Bike Lanes Newest Jewish Issue On UWS

Young bike lane activist Andrew Udell pedals near his Upper West Side apartment.

Young bike lane activist Andrew Udell pedals near his Upper West Side apartment.

by Julie Wiener

The Upper West Side and Williamsburg share the distinction of being among New York’s most Jewish neighborhoods.

But the communities have dramatically different handles on bike riding.

Last year, Williamsburg’s largely chasidic Jewish community protested a new bike lane running through their ‘nabe, complaining it attracted scantily clad cyclists and eliminated much-needed parking spaces.
Meanwhile, Upper West Side Jews have come out full force in support of creating protected bike lanes on Columbus and Amsterdam avenues, running from 59th Street to 110th Street.

Members of Manhattan’s Community Board 7 — initially largely opposed to the idea — last week, endorsed the plan for bike lanes, after receiving letters and hearing speeches from many of the neighborhood’s prominent Jewish leaders.

Seven West

Side rabbis, including Ansche Chesed’s Jeremy Kalmanofsky and The Jewish Center’s Yosie Levine, signed on to a letter arguing that bike lanes would promote public health and public safety, reduce pollution and increase transportation options.

“Pollution reduction is a Jewish obligation,” noted the letter, drafted by the Jewish environmental group Hazon. (Among its other projects, Hazon sponsors an annual “Jewish environmental bike ride” from upstate New York to the Upper West Side.)

Joining the rabbis in advocating for the bike lanes, were the owners of nine kosher businesses, among them Café Roma Pizzeria and Supersol Manhattan. The JCC in Manhattan has also been active in the effort.

Jewish leaders have been “great partners to our campaign,” said Lisa Sladkus, community organizer for the Upper West Side Renaissance Campaign, founded by the bike advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.

Among the youngest Jewish activists was Andrew Udell, a 10th grader at the Abraham Joshua Heschel High School, who rides his bike to school almost every day. “I just talked about how biking to school is one of my favorite parts of the day,” Udell, 15, said, of a speech he gave at a recent Community Board 7 public meeting.

“I often ask my friends if they want to bike with me, and I always get the same disappointing answer: ‘I’d love to but my parents won’t let me — they say it’s too dangerous.’”
Udell started biking to school last year, finding it more enjoyable than walking or taking a cab. While his parents were apprehensive at first, he convinced them to let him go carefully down West End Avenue.
“Safe biking is something all citizens should be entitled to,” he said. “Students should be able to bike to school if they want to.”

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