Satmar Chassidim Threaten to Block Traffic in Protest of New Bike Lanes

Williamsburg: Opposition to the newly painted bike lanes on Kent Avenue is so strong in Williamsburg's Chassidish community that one Chasid vowed to block traffic if the city does not remove the cycling routes. The Satmar spokesman Isaac Abraham threatened this week that private buses would obstruct Kent Avenue to pressure the city to remove the lanes and reinstate alternate-side parking. "We will ask all the drivers, "When you pick-up or drop-off our children, put your bus in an angle, block the entire street, and wait until the parent gets to the door of the bus, and very slowly take your child off or put your child on the bus, and don't rush to get back on the sidewalk," said Abraham, who added that the protests would occur every morning from 8–10AM and 4–7 pm and would be accompanied by rallies. "One day the traffic will be backed up all the way from Long Island City to the Department of Transportation Headquarters, traffic will come to a halt," he threatened. Abraham revealed his calls for a traffic slowdown just before a November 24th neighborhood meeting about transportation hosted by Councilmembers David Yassky, that addressed the controversial Kent Avenue bike lanes, which are placeholders for the proposed Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway a divided cycling and walking path planned to stretch from Greenpoint to Sunset Park. Members of the community said that blocking traffic is their only way to voice their grievances about the no-stopping, no-standing signage that they have protested since the city installed the signs on a Shabbos morning last month and immediately issued tickets, even though they were unable to move their cars. "I don't like it, but if that is what needs to be done to get their attention, people are going to do it," said Williamsburg resident Leo Moskowitz. "We don't want to do it, but if we have to, we will." Department of Transportation Bicycle Program Coordinator Joshua Benson, who fielded questions and insults at the transportation meeting, wasn't surprised by the negative response from some members of the community, which included complaints from business owners about declines in sales and difficulties with deliveries. Benson said that the lane was necessary to create a "network" of bicycle paths around the borough, and suggested that in time, Williamsburg residents might come to embrace the cycling lanes. "Change is hard, and when we change the way the streets work, there is always an adjustment period," he said.