On April 3, the 71st Street Block Association sent an email addressed to Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, City Councilmember Gale Brewer, and State Senator Brad Hoylman.
“We are writing to you because we need your help in securing our promised bike corral in the street just off the curb at the McDonald’s Plaza (at 71st and Amsterdam), which was agreed upon when we met on November 18, 2024,” it read. The message was co-signed by Katina Ellison and Karen Raschke, the co-leaders of the association.
c/o Eric Papa
They wrote that everyone had been enthusiastic about the bike corral as a first step in reducing the “chaos at the plaza,” following the Halloween evening shooting in 2024 where two teenage males were shot. “Community Board 7 has officially voted in support of the plan,” the co-leaders noted. However, they reported that the bike corral was incorrectly installed on Amsterdam between 69th and 70th Streets. “It is too small, it is in the wrong place, and it is hardly ever used. This is not what was promised.”
Advertisement
Free Upper West Side News, Delivered To Your Inbox
This set off a chain reaction, with one local 71st Street resident, Eric Papa—a film and TV location scout by day—sharing pictures of DOT-designated bike corrals near manhole covers along 8th Avenue in Midtown. “These are just a few I spotted along 8th Avenue in midtown, but I’m sure there are MANY others that show that DOT does, in fact, create bike corrals where manhole covers are present in the curb lanes,” wrote Papa, who expressed that it “would only require strategic placement of the bike racks and other elements (i.e. planters, large stone protective blocks for safety, etc) to transform the current curb lane configuration.”
c/o Eric Papa
Papa also broke down the proposed curb lane layout in more detail, emphasizing its potential. “The proposed curb lane area that we are requesting to be reconfigured is approximately 1,185+ square feet in total area that is currently reserved for Commercial Vehicle Metered Parking. That’s a lot of space!” he wrote, noting that the two manhole covers occupy just 11 square feet. “Eleven square feet of obstacle doesn’t strike me as reason to shut an idea down entirely, especially a good idea that will greatly improve the area.” He pointed out that the portions of the space unaffected by manhole covers—roughly 585 square feet closer to West 71st Street and another 230 square feet closer to West 70th—are still sizable.
c/o Eric Papa
Advertisement
“Though taking over the entire area is best, even taking half of the block would be a massive improvement,” Papa wrote, suggesting the real challenge lies not with the infrastructure, but with the swarm of delivery bikes that often clog the sidewalk. “The other night, there were 30+ delivery bikes parked on the sidewalk (see video).” He urged the Department of Transportation to work around the 255 square feet surrounding the two manhole covers to create a designated bike corral for commercial delivery bikes, “much like has been done in other areas.”
30+ delivery bikes parked on the sidewalk at 71st and Amsterdam Avenue. A local block association is hoping to move them into a bike corral off the curb. Video by Eric Papa.
— ilovetheuws.bsky.social (@ilovetheuws.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Papa’s detailed breakdown prompted Assembly Member Rosenthal’s chief of staff, Erica Overton, to follow up on April 7. “The part that doesn’t make sense is that the corrals at West 70th should have replaced the ones on West 71st Street,” she wrote, referring to the many bikes crowding the area, as shown in the video Papa had shared. “The idea was to open it [the plaza around McDonald’s], put corrals in an area that’s not directly in the middle of a congested block, and shift the corrals to a more open space. Please advise,” she asked the DOT.
c/o Eric Papa
While no email response has been sent so far, the Community Board 7 Transportation Committee met on Tuesday, April 8, with the bike corral issue on the agenda.
The first matter on the agenda was the bike corral. Committee Co-Chair Jami Floyd brought those in attendance up to speed, essentially summarizing the entire email exchange detailed above, before introducing Jacklyn Whitney, the DOT’s director of digital communications. Whitney reiterated the same explanation provided by Senior Borough Planner Colleen Chattergoon on April 4, citing that the department could not block the two manhole covers. She added that she was working off the most recent information from Chattergoon.
Advertisement
Floyd, without missing a beat, responded, “Okay, so we heard that via email,” while emphasizing that the committee’s understanding is that the 71st Street Block Association is “very much looking to find some sort of compromise.” Rosenthal’s chief of staff chimed in, “Because the Assembly member wrote a letter—I think it might have been two years ago now—requesting a redesign of that area, just because it’s so wide and it’s a little bit unwieldy with all the different uses in that area.”
Rosenthal’s representative questioned the logic of the current setup, pointing out that the original idea was to relieve congestion by relocating the sidewalk corrals, not to keep them and simply add another. “They discussed moving the existing corrals in the middle of the sidewalk. The point was to make that spot less congested,” she said. “So removing those corrals and putting another one off to the side—that made sense. I just don’t know how there can’t be any compromise or other solution. Putting in another corral while keeping the ones that are the problem—I don’t really understand.”
