I think everyone is missing one point here. For 40+ years, Central Park has been closed to cars at some point during the week and there has never been any enforcement of any traffic light laws, EXCEPT when it was open to cars in the am. Suddenly the cops have changed the rules, written or unwritten, about what is acceptable. Who gave them the right to change the rules? It has always been acceptable to ride the park without stopping. This is not about blowing through lights, weaving through the cars, knocking pedestrians down. It is about riding through the park at a reasonable pace (in some parts of the park riding fast is reasonable, others not so) without needing to stop at lights. The DOT could just as easily turn them to flashing yellow and the problem goes away. it is a PARK, not a highway. I almost always stop at the red lights on the streets, when I don't I soft pedal through because the street is deserted. If there is any traffic at all I stop. Do the pedestrians in CP go to the lights and wait to cross??? Don't be silly, maybe a tourist from Seattle would, but no New Yorker gives it a thought. They are all over the road, crossing wherever they are and it makes the lights completely meaningless.

They've done some pretty idiotic things about cycling in this city, this is just another of them, and it is because the cops have a bug up their a$$ about cyclists. Do you remember the head level stop signs at EVERY intersection on the west side greenway? They may as well have strung a rope across the path. How about the non-existent 15mph speed limit? That one has been floating around for about 20 years, but there never was any such thing, it was made up by Betsy Gotbaum.