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Seen & Heard: Another Parking Lot Getting Developed?
••• From P: “Why were two massive drilling rigs doing soil testing both Saturday and Sunday in the pocket parking lot on the NW corner of Franklin and Church?” (That’s 98-100 Franklin, the lot next to All Good Things.) Typically you would not do that unless it was preliminary work for a building foundation.” Indeed—and I was just quacking about how parking lots are going the way of the dodo—but there’s nothing online yet. Know anything? I’m at tribecacitizen@gmail.com or 917-209-6473. (At one point I posted a rendering—could’ve just been for kicks—that showed a hotel on two of those triangular lots along Sixth Ave. I don’t know if this lot was one of them, and I can’t find that rendering.)
••• Friends of Washington Market Park is doing a four-question survey about whether the lawn should be fenced: “The proposed fence would be a permanent, coated-wire fence with decorative posts, such as the fencing used in Madison Square Park and in Central Park fields.” Take it.
••• Free plants: “On Wednesday, October 9, the Downtown Alliance will dig up thousands of geraniums from Bowling Green Park and give them away—for free!—to anyone who drops by between 10 a.m. and noon.”
••• A crazy tale from D. about yesterday—we’re wondering if it’s related to this horrible story. If you know anything, comment or email me at tribecacitizen@gmail.com.
My wife and I were walking home today and at Greenwich and Chambers we came across a very dangerous situation; a group of people in motorcycles/ATVs (I would say in total more than 1,000 of them) took the liberty of closing southbound traffic on Greenwich so they could loudly and quickly zip through the intersection (this had begun before I arrived but lasted at least the five minutes I was standing at the corner). I witnessed a little girl almost get run over (which led to her father nearly getting into a fight with the driver) as well as an ATV driving on the sidewalk (and crashing into the lamppost five feet from me, causing him to go flying and his ATV to turn over).
I was shocked that there were no police to be seen given how loud the motorcycles were. I called 911 immediately but didn’t see any police come by the time the motorcycles got through. This contrasts to this morning where there was a group of 20 policemen making sure that I couldn’t get my car out of a garage on Warren st because there was some sort of 5k.
Wondering if you could look into where the bikers came from so they can get in some trouble (there were countless people holding cell phones taking videos of license plates which the cops should be able to track down), and where the cops were. I generally think its pretty ridiculous how few cops there are in the area except for when they are closing down the road for an event. Not to mention how incredibly rude they were to me this morning as they would barely answer the question of when the road would be back open…. The people in down here pay enough taxes to support the police that I found my overall experience today to be very disappointing.
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Could this video be related to the biker rampage discussed above?
http://www.stuntbums.com/articles/2473/range-rover-runs-over-bikers-nyc
Spotted an ATV in the back at one point.
Re: the motorcyclists, there’s a lot more detail on Gawker and Jalopnik about this incident and how it was organized.
I looked outside from my window to Chambers St when this was happening yesterday and it was pretty ridiculous. It seemed like it went on for longer than 10 minutes. Multiple 4 wheeler motocycles were going up on the sidewalk, scaring pedestrians. The people in the cars stuck in the middle were pretty scared too.
Simply put, the cops let this happen. Maybe they were all busy getting drunk at the Tunnels to Towers BBQ over by WFC.
Oh and there really were hundreds of bikers and I would say 1 in 10 had Go-Pro cameras mounted on their helmet.
Nope. That was uptown.
But still, the question uptown isthe police and troopers knew it was coming, since it happened last year, and were “unable” to stop them from getting on the highway. It didn’t have a permit.
So much for all that security we keep hearing about.
There is no doubt that this is the same group of motorcyclists. I observed approx. 1000 motorcycles going west on Chambers Street from approx. 1:15 pm to 1:40 pm on Sunday, 9/29. They easily could have driven up to where this incident took place on the West Side Highway. This is not the first time Tribeca and NYC has been terrorized by a group of motorcyclists. We have witnessed it at least four times before and my husband and I are always shocked that the police are nowhere to be seen every time it happens.
