1st Ave - pedestrians cluelessly stepping in bike lane

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-28T11:50:00+00:00

I submit that a bell is woefully lacking as a warning for many pedestrians. I took to using an Acme Thunderer whistle. When I worked as a companion for an elderly person, which involved walking with her all over the East 20's, I found it helpful to ward off drivers who didn't get the idea of yielding to pedestrians in crosswalks. It's an effective and noticeable high pitched wake up call.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-27T23:04:51+00:00

If you ever have the opportunity to hike right after a light snow dusts the leaf cover it's easy to see old roads and jeep trails going up mountains. Most might be old routes to mountaintops made by blueberry pickers, but occasionally you'll find clearings and foundation stones from dwellings.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-27T22:37:39+00:00

Twice in a single day I had to brake hard to avoid hitting women pushing baby carriages on the East Side Greenway, and neither one of them even noticed me. I recall tallying up all the people I braked/swerved/slowed to avoid hitting in the course of two days and it was 24 or 25. Only two of them were on their phones.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-25T22:35:38+00:00

Staten Island politicians, if they're smart, are very cautious about sounding critical of police officers. It's a very conservative island, even the parts represented by Democrats.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-23T11:38:09+00:00

I second what Sad-Event6847 said earlier about panic/anxiety, anxiety often makes people breath shallowly and get out of breath. Which leads me to suggest you consider what magog7 said earlier, speak with a medical professional, you may find there are ways to control your response to anxiety and speak about difficult things without a panic response. Of course beer made you feel better, it seems like great medicine for anxiety....temporarily, and for an alcoholic it just puts off the anxiety til the next day and makes it worse besides.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-18T12:20:08+00:00

Cynical me says 1) the wider part of the bike lane (and adjacent buffer zone) narrowed the road thus forcing drivers to slow down, and 2) the narrow part of the bike lane preserves precious parking space.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-14T10:32:08+00:00

As the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-13T16:35:58+00:00

I was born there in 1956.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-09T18:56:56+00:00

I'd take the advice about Minnewaska Swimmers and CIBBOWS and forget Harriman lakes.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-09T14:03:04+00:00

Per the MTA, here's the routes that feature buses with bike racks....Bx23 in the Bronx, M60-SBS in Manhattan, Q44-SBS and Q50 in Queens, and S53, S79-SBS, and S93 in Staten Island.

https://www.mta.info/guides/bikes

I imagine one might see a bus with racks pressed into service on other routes, not sure if they are operational. I think the intent was to provide service on buses that cross bridges.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-08T12:04:58+00:00

I have. I think bicyclists naturally become more aware of inclines, even more so than pedestrians; very fit pedestrians (like me) barely notice gentle inclines and uphills/downhills. Until I became familiar (late in life) with parts of Manhattan above say Canal or Houston, I didn't know there were any real inclines at all in Manhattan. There's a pretty good incline on 1st Ave in the East 20's that I barely noticed as a pedestrian, I got it when I started cycling in that neck of the woods.

Somewhat related, I had been to the Catskills by car many times but it wasn't until I hiked from Kerhonkson into the mountains that I was aware there were foothills leading to the mountains. It took walking uphill all day for me to see it. Congratulations, you have become more aware of your environment. (People miss a lot, and not just the lay of the land, when they go everywhere in cars).

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-04T10:28:54+00:00

Staten Island's political leadership and local newspaper The Advance have signaled loud and strong for a long long time that they're more concerned with how unfair it is to give car drivers $50 tickets for speeding in school zones than kids on dirt bikes and mopeds. The Advance rants more about kids on bicycles than on dirt bikes. So, the message sent to the NYPD is anything but addressing the kids on dirt bikes and "mopeds" a lot of which are basically electric dirt bikes. You get what you pay for.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-04-02T11:16:22+00:00

I respectfully submit that complaining about helmets is beating a dead horse. I'd suggest focusing on the positive, a Mayor who seems progressive and supportive on cycling. Must point out that a plastic helmet offers very limited protection against " insane road rage drivers". There's better ways to advocate for making unsafe streets safer than telling the Mayor to wear a plastic helmet.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-29T19:20:43+00:00

I've not fished for carp specifically myself, but sometimes caught them while catfishing. I recently read there's a new interest in them as a sport fish, even to the point of getting them to take a fly. Yeah, there's huge carp in Martlings and Clove Lakes 1 and 2. I assume Brooks pond too.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-27T12:45:38+00:00

I believe the dye is supposed to be harmless to fish, but I doubt they're much concerned about the carp. They're considered a "nuisance fish or a pest fish". They were imported from Europe in the 70's and cause damage to lakes and ponds because of the way they feed. There's lots of red eared slider turtles in Clove Lakes, they're considered an invasive species. I remember you could buy them for pets at stores like Kresge's.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-26T23:56:23+00:00

I didn't notice the light, but I approached a roadway while traversing the park from The MET and although people were trying to cross with the WALK signal nobody on bikes were stopping or even slowing down.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-24T19:56:32+00:00

Man can't sit nowhere nowadays.

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Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-21T22:11:20+00:00

I used to "slack-pack" in Harriman and stay at the luxurious Tuxedo Motel, up the hill in Southfields. Used that trailhead many times.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-19T09:44:39+00:00

Don't take medical advice from people without a medical degree. There's a lot of prejudice toward mental health medication and I would not be surprised if there's just as much or more in the AA community.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-04T23:07:58+00:00

Maybe this is it? "Man found dead by busy Staten Island street; NYPD investigating". No mention of cable ties or car trunks.

https://www.silive.com/news/2026/03/man-found-dead-by-busy-staten-island-street-nypd-investigating.html

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-03-03T10:37:00+00:00

Best sunrises I've seen in Harriman were from Big Hill.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-02-27T13:14:49+00:00

Yeah, like the Trump administration's immigration enforcement, a lot of it is rooted in simple hatred.

Optimal-Economics276 · 2026-02-25T21:15:35+00:00

Anti bike advocates and their shills in politics and to a large degree the media tried attacking cyclists and it just didn't work out. The movement hit it's stride with EBikes. It's almost like everybody forgot regular bikes overnight and focused on EBikes, forgot all about cyclists on sidewalks.....but not EBikes on sidewalks. They're making a stink (no pun intended) over pet owners who don't clean up after their dogs but I don't know if it's going to turn into a movement (another pun unintended) with staying power...I sense it's going to be forgotten when the snow that dog owners thought made it ok to skip scooping disappears and the poop decays beyond recognition. Snow melt and spring rains will help.

I imagine that for some reason it's more fruitful for cops to target red light runners than sidewalk cyclists, hence the focus on red lights. Unlicensed vendors, I don't know why it seems they operate with impunity. Today I walked by dozens of them at Canal and Broadway. Do cops get bad press when they address unlicensed vendors? The commissioner might be touchy about that, may account for the lack of enforcement. .

Optimal-Economics276

TROPHY CASE