – The unauthorized detour sign near the intersection of Kent Avenue and Broadway in Williamsburg came down this morning after the property owner was alerted to the presence of the sign, which was attached to the top of a disused Kabbalah Energy Drink semi-truck trailer in the parking lot of Gold Warehouse, next to Giando restaurant. Co-owner David Gold insisted he knew nothing about the sign, which directed motorists one block east to Wythe Avenue in order to avoid delays caused by Hasidic school bus drivers blocking traffic to protest the contentious Kent Avenue bike lane.
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Gold said the trailer was full of old parts and he had no idea who put the sign there. As his employees removed it, local resident Leo Moskowitz approached and explained that the sign was installed by “concerned residents and business owners” who are outraged by the new bike lane and the subsequent loss of parking. And according to Moskowitz, bus drivers have been given tickets for pulling into the bike lane to pick up children along Kent Avenue.
“At a community meeting on November 24th, DOT bike program coordinator Josh Benson suggested the bus drivers drop kids off in the middle of the street,” Moskowitz said. He defended the unauthorized detour sign as “simply an advisory sign on private property, the way Burger King or McDonalds can put up a sign.” Besides advising drivers, the sign also made for great publicity; Moskowtiz told us that at least two TV news channels have covered the ongoing bike lane battle since the sign appeared Saturday night.
Dear Hasid! It’s a lost battle!! Face it!
The sign is back up!!!!!, bigger and better then eever before!!!! it was off for 15 minutes this morning..
I just passed Kent ave cor Broadway, and the sign is still there, either it was never removed or someone put it back
I am now on kent ave. The sign is here its amazing!!!
I don’t understand why the bike lane bothers them
Aside from the serious continued chillul hashem these people are making they are also embarrassing themselves and proving to be a bunch of akshons. Give it up already.
Newsflash!!!! the bike lane fight has NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING to do with religion!!!! It’s all about LOST PARKING SPACES! IF you can’t read this, alter kaker, go get your reading glasses because this has NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING to do with HOLINESS! Did you get that?? NOTHING!
Democracy at its best. The sign is protected by the First Amendment as long as the property owner allows it and as long as it does not claim to be a government sign.
To the williamsburg community….
Baruch hashem we live in a country that is democratic and lets us practice yiddishkeit however we want.What you are missing is the fact that democracy goes both ways, the bike riders and the city have the right to ride there, and you have the right not to like it.
However you are still fundimentaly wrong because not only are you causing a huge chillul hashem, but you aren’t following the halacha of medina d’malchsai dina.
Everyone understand why you are upset,
And we feel your pain , but please don’t try to change the laws like this..
Its unbecoming of a yid to act like this
And you know better.
I agree all the way with this peaple, in midtown the DOT isn’t doing a no stopping zone, this smells wrong from the DOT
Residence keep up you are doing a great job!!! DONT GIVE UP!!!
Just wondering…………..do they have bike lanes in Gaza?
Thank You for using Kabbalah as a way to ‘enlighten’ the common folk as to thge mundane things in life such as traffic!
We have nothing against the bikers in general, we have no issue with the bikers themselves may they be hipsters, mexicans or jews (yes, they’re all using bikes). it’s an issue of “equal rights”, we – the pedestrians and motor vehicle drivers – want to have at least the same rights as the bikers. very simple! we don’t have to be trashed in order the daily 25-30 bikers should get 100 new bike lanes on the hard end of other local citizens.
You guys better get used to it…
Can someone please help me, what does the sign say? why is whyte ave. better for traffic? aren’t there a lot more school bus pickups on whyte? what’s the logic?
They STILL have nothing better to do with themselves?
How about solving REAL problems in the community.
I wonder how H’B would react, to See His people so focused on such a minute cause, while the community has people suffering from REAL problems such as, sickness, poverty, abuse, drugs, etc.
All this time and effort wasted to build and put up a sign, while they could be davening and/or helping the community with real imminent problems and hardships.
What say you, leaders (and members of the community) of Williamsburg?
I have YET, to hear any response from ANYONE regarding the reasoning of the importance of this cause to be highest priority over all the other problems the community faces (mentioned above).
unfortunately bike lanes is a pet project of bloomberg. he will do anything and everything for them and nothing for drivers .vote him out and demand change. the lower east side (grand street) used to be 4 lanes, 2 each way. now it is 1 lane each way and a bike lane on each side. if an emergency vehicle has to come thru there is no place to go between bike lanes and the stupid medians put up at the crosswalks.
idiocity at its best mayor mike
Before someone goes defending these bike lanes, at least familiar yourself with the facts. These bike lanes were forced upon us by the mayor without consultation with the community, yes, a community of over fifty thousand Yiden kein yirbi live in Williamsburg, and the mayor thinks that a few hundred hipsters come first. If they would have made one bike lane then we might understand, but bike lanes everywhere? Why? All you bike lovers and automobile haters and Williamsburg haters, please pray tell me why should the need of a few trounce the need of many? If I may express myself, I would say that the mayor has raped Williamsburg! I guess we need to swallow the din of the mayor’s malchisa, and we should all shut up. A chuilul Hashem? What is a chilul Hashem here? Can anyone please explain?
How different this whole issue would be, if most of the yidden in town used bikes instead of cars…
Could This be Hashem, Trying to Tell us to start taking care of our bodies, and stop destroying His beautiful land? Do we observe these events as half full, or half empty…
All the mothers should use the bike lanes to push their carriages, and the kids on their bikes, I mean really fill up the street with the moms and carriages (especially those big double jogging strollers that are almost as wide as a car anyway.) That’ll dissuade the bikers from going through.
Suppose a motorist reads the detour sign, believes it is legit, and gets into an accident while taking that detour. Would the property owner that the sign is on be liable in any way? Suppose someone got hurt in that accident. Could those who put up the sign be prosecuted
Everyone should roller blade, bike and walk whenever they could as an alternative to going by car. We can all use the exercise and a diminishing of traffic and pollution. Certainly it’s silly to dissuade those that want to do so. And regarding tznius of the bikers, you’ll always have walkers/runners regardless of a bike lane; when they’re biking they at least pass by much quicker.