Hundreds of Upper West Side residents and business owners are fighting back against the city’s plan to build a new bike lane along a major local thoroughfare.
The “No 72nd Street Bike Lane Coalition” has gathered more than 1,000 signatures on a petition opposing the proposal, and said it expects at least 100 people to picket against it at a rally Saturday morning at West 72nd Street and Broadway.
“This is about making sure the community is heard,” the group said in a statement. “We are calling for a pause. Release the data, evaluate the alternatives and work with the people who know this street best — the neighbors.”
The city Department of Transportation’s plan would install a protected bike lane running in both directions along the north side of the approximately half mile long street, which runs from Central Park West to Riverside Drive.
Community Board 7 had been set to hold a meeting on the proposed redesign this month — but pushed it to June, citing the need for additional community feedback in the face of the mounting backlash.
Lester Wasserman, a fourth-generation shoe retailer who owns Tip Top Shoes on West 72nd Street, said he learned about the proposal only recently.
“Why are we trying to ram it through in the shadows of darkness?” he fumed to The Post on Friday. “Everybody I’ve spoken to never got a call and didn’t even know this was a possibility.”
Darryl Dornfeld, a member of the coalition formed to oppose the project, said local residents and business owners are demanding more say in the process — while stressing the group is not anti-cyclist.
“It is not that we don’t want bike lanes. We already have several and support them when they’re appropriate,” Dornfeld said.
“But West 72nd Street is uniquely complex, and this design doesn’t reflect that reality.”
The coalition argues the redesign would disrupt an already congested corridor that serves multiple bus routes, contains a major subway hub and sees heavy delivery traffic.
The group also warned that the DOT’s plan to remove one car travel lane in each direction could lead to vehicle congestion and worsen idling, hurting air quality.
“Infrastructure should be shaped with the community, not imposed on it,” the group’s statement said. “A street redesign should improve mobility for everyone, not just those on two wheels.”
A spokesperson for DOT insisted the bike lane plan would help “everyone.”
“Protected bike lanes have been shown to support local businesses and improve safety for everyone, including pedestrians, cyclists and people traveling by car.”
Wasserman said his and other businesses rely on pallet jacks to unload tons of merchandise directly to the curb — a routine he fears will be upended if a protected bike lane gets added.
“Its contents of hundreds of pounds of whatever it is is going to sit there until someone unloads it,” he said. “Who’s going to get it from point A to point B? It takes time, it’s costly, it’s inefficient.”
The DOT spokesperson said new, specially designated loading zones will “better accommodate deliveries, cab pick-ups and drop-offs.”
“Who’s going to carry it from there?” Wasserman asked.
An Astoria neighborhood raised alarms last week over a different bike lane plan, citing fire safety concerns, but DOT is moving ahead anyway, The Post previously reported.
DOT data shows less than 10% of the city’s 8.5 million residents are regular bike riders.
But the cyclists count one influential ally: Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Hizzoner is frequently spotted riding a Citi Bike — often without a helmet — to press conferences and meetings.
“His actions speak to who he is,” Wasserman said of the bicycle-loving mayor, questioning why the West 72nd Street redesign was being prioritized as Mamdani claims the city is facing a once-in-a-generation fiscal crisis.
“We’re out of money but we need to do this,” Wasserman sniped. “We’re talking out of a lot of different sides of our mouth here.”
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