ISSUE IS HEADED FOR A JUDICIAL PANEL

By Susan Bickelhaupt,
Boston Globe, September 11, 1987
 

The verdict is still out on whether New York City will stick to its ban of bicyclists on midtown streets.

Apparently, the city has had it with the bicycle messengers who bomb their way through city streets, despite the fact that that's how Olympian Nelson Vails got his start.

The city two weeks ago began banning all bicycles from Park, Madison and Fifth Avenues in midtown Manhattan between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. for a three- month trial period.

However, last week a judge signed an order preventing the city from handing out the $45 tickets until a five-judge appeals panel hears the case.

Calling the ban discriminatory, John Cornelison, administrator for the League of American Wheelmen, said the action "unfairly punishes the almost 30,000 law-abiding bicycle riders who make daily use of midtown streets for the behavior of a relatively few irresponsible messengers," pointing out that many cab drivers pose a similar danger to pedestrians and cyclists, but no bans have been put on them.

John Dabrowski of Boston, who was a bike messenger here for three years, agreed.

"Control is the important thing," he said. "The law sounds like a desperate measure that bypasses enforcement."

Dabrowski said that some places, like Downtown Crossing, are poor environments for people and bikes to mix. "But it's really piecework, so you do have a tendency to speed."