By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — Community Board 7 will take another crack at smoothing over conflicts between cyclists and pedestrians in Riverside Park on Monday night.
The Community Board's parks and environment committee will hold a discussion about the increasingly heated conflicts over park paths shared by cyclists, pedestrians and dog walkers.
Parks officials have posted signs asking cyclists to get off their bikes on a path that starts at West 72nd Street and slope down to the Hudson River.
Cyclists say they shouldn't be forced to dismount because the path is big enough for everyone. But pedestrians and dog walkers complain that bikers speed on the path and create dangerous conditions.
In a letter to Riverside Park administrator John Herrold, cycling, walking and transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives said requiring cyclists to dismount when the park is very crowded could work. But they'd like cyclists to be allowed to ride on the path most of the time.
Transportation Alternatives says the mandatory dismount signs have "emboldened pedestrians to take on the enforcement of the new rules, exacerbating animosity between cyclists and pedestrians. We would like to counter this hostility with a smart outreach campaign, enforcement against truly dangerous behavior, and potentially some common-sense peak-use restrictions," the letter reads.
Community Board 7's parks and environment committee meets at 7 p.m. at 250 West 87th Street.