Yesterday we witnessed the scene from our apartment overlooking Chambers Street. The road was so crowded that the bikers took to driving on the sidewalk on the south side of Chambers. Motorcycles were doing wheelies and four-wheelers were taking up the entire sidewalk. People were sandwiched against walls so not to get hit. I hate to think what would have happened if a little child whizzed around the sidewalk corner on a scooter at the same time the group of motorcycles were racing down the sidewalk.
My husband was outraged and went outside to try to find the police. At the intersection of Greenwich and Chambers, he saw several members get into a verbal fight with a woman in a car – boxed her in, took off their helmets, and cursed at her. He thought it was going to turn very ugly. He saw an older couple come very close to getting hit as they dared step out in the street – the bikers aimed to intimidate them (and everyone else in sight) by revving their engines and speeding up so to make them jump out of the way. I’m frankly surprised their were no serious injuries (except for the story you highlighted as they turned right on West Side Highway and headed North).
I have to assume the police received numerous 911 calls. After reading about this in the press, my thought is that the police have actively chosen to ignore it (and have ignored it in the past) – out of fear that if they were to confront the bikers, it would turn violent, very quickly. I would agree that the police might not be able to control the situation in the event that they tried to shut it down – a frightening thought.
It made national news this evening on ABC with Dianne Sawyer.
Makes the case for two way tolls all the more compelling…
Happened to be walking at Central Park West and 70th yesterday afternoon when the same group came through headed southbound. Less than 10 minutes later, about a dozen police cars lined up in Columbus Circle. We assumed they were there to round up the bikers but when asked, one of the officers said no, not related. Said they come through a lot, and they haven’t been able to catch them. Really hard to fathom since they probably took up several blocks at a time. How could you miss them?
They were terrorizing people walking the Brooklyn Bridge, too, riding on the sidewalks, etc.
If you want to know why nothing is done, go count the motorcycles parked outside the station houses.
I’m outraged. That video is horrifying. I’ve seen motorcycle gangs “take over” Tribeca at least 4 times in recent memory. The Bloomberg Administration needs to address this IMMEDIATELY. And the 1st Precinct should acknowledge this is a real issue in our neighborhood, and communicate to our community the steps they are doing to prevent these motorcycle gangs from taking over the neighborhood. Anyone listening?
Police? There is no police presence in TriBeCa. Otherwise, they would have busted the daily office & construction & restaurant workers taking their 12 noon marijuana break on Staple Street. It also happens nightly and on weekends, but I am sure the 1st precinct is busy with more important police matters. It’s sad that we let some policemen carry guns when they’re still just immature men. It’s a shame they can’t be better than their 8-year old selves playing cops and bullies.
Reading press that says the police knew this was coming on Friday. Biker gang’s goal was to take over Times Square. So the NYPD used a ‘show of force’ strategy vs. confrontation, hence the dozen cop cars in Columbus Circle and other places. They managed to keep them out of Times Square but that didn’t seem to do much for the rest of us. Spared the tourists but terrorized the locals.
For years, motorcyclists have been “paying tribute” to the victims of 9/11. I don’t know if this is part of that group or a completely separate event. I also don’t see why riding your cycle in a huge group has anything to do with the fallen. Unless, of course, it is because so many of the bikers are policemen — and that answers why they are allowed to break the law and endanger every resident, visitor and tourist downtown. Good news to hear they are focussing on uptown; might give us a break.
RA, don’t be naive. No one is listening so you might as well get over your outrage. I had some interaction with the Bloomberg administration about motorcycles during his first administration, and I can tell you he isn’t interested. It gets forwarded to the precincts, where most of the officers are bikers, or know bikers, or want to be bikers. It’s all part if the male insecurity thing. End of discussion.
Betty:
The whole thing baffled me. With motorcycles and 4 wheels riding on sidewalks in tribeca and other parts of the city and police do nothing. I was also surprised when Ray Kelly was interviewed about it dismissed/brushed off the whole incident. I wonder if they are cops and that is why nothing was done.