Spring is upon us and, with NYC bike month starting Thursday, the surge in bicycle commuting is expected to continue apace. But an increase in bikes also means more bike thievery – as one trusting bike owner found out last week when he let a stranger “try out” his ride. And just because your bike is locked doesn’t mean it’s safe. In 2006, this video surfaced showing how little passersby seem to care when someone......

Having to move out of and in to apartments in the city is not a fun task. One group of avid bikers decided to try an apartment move with just their two hands, two feet and two wheels. In just under four hours they managed to complete the Brooklyn-to-Brooklyn move, which included the contents of a one-bedroom apartment. At one point they pass another man who is helping a friend move with a U-Haul, something......

Continuing their misguided and terribly executed orange bike campaign, DKNY has infiltrated YouTube with a 1 minute 53 second clip of a model speaking out in support of the company's great..."humanitarian cause"? The video starts off showing two models mowing each other down with fake miniature cars as an orange bike lies on the ground...probably not the best way to negate the whole ghost bike thing. Hear that children: you could take a cab and......

Photo: Claire Houston Curious about the fate of all those orange bikes with the DKNY website that were locked up around town? The ones the police didn’t cart away (some were illegally chained to trees) are being picked clean for spare parts. The tone deaf Fashion Week publicity stunt was presented by DKNY as an effort to promote cycling in New York, and the company did help raise awareness by, uh, distributing bicycle maps in......

The League of American Bicyclists has awarded New York City a bronze medal for bicycle friendliness. League representatives met with Mayor Bloomberg and DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who sometimes cycles to work, at City Hall yesterday to present the award. Though bronze is the lowest rung on the friendliness ladder, New York City is the only community in the region to be designated a Bike Friendly Community (BFC). While the total number of cycling fatalities......

Mike Bloomberg may end his tenure as the Mayor of Pothole Repair. Under Bloomberg's watch, the city has filled 1.25 million potholes since 2002. While anybody that hits potholes with their bike or their car surely thinks the city missed a few, Mayor Bloomberg assures us that they are doing what it can to fix them. In his first public appearance since returning from Asia, Bloomberg said, "Now, potholes are as much a part......

The architect who was in the construction site trailer crushed by 14,000 pounds of steel that fell 25 stories from a crane may never walk again. Doctors believe Robert Woo was likely paralyzed; his mother said, "He might not walk again...I've been telling him he's lucky to be alive." It is amazing Woo is alive - seeing photographs of the site, it's incredible he survived - but given the amount of construction and development......

Mayor Bloomberg continued his whirlwind tour through Asia yesterday with a stop in Bali, Indonesia to talk to United Nations officials about the global effects of climate change. This is after a foray to China, that brought to mind Ed Koch's Beijing inspiration for bike paths in NYC to The New York Times' Clyde Haberman. Like NYC, Bali was the victim of a devastating terrorist attack that killed and injured hundreds of people. True......

In spite of the reports, hypes and fears, there actually wasn't much snowfall in the city yesterday - just about an inch - though we did see some sleet that quickly melted. The suburbs got a few inches of snow, while much of the accumulation was in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. However, area airports did have a number of delays and canceled flights (many airlines canceled them due to ice conditions, as well......

If you thought noticed a group of bicyclists playing dead on 6th Avenue near 33rd Street, your eyes weren't fooling you. Time's Up led a Bike Lane Action to "dramatize the fatal last moments of David Smith’s ride up 6th Avenue." Smith was killed when a passenger in a truck, parked in the bike lane, opened a door; Smith was knocked off his bike and into the path of a truck. A Time's Up......

Mayor Bloomberg will be speaking at a United Nations conference in Indonesia, but he made a stop in Beijing first. He said to the audience at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, "Some people believe that by mid-century, as [much] as 75 percent of China's population may be city dwellers. Even an occasional visitor to China, like me, is struck by this rapid urbanization. It is one of the largest internal migrations by people in......

A 65-year-old man was killed during his bicycle ride to work when he was struck by an open car door in the bike lane at 6th Avenue and 36th Street. David Smith was then pushed off his bike and into the path of a box truck, which hit him. Smith lived on West 9th Street and worked as an engineer at Town Hall in midtown. His partner of 36 years John Moody said that he......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an unusual elevator rescue on Washington Ave. in Brooklyn, a pipe explosion on Richmond Terrace on Staten Island, and a person fatally struck by an A train at Van Siclen and Pitken Ave. in Brooklyn. NYC already has 91,000 practicing attorneys, but we can expect a lot more. Nearly 11,000 freshly minted JDs sat for the bar this summer and more than 70% of them passed. A 63-year-old man......

Just in time for the holidays - and holiday presents - the Ninja Burglar has returned! The nefarious nighttime nuisance that had Staten Island residents on their toes after hitting sixteen homes (some with homeowners in them) robbed two homes in the Todt Hill neighborhood over the weekend. The Advance reported that the "elusive serial bandit" first robbed a mansion on Louisa Lane. He entered through a second floor terrace door - while the......

Fort Greene’s Habana Outpost – the Brooklyn spin-off of Nolita’s popular Café Habana – bills itself as New York’s first “eco-eatery”. The indoor/outdoor flea market/café/artist community runs on solar power and rainwater-flushing toilets, uses biodegradable cups, and boasts a bike-powered blender to mix their smoothies and margaritas. Although the funky earth-friendly establishment shuts down during the winter months, they’ve left their clientele with a little parting gift to keep them warm until spring. Inspired by......

