Paterson Plank Rd, Jersey City Heights, Needs A Serious Clean-Up

Posted on January 15, 2010 by itees

This afternoon the weather warmed up a bit to the upper 40s and so it was time to get out there and start walking. I love to walk around town, down to Hoboken, along the waterfront, and back up the hill. My route today was a big circle starting from “The Heights” of Jersey City, down the elevator at 9th Street, up to 14th street and across to walk along the water and down to First Street, across to Paterson Plank Rd. and back up.

Paterson Plank Rd. is a route that is mostly used by cars and buses rushing up and down, but there is a walkway and occasionally you see bicycle riders, runners and folks just walking along, more in warmer weather.

What I’d like to know is, who’s job is it to clean this walkway, because the amount of trash I saw on my walk today, was insane. Besides the leaves that had fallen, there was glass, crushed plastic bottles, newspapers, cans, empty chip bags… you name it, I saw it.

I assume this area is considered Jersey City, but have they cut back? Is there no clean-up detail to work this area anymore? Also, you wouldn’t believe what I saw just thrown over the little wall you walk along that is above the Light Rail train tracks. All kinds of assorted trash including a shopping cart from a supermarket.

I imagine people just drop things as they walk along, or perhaps people throw things out of the car windows as they zoom up? All I know is, if they don’t address the garbage there soon, there won’t be any space left to walk.

Click on the above map picture to go to Google Maps and see the area I'm talking about

We Need Bike Lanes in New Jersey

Posted on December 19, 2009 by itees

I’ve written before about my bicycle rides along the Hudson River in both New Jersey and New York.

I first moved to Hoboken in the mid 80s and at that time I had a car. I’d drive my car along River Road to go shopping and many times on my way to New England, I’d go by way of River Road to avoid the traffic to the George Washington Bridge. Many others have this same idea, and due to the overdevelopment, the traffic has been growing larger. Over the years, as they built more and more condominiums, and the Light Rail was extended, the road was widened. Considering all the effort given to making room for the Light Rail and widening the road, I’ll never understand why they didn’t think of the thousands of cyclists and paint in a simple bike lane.

With all the people now living and shopping in that area, a bike lane would be a wonderful and much needed addition, and would have helped with the traffic and congestion.

In the December 10th issue of “The Midweek” Reporter, Tricia Tirella wrote about the problems with getting a bike lane built on River Road in NJ.

“The problem is that right now River Road is not wide enough for a bike lane plan”, said Hudson County Spokesperson, James Kennelly. He explained that a long-term capital project is planned for the next three to five years that will include a dedicated lane. He said that the road will be widened and resurfaced when it is funded by the New Jersey Department of Transportation.

I ride my bicycle during the Spring, Summer and Fall seasons and just to get from Jersey City to River Road is a challenge since there are no bike lanes in Jersey City either. They have “share the road” and “bike route” signs posted around but no lanes. They have put some bike lanes on a few streets in Hoboken so that does help. The worst of all, is riding in Weehawken where it meets River Road, to get to the walkway on the other side. This intersection has never been altered and is dangerous to bicycle riders. We sneak along a short dirt path where the cars are merging from two roads and for about 50-100 ft they are too close to us. Something has to be done with this intersection to make it safer for riders. There is no other way to get from this area of Weehawken to the waterfront walkway along the Hudson.

Why does it take so long for something that we need so badly, to get built? Maybe something will change before Spring 2010 comes and I’m ready to ride out there.

After publishing this post, I read about the first meeting of an advocacy group which took place in December in Jersey City to discuss safer streets/better biking. You can be sure I will be attending the next meeting in January and have written to one of the group members, Daniel Levin for more information and whether I can help build them a website, which they don’t seem to have. It’s time the city realized how many cyclists there are. Read the full article here.

Bicycle books by David Burne & Jeff Mapes

Posted on September 24, 2009 by itees

I’m thrilled to report about the fastest selling book from Oregon State University Press, “Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities, by Jeff Mapes.” I’m going to pick this up! (amazon link)

Artist and musician David Burne, (link to his blog) wrote about this book, in The New York Times Book Review last week. (NY Times article) Byrne, a bicycle enthusiast has his own book, “Bicycle Diaries” due out in September. (NY Times article) (I’ll get this one too!)

From the NY Times article about “Pedaling Revolution”

David Byrne writes: “…But the book is useful — for those of us who occasionally find ourselves on the defensive, Mapes provides names, dates, facts and figures. He details how cities from Amsterdam to Paris to New York to Davis, Calif., have developed policies encouraging cycling in recent decades, and how other towns are just beginning to make way for bikes…”

From the NY Times article about “Bicycle Diaries”

“…Mr. Byrne’s travelogue uses a bicyclist’s perspective — “faster than a walk, slower than a train, often slightly higher than a person” — to take us from his home in New York City and around the United States, as well as to Berlin, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, Manila, Sydney and London, stops on the tours he has made in support of his musical and art careers…”

As I’ve written in a previous post, I just love to ride my bicycle, and not just on the “Greenway” in NYC, so these new books are on my reading list. Thanks to David Byrne and Jeff Mapes for writing on this subject. I hope it will make an impact on people who haven’t yet gotten on a bicycle, but will now.