krillz

theyre a bunch of slow moving morons in that joint. i hate them. kill snakes. ill prob be at the memorial ride on thurs.

evanyc

the worst thing about hot97 is that some people actually get their news and opinions from the morning show there. a woman in my masters program frequently prefaced statements with "i was listening to hot97 this morning and miss jones said..." i wanted to shake her whenever she did this and fear for the children who will be counseled by her in the future.

wangster

star jones look like a science experiment gone wrong, like someone took the skin of a 400 pound woman and put it on a 200 pound frame... oh wait, that's exactly what she is... hahahahhahaha!

mrRed

Star Jones ... "I'm a lawyer"

Miss Jones ... "I'm the chosen tool of some old rich white dudes"

Doctor Who

****, he's from my hometown. I tried to figure out where he went to high-school, but I've come up with nothing.

A tragedy.

chennai

I've been thinking about doing something similar, using bugzilla to simplify the reporting and followup.

evanyc

i found out last night he's a friend of my friend dan who went to SVA with him. he said he was an awesome kid.

brokenrobot

Just got off my daily 311 call, this one reporting two GIANT ****ING HOLES the city dug in streets in Brooklyn - we're talking square holes 3 feet on a side and 2 or 3 feet deep - that they apparently didn't feel the need to cover or fill or even mark with cones. One of them was across the entire width of a bike lane. How neglegent can you get?

timmhaan

great. two giant unmarked holes in the street and tons of rain. doesn't anyone have a drop of common sense. which street is this on?

shishi

DOT is the worse.

dudeman

watch out at 1st ave and 2nd st. huge sinking hole!

crissfyah

Rally/Press event at City Hall, tomorrow (Thurs 6/29) at 9am.

If you are interested in changing conditions on the street, please come show support on your way to work (or whatever). There have been three accidents in manhanttan in the past 10 days (two fatalities) and another fatality earlier this month (Rockaway blvd, i think in brooklyn). Each of these "accidents" was the result of dangerous behaviors and conditions that do not need to exist. The press is finally starting to ask questions about why drivers are not cited for traffic law violations that result in injuries to cyclists and why NYC, a city teeming with pedestrians and cyclists, is so hostile and behind the times when it comes to rational traffic planning. A strong showing from the community will help keep up the pressure that is needed to make some progress.

evanyc

i'll be there

brokenrobot

I will too!

shishi

I am planning on it, just over the bridge for me.

pinkfixie

From Times Up
-----------------

MEMORIAL RIDE FOR TWO CYCLISTS KILLED THIS WEEK!

Carl Nacht, 56, was killed by an NYPD tow truck making a right turn
across the Hudson River Greenway.

Derek Lake, 23, was killed on Houston
Street while trying to maneuver around a dangerous construction site.
Come out and remember these two cyclists and help draw attention to
unsafe
conditions for New York cyclists. Please bring flowers.

Thursday, June 29, 6:30 p.m.
West Side Greenway at 46th Street (in front of the Intrepid)

visitordesign

if you guys want to complain about unsafe roadway conditions you encounter around construction sites, these are some real people to call:

bureau of permit management and construction coordination:
assistant commissioner- jay jaber (pronounced more like, "jabbar")-212-442-6775
executive director, office of construction mitigation and coordination (OCMC)- joe noto - 212-442-6777
director, street pavement-girish shelat-212-442-7841

if you want the individual borough commissioner names an numbers, i have them as well. just shout.

if yr gonna call these people directly, you have to have as much info as possible for them to take you seriously. try to find the permit for the job (should be visible within the work zone) and copy down as much info as you can-including the permit number, contractor, engineer, location and description of work being done as well as the problem.

if it's some random problematic roadway plate that seems unassociated with any permitted job, you might call them and explain that as well or ask who you can speak to about such problems.

this is way better than 311 as these guys collect fines from the contractors for violations and have every interest in doing so and having the problems remedied ASAP

shishi

Thanks VD, good info.

Matthew A Brown

This is great information.


Are there similar threads in the S/A or the road forums, or any other relatively NYC-intensive boards?

visitordesign

i have a feeling that, as reckless and detremental to cycling and the public's perception of cyclists that some people in S/A consider a lot of us in here, there's possibly a larger concentration of creativity and youth in here, meaning we may have: oodles of energy; interests in creative problem solving; an uncanny ability to milk what few resources we may have to get the most mileage from them--and most importantly--an ever-growing dislike of "the system" and a sincere desire to manipulate it, break it and work straight thru it instead of dancing around it or acting as apologists for it.

we can do our thing. they can do their thing. the more people who are doing things, the better. the more different things being done, the better.

Matthew A Brown

100%.

Matthew A Brown

(btw, if there's a better thread I should be posting in let me know...)


Venturing into amateur design/brainstorm land, what about a way to make this as easy as possible? Postcard-sized forms with all of these fields in it, so that nobody has to remember each thing, and that could be as best a connection between us (as eyes on the street) and the appropriate city offices.

Kid on bike thinks, "oh man look at that," stops, scribbles for about a minute, darts back off. Even for someone working or busy doing errands, if its just a 2-3 minute phone call to relay that information... ****, that's waiting for the slice to come out of the oven.

mrRed

I'll definitely do a quick layout for a double sided post card. One side would have fields to write down the information and the other I'm thinking should include the names and numbers of the above contacts as well as 311 as a reminder. Is there anyone specific, to call up when its a non-contruction road hazard, such as big pot holes / sink holes in the bike lanes/greenways/roadways or other such things?

I'd be willing to foot the bill for some 3" x 5" double sided cards printed up, but want to make sure that they're as thorough as possible.

Suggestions?

shishi

DOT, I'll track down some contacts.

visitordesign

it gets tricky with things like the HRP greenway, because, theoretically, it's the responsibility of the hudson river park trust, but there's some joint responsibility with the parks department, NYPD, MTA, DOT, chelsea piers, sanitation department, riverside south, etc. i'd imagine there could a good deal of passing the buck there. i know the on-call engineers for the trust though, so if you have specific concerns, i can find out who's responsible.

as for non-construction road hazzards, i'll find out. i think it's the NYCDOT.

edit: the borough commissioners are the ones who should best be able to sort out problems in their boroughs.

lower MNHTN-steven weber-212-788-8989
MNHTN- margaret forgione-212-442-7447
bklyn- lori ardito-718-222-7259
qns- constance moran - 718-391-2718
bnx- joseph palmieri-212-748-6680
sttn isl- john giaccio-718-816-2373

and/or the division of roadway repair and maintenance:
mnhtn- scott roveto 212-487-8470
bklyn- ray edwards 718-222-7290
qns- michael diverniero 718-286-2700
bnx- anthony grillo 212-748-6671
sttn isl- emmanuel strakis 718-816-2361

i'm thinking the most effective way to use all of this though is via something like s_9 is considering. construct a detailed database and phone in a bunch of problems once a week. essentially, that's what 311 is supposed to be doing, but i have doubts about its effectiveness based on my personal interactions with that system.