By Howard Manly

Newsday, September 1, 1987
 

An hour before police were prepared to enfore the midtown bike banyesterday, an appellate judge temporarily prohibited police from issuing $45 summonses to violators of the ban.

The judge upheld a lower court ruling and said the ban could not take effect until Sept. 8, when an appellate panel is scheduled to hear the city's appeal of a temporary restraining order halting enforcement.

"It's a big victory for bicyclists," said Stuart Ruskin, an attorney representing the Association of Messenger Services Inc., one of two groups that filed suit against Mayor Edward I. Koch's ban.

Despite yesterday's setback, Koch said through a spokesman that the city "is going to go forward legally" with the ban.

"I believe the ban is legal as is and if there are any imperfections, then we will cure the imperfections," Koch said yesterday.

The ban prohibits bicyclists from using Park, Fifth and Madison Avenues between 31st and 59th Streets on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

On Sept. 9, State Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner is scheduled to decide on the legality of the ban itself after hearing arguments on two separate but related suits filed by the messenger companies and a group of recreational and commuting bicyclists.

The suits claim that Koch failed to get public input before implementing a city regulation, neglected to consider the environmental impact of discouraging bicycle use and violated existing laws that allow bicyclists free passage on public streets.

Lehner issued last Friday a temporary restraining order against the city, preventing police from issuing tickets. The city immediately appealed, which automatically suspended Judge Lehner's decision.

But yesterday at 11 a.m., an hour before police prepared to enforce the ban, state Appeals Court Justice Leonard Sandler ruled to uphold the lower court ruling.

Though a full five-justice appellate court bench is scheduled to review the city's appeal of the lower court ruling on Sept. 8, city attorneys said they would wait until the next day to make their arguments about the legality of the ban before Judge Lehner.

Many critics of Koch's bike ban say that it is a symbol of the city's misguided attempt to discourage bicycle use at a time when city officials are scrambling for ways to meet federal air quality standards.

When Koch returned from China in 1980, he said he wanted city streets to resemble those in Peking   -   with a million bicyclists.

"We'd like to see New York City look like Peking in the mornings. There are over 1 million bicycles used there," Koch said in 1980 during the transit strike.

Further, critics say Koch still does not have a workable plan for safe, peaceful coexistence among the millions of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists that use city streets.

Though an estimated 60,000 people use bicycles everyday in Manhattan, from messengers to commuters, city streets border on anarchy, with darting bicycle messengers here and there, aggressive cabdrivers speeding for fares and jaywalking pedestrians seemingly oblivious to the wilderness surrounding them.

"It's horrors and chaos,"said Betty Dewing, chairwomen of Pedestrian First, which organized a rally of about a dozen ban supporters yesterday at 34th and Madison Streets.

Critics and supporters agree that the ban was flawed.

"The ban is totally irrational," said Ruskin. "You don't solve a problem of overcrowding by putting more people in less space."

Meanwhile, bicycle messengers say that police are issuing tickets for all sorts of infractions and spending 20 minutes lecturing them on public safety.

Nancy Cooper, owner of Creative carriers, Inc. said that one of her bicyclists was issued a ticket shortly after noon for riding without a reflector.

Another one of her messengers was issued a ticket for wearing his license plate in the wrong place. Instead of on his shoulder bag, the messenger had the plate in the spoke of his wheels, Cooper said.

"It's certainly not harassment but it is stricter enforcement," Cooper said. "That is okay, but it is happening all of a sudden. The police must have a quota or something because now they are looking for things."

As a result of the China trip, Koch spent $290,000 in 1980 to build concrete and asphalt bike lanes. That plan failed. The lanes became trash alleys, filled with broken bottles and debris. Koch spent another $100,000 and ripped up the barriers 29 days later.

Koch said through a spokesman that he tried to build separated bike lanes to the liking of the bicyclists, "but they decided not to use them so it was a total failure."