Whitney from the DOT said she understood the frustrations and acknowledged that the original location on 71st Street “may not be feasible,” but added that the agency was open to exploring other locations on nearby cross streets. That suggestion, however, appears to sidestep the core goal: alleviating congestion in the McDonald’s plaza, where ILTUWS has long observed delivery riders waiting—often without ordering food—inside the fast food restaurant for orders to come in. Their ability to see their bikes from inside is key. As one rider, Javier, told us on April 10, “I want to move quickly. It might be raining. I wait in here, and then I go—fast.”
City Council member Gale Brewer, who was in attendance, said, “I would say I think we need another walk-through. We’ve done several with the community board, DOT, and elected officials.” She added that while a suitable location for the bike corral still needs to be identified, the city must also address the long-standing issue of bikes locked in the McDonald’s plaza—some of which have been there for decades.
ILTUWS recalls a sweep during the pandemic when the city cut locks and cleared out the plaza, but bikes returned almost immediately. Some are never retrieved, and the number of abandoned bikes continues to grow over time. The issue was discussed as a Department of Sanitation matter, which involves placing a notice—or “tag”—on a derelict bike and giving a set amount of time for removal. If it isn’t moved, only then will the bike be taken away. You can report abandoned bikes on public property here. It was agreed that the Department of Sanitation should be included in the next walk-through.
Advertisement
“I think we’re actually further ahead and ready to move forward than some may realize,” said 71st Street Block Association Co-Chair Katina Ellison, noting that she and her neighbors observe the area every day. “First of all, we were disappointed that it took four and a half months for DOT to tell us that, because of manhole covers, it couldn’t be there.”
Ellison said she checked the DOT website herself and found that a corral can be placed as close as three feet to a manhole cover—meaning there’s actually plenty of room. “And we know already, guys, where the corral should go … the corral needs to be as close to the McDonald’s in the curb as possible.”
She argued the originally agreed-upon site still works, saying the manhole covers are “no reason to not proceed forward with this idea, which we have been promised.” Ellison also urged officials to consider changing the law to lower the threshold for when bikes can be removed.
“However, I still think that as soon as we get the corral and can get those bikes off that area, we take a first step toward dramatically reducing the chaos,” Ellison said. “Then we can move forward with the other ideas we’ve proposed—and I think people like them. Things like getting rid of those garbage bins, maybe working with Nicole to add some planters, so the area feels and looks less chaotic and might lend itself to less bad behavior.”
When a Transportation Committee member suggested another walk-through with the DOT, the 71st Street Block Association, and Sanitation Committee Co-Chair Jami Floyd agreed—up to a point. “I think that’s fine. I just think we’ve done a lot of walk-throughs. I think they’ve [the 71st Block Association] done a lot of homework, and with DOT on the call right now, I mean, I think we really want to try to get some sort of compromise reached here.” Floyd said this shouldn’t be a heavy lift—just a minor adjustment in the greater context of the curb—and emphasized that the walk-through should happen within the next two weeks. While DOT’s representative wouldn’t commit, she said she’d take all feedback from the meeting back to her team. City Council Member Gale Brewer also pushed to get a new walk-through scheduled.
After the meeting, Ellison shared this statement with ILTUWS on April 10: “We were surprised and disappointed that DOT simply stopped this project without discussing the options. We hope they will come back and join us as partners in reducing chaos in this area by installing the bike corral that we requested.”
Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
I’m confused. That block of sidewalk is at least twice as wide as any other in the area, and people are concerned that there is at least twice the activity?
Ron,
People are concerned about being shot.
And separately, the “bikes” are out of control on the sidewalk, and the pedestrian plaza (which is different) connected to the sidewalk.
The problem is that such a coral would do nothing to tame the egregious behavior of “bicyclists” or the shootings.
A start, forcing the McDonald’s to close — since management refuses to simply ban known trouble makers. You really think McDonald’s on 8th Ave and 34th Street doesn’t know who’s dealing there?
Either DOT made a mistake and now won’t acknowledge it, or, some behind-the-scenes influence was peddled to stop the originally agreed-upon plan–perhaps the stores owners who probably park there all day, or their landlord who created this nuisance in the first place by choosing the types of stores to rent to. The “manhole excuse” sounds pretty phony, especially given the evidence presented at the meeting, as discussed in this excellent article.
MAMC,
Given that there have been at least 2 serious underground fires at that intersection within the last 10 years, not blocking manholes seems like a real thing.