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HASID LUST CAUSE CULTURE CLASH
OVER SEXY CYCLISTS
By RICH CALDER
Posted: 3:47 am
September 12, 2008
It's the Hasids vs. the hotties in a Brooklyn bike war.
Leaders of South Wil liamsburg's Hasidic community said yesterday that bike lanes that bring scantily clad cyclists - especially sexy women - peddling through their neighborhood are definitely not kosher.
The red-faced religious sect is calling on city officials to eliminate the car-free lanes on Wythe and Bedford avenues, and to delay construction of a new one planned for Kent Avenue.
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The existing, one-way lanes are popular with North Williamsburg hipsters - many who ride in shorts or skirts.
The temporary lane planned for Kent Avenue would be a precursor to a 14-mile greenway stretching from Newtown Creek in Greenpoint to Sunset Park.
Hasids are forbidden from looking at members of the opposite sex who aren't fully dressed, said local activist Isaac Abraham.
Weisser and other Hasids said during a Sept. 8 community-board meeting that the lanes on Bedford and Wythe avenues should be eliminated if the neighborhood has to accept being part of the greenway.
The issue of dress - or lack of it - wasn't brought up at the meeting. Weisser and the other Hasids instead complained publicly about bike lanes allegedly causing parking problems and traffic congestion.
-The Department of Transportation's recently announced streetscape renovation at the Bedford Avenue L subway station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is unprecedented. The project marks the first time ever in New York City that car parking spaces have been removed to make way for bicycle parking, according to Transportation Alternatives' Noah Budnick....
by BEN MCGRATH
The city's bicycle zealots.
Issue of 2006-11-13
Posted 2006-11-06