"I just think it's bullshit what they're doing," one attendee, Erin Poland, told Streetsblog about the NYPD push, which, she said, is "not actually protecting cyclists [but] putting them in more danger and in more harm."
"While I do not know why the mural was vandalized -- because the markings were random and unspecific -- it likely had something to do with the closure of the Great Highway, a divisive issue," Fromm said in an interview with KGO.
Alicia Perez, a childminder with two children at Highbury Quadrant, warned of the disruption to families' lives. "Our school is closing down without notice, and it's the only secular school in the area, and they are not considering their children's wellbeing so they just want us to pack up and go." Perez emphasized the potential hardships families face due to the school's closure and voiced her concerns about inadequate planning by the authorities.
"I proudly call myself a hooker with a 401K," said consultant and sex worker Victoria Von Blaque, who urged the cops and the city to "stop trying to play Captain Save a Hoe. I went out and got a job, I had the education... but a lot of us are forced back to the streets."
"Last week, Mayor Adams announced that he was going to continue the inadequate, dangerous, half-measure bike lane that he put in for half of the boulevard last fall. When he put it in, we said 'It's not going to work, it's going to be blocked constantly.' And we were right, and it is, and he's continuing that plan anyway."