There’s a new bike rack at the East River State Park — and a Williamsburg assemblyman is taking the credit.
The state budget remains at an impasse, so Assemblyman Joe Lentol (D–Williamsburg) occupied himself with other things last week — getting a new bike rack on Kent Avenue near the park’s North Eighth Street entrance.
We were so excited about the news that we made Lentol’s announcement our “Press Release of the Week.”
“I was in the park a few weekends ago and I noticed that the bike racks were completely full and many people were walking their bikes around with them in the park [because] there just wasn’t enough bicycle parking,” Lentol said in the release. “This is perfect timing because the warm summer weather is just beginning.”
Lentol thanked the state Parks Department for installing the bike rack on June 23.
The park has become a popular destination for art projects and concerts, including the free summer concert series sponsored by Jelly and the Open Space Alliance, which will resume next month after extensive negotiations.
Who doesn’t love a bike rack — especially one along the Kent Avenue bike lane?
After all, said Transportation Alternatives’ Wiley Norvell, “Kent Avenue is fast becoming one of the busiest bike corridors in the city, thanks to its protected lane. A lot of East River Park-goers use bikes to get to the waterfront for concerts or other purposes. It makes sense.”
Then again, not everyone thought Lentol’s rack warranted the full press release treatment.
“If you want a bike rack in front of your house, you call 311 and it gets routed to the Department of Transportation and they put one in,” said a city government insider.
