ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING IS SUSPENDED WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
Lower Manhattan will be a party this week! Parades, festivals, and food fairs will close streets from the East Village to the West Village all the way down to Wall St.
At 1 p.m. Saturday, a dance parade will kick off at E. 21st St., head down Broadway, turn east at St. Mark’s Pl. and finish in Tompkins Square Park.
A Falun Dafa parade will take over Chinatown 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, closing Mott St. between Broome and Worth Sts., as well as Worth St. between Centre and Baxter Sts.
‘Taste of Tribeca’ will close Duane St. between Greenwich and Hudson Sts. and Greenwich St. between Reade and Jay Sts. from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.
The Financial District Spring Community Day will close Broad St. between Exchange Pl. and Beaver St. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
N.Y.U. grads will celebrate in ‘Grad Alley’ near Washington Square Park; West 4th St., Washington Square East and LaGuardia Pl. will close 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The Greenwich Village Fair will close Greenwich Ave. between Sixth and Seventh Aves. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
To keep up with street fair updates, follow me on Twitter @gridlocksam.
Platt St. will close between Gold and Pearl Sts. 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Collister St. will close between Hubert and Laight Sts. 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through mid-June.
All Manhattan-bound lanes of the Brooklyn Bridge will close 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday, 12:01 a.m. to 7 a.m. Saturday, and 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday and Tuesday. That means inbound drivers will detour to the Manhattan Bridge and onto Canal St.
On West St./Route 9A between West Thames and Chambers Sts., two northbound lanes will close 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. weeknights and two southbound lanes will close 12:01 a.m. to 5 a.m. weeknights. Two lanes in both directions will close 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
From the mailbag:
Dear Transit Sam,
Trying to find out the NYC rules and laws that govern the use of bicycles and bicycle racks has been utterly frustrating. In my area, Hanover Square, a single round bicycle rack has been put up in front of a bagel shop. Chained to this rack there are always from five to as many as 13 bicycles. What is the rule for the number of bicycles that may be chained to a single round bicycle rack? These bicycles are then left chained overnight. Is this legal? Finally, is it true that the users of the new Citi Bike program will not be required to wear helmets and that they may even be rented to children?
Richard, Financial District
Dear Richard,
Good timing for bicycle questions: the Citi Bike bicycle-sharing program will roll out on Memorial Day. The round ‘CityRack’ bicycle racks in your neighborhood (and around the city) are owned by the city, who “assumes responsibility for the rack but not the bicycles parked at it.” It follows that they don’t regulate the number of bicycles chained to bicycle racks. Same story for overnight storage: it may not be smart, but it’s legal. As for Citi Bike, helmets will not be required, and all users must be at least 16 years old.
If you think there should be more bicycle racks in your neighborhood, submit a request to the DOT: https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/bicyclists/cityrack-suggest.shtml.
Transit Sam
