Talk about a vicious cycle.
It’s chaos in Marine Park thanks to an influx of new bike riders, who often cruise at high speeds in the wrong direction around the Oval — the park’s mile-long loop of pedestrian and bike paths — and the city hasn’t done enough to make sure cyclists know which direction to head, according to angry locals.
“It’s safer to ride in the street than the park!” said Peter Orsi, a life-long Marine Park resident.
The trouble started when bike-rental vendor Wheel Fun Rentals opened shop in the park, and more novice cyclists began burning rubber along Marine Park’s bike route, said long-time local Jim Kelly.
“They rent out bikes and they go every which way,” said Kelly.
The problem was compounded by the fact that signs showing which path was which — pedestrian and bike paths are separate, but run parallel to each other — and which direction to head are few and far between, and too small for riders to notice as they breeze past.
“There are little signs around, but for all the years I’ve been going to the park, I just now noticed them,” said Orsi. “So, they’re there, but they’re too small.”
Meanwhile, the efforts of good Samaritans to redirect wayward bike traffic are often less than appreciated.
“People are going the wrong way, and when you tell them, it’s like you’re trying to pick a fight,” said Orsi. “The other day I saw a woman heading the wrong direction, I said, ‘Miss, you’re going the wrong way.’ She said, ‘f— you!’ ”
Concerned locals at a Community Board 18 meeting in June proposed using stencils to paint arrows along the Marine Park Oval, and Park Supervisor Elizabeth Walsack agreed.
Stenciled arrows eventually appeared on the Oval, but only four, spaced about 50-feet from each other, covering only about 200 feet of the mile-long path.
“They should have put them on each corner, but, whoever the fool was, he put all four of them in row,” said Kelly.
After seeing the general lack of stencil coverage along the bike route, Kelly says he approached Walsack and was told that the Park’s Department had run out of money for paint.
“She said the paint was too expensive!” Kelly explained. “I said I can buy a can of white paint, how much can it cost?”
According to Paul Curiale, executive director at Millennium Development, the Parks Department had been using a special brand of non-slick, glow-in-the-dark paint, which had proved more costly than your typical, run-of-the-mill spray paint.
“It’s the special paint,” said Curiale. “It’s not like this paint that you get at home depot.”
To save money, Parks has decided to continue the project with yellow traffic paint, and sent out workers Tuesday morning to work on the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of the week, a spokeswoman said.
Meanwhile, some locals believe that the vendors who started all this trouble should be picking up the tab, according to Curiale.
“They should be the one to step up to the plate and say ‘I’m going to put these arrows on the park, because I’m making thousands of dollars from this,’ ” Curiale said.
