Bad News for Bikers at the New York Times
by Joshua Liberles on December 27, 2007
Readers trust the New York Times for “all the news that’s fit to print.” But there’s one story the Times isn’t telling.
Times employees who ride their bikes to work have been engaged in an ongoing battle with the media giant since September, when the company moved to a new office on Eighth Avenue. The newspaper’s new skyscraper, designed by elite architecture firm Renzo-Piano, is supposedly an exemplar of green, sustainable, eco-savvy construction. Both the Times and mega-developer Forest City Ratner tout the building as "technologically advanced and environmentally sensitive," but designers forgot to include an essential piece when drawing up the blueprints: a bike room.
"I couldn’t believe they built such a supposedly ‘green’ building without a bike room," [Ray] Bengen said. "This isn’t exactly the best neighborhood to leave a bike outside all day."
For a few weeks a friendly security guard allowed Bengen to bring his "cheap old Giant" bicycle into the building through a freight elevator. Then one day in September the guard said that he wasn’t allowed to do that anymore.
"It was very annoying," Bengen recalls.
He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. Since May, bike commuting Times employees have waged a campaign of "genteel agitation," as one staffer described it, to secure a bit of space in the 1.5 million square foot building to store their bicycles.
Last week, after months of frustration, the issue nearly boiled over into physical conflict as Times employees began locking their bicycles to the circular perforations that Piano conveniently designed into the steel girders running up along the outside of the building.
"Building security wanted to cut the locks," a Times employee who wishes to remain anonymous said. "They were looking for the clippers when Jay McKillop, the head of Times security told them, ‘Chill out. Wait a day or two.’"
Eventually, the Times did create a small indoor bike parking area, though it requires a permit and is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Despite this stingy negotiation, existing bike parking is woefully inadequate for commuters who work in the 52-story building, and is “far less bike-friendly” than the Times’ former office. Some employees report that because of the new building’s anti-bike rules, they’ve stopped biking to work, altogether. For cyclists at the Times, the move to Eighth Ave. has been nothing but bad news.
Related posts:
- C.H.U.N.K 666: Punk-ass Bikers Have More Fun
- Time’s Up: Not Just in New York
- New York City Council Approves Congestion Pricing
- Business Bikers Take Manhattan
- New York City’s Streets Discriminate by Design
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a big fan of this concept, especially since all cities used to be “slow cities”, just like all food used to be organic before organic was a commercial concept.
I admire this kind of pro human life movements… Though technology is still yet very fast especially in terms of automotive industry though more and more environment friendly vehicles are rising up to the competition…. No to BMW 633 Fuel Tank, yes to battery, because a BMW electric car is one of this technology as I have heard in the news…