A New York state legislator stood at the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge yesterday and blamed confusing signage and roadways for the death of Sam Hindy, who was killed last week. Hindy was killed when he struck a barrier and plunged to the lower roadway of the Manhattan Bridge and struck by a car. The 27-year-old was riding from Manhattan to Brooklyn with a friend, Benjamin Price last Friday evening when they found themselves on......

The bicyclist who died while riding on the Manhattan Bridge Friday night was identified as 27-year-old Brooklyn resident Sam Hindy. Hindy's father Stephen, a former Middle East correspondent for the AP and Newsday reporter who later co-founded the Brooklyn Brewery, said, "We're just devastated. This is the worst thing that could happen to any parent. It's any parent's worst nightmare." Sam Hindy and a friend were riding back from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the upper......

LISTEN UP: Last month we set up shop at White Rabbit, which was transformed into Gothamist House, with WOXY for 4 days of shows. Now WOXY has put together "Best of" podcasts from each of those days, and the first one is up -- so give a listen! Gothamist House Day 1.mp3 ART: First Friday's are so over, tonight come to Williamsburg for Every 2nd Friday. Pick up a copy of "the only comprehensive guide......

On December 1, 2006 around 9:30PM, 22-year-old Eric Ng was biking north on bike path by the West Side Highway. Around the same time, 27-year-old Eugene Cidron, leaving a party at Chelsea Piers in his BMW, mistook the bike path for the actual highway, drove south on the bike path and fatally struck Ng near West Street - at least a mile from Chelsea Piers. Ng was hit so hard that his bicycle and shoe......

Two explosive devices detonated outside the Mexican Consulate at 39th St. near Madison Ave. in Manhattan early this morning, breaking several windows but not injuring anyone. The devices were believed to be replica hand grenades of the sort that are normally sold as novelties, but in this instance were packed with gunpowder. The explosions occurred around 3:30 a.m. and a resident on the block called the police reporting them. It wasn't until employees at the......

The Critical Mass Halloween Ride is tonight! If you go, get some good pictures! THEATER: Sam Marks’s new play The Joke peels back the thin gauze separating comedy from an open wound. Set in the last throws of the Catskills comedy circuit circa 1965, the story concerns the disintegrating comedy duo of Steady Eddie and Doug the Mug. Doug has let his envy of Eddie get the better of him and begins adding more of......

Last night, a memorial bike ride was held in memory of Craig Murphey. Murphey, a 26-year-old who worked at the West Harlem Action Network Against Poverty, was biking when he was hit by an oil truck at Union Avenue and Ten Eyck Street in Williamsburg. The truck driver was not charged, and an earlier report had stated that Murphey was biking in the "wrong direction" (opposite of street traffic). However his friend Elizabeth Weinberg told......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a white powder incident at 25 Beaver St. in Manhattan, report of a large crowd gathered at the center of the south side of the George Washington Bridge's upper level, and an explosion in the basement of a building at 77th St. and Lexington Ave. in Manhattan. Dedicated bike paths and fences separating them from traffic can only do so much when a cab driver really wants to take......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a baby was struck on 120th St. in Queens, an auto extrication on Wilson Ave. in Brooklyn, and a shooting on Sherman Ave. in Manhattan. Forgetting the name of the 13-year-old boy injured in a game of Quiet last week, his middle school principal just referred to him as "spleen boy" during a faculty meeting. A former concierge at a Central Park South residential building is suing building owner......

One of the city's biggest industries is the tourism, and the city announced a major push to keep the tourists coming in. Mayor Bloomberg and other officials kicked off the " first-ever global multimedia communications campaign to promote New York City." An advertising campaign titled "This is New York City" will features outdoor posters, internet advertising and a TV spot. Plus, the NYCVisit website features ways for visitors to plan their trip. Bloomberg said, "Everyone......

A 72-year-old woman crossing West 139th between 5th and Lenox Avenues was fatally hit by a motorcycle last night around 8:15PM. Carrie Moulton, described as a retired Board of Education administrator, was thrown to the ground. Her skull was cracked and she died at Harlem Hospital. The police say the motorcyclist may have driven through a red light. He apparently did not stop after hitting Moulton, but, as WABC 7 reports, "lost control of his......

This past weekend David Byrne biked to Town Hall for his “How New Yorkers Ride Bikes” event. The night began with the audience viewing his helmet-cam footage of his journey there, and eventually he biked right up on the stage. Streetfilms was there and reported:Of course our MC for the night, Mr. Byrne, who has been using a bike for transportation for 30 years, pedaled to the theater. In fact, the night started with helmet......

On the heels of the NY Times' Alex Williams calling Brooklyn "over" -- Park Slope has been named one of the 10 best neighborhoods in the country! Take that Gray Lady. In fact, "the historic area, just steps from Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, is the only New York City neighborhood to make the first-ever list from the American Planning Association (APA)." Which would mean that a Brooklyn 'hood bested a Manhattan 'hood......

Like many, whenever we traverse any streets along Grand Army Plaza, we basically run (or bike) for our lives. So we were relieved when we read the Department of Transportation's announcement that construction has begun on the $400,000 project to remake the oval plaza constructed in 1870 by Olmsted and Vaux. It was originally called Prospect Park Plaza, but it was renamed in 1926 to pay homage to the Union Army, according to the......

Mayor Bloomberg spent yesterday in Paris and paid particular interest to the City of Light's bike-sharing program. The Parisian program started in July and has thousands of bikes secured around the city's streets. People who need a quick ride can rent the bike's by the half hour, with the first 30 minutes free and increasing fares for each additional half hour to discourage lengthy rentals. Bloomberg seemed curious about the program, but acknowledged that there......