Michelle Rick

Good morning, East Village.

Even with the start of winter today, one of the summer’s most significant stories – the debate over the safety of bike lanes in the neighborhood – remains very much in the news.

The Post reports this morning on a 16 percent increase in collisions between bicycles and other vehicles during the past year, which notes that our neighborhood and downtown Brooklyn have the most perilous intersections. The piece attributes the spike to “rogue cyclists who have turned city streets into demolition derbies.”

“This was a catastrophe in the making as soon as they put those bike lanes up around the city,” The Post quotes a police officer in the neighborhood as saying. “They are arrogant. They think they now own the road and think they can do no wrong. Some even yell at police cars saying they have the right of way.”

In other neighborhood news, DNAinfo has a post about a Christmas tree vendor outside St. Marks Church in the Bowery who has been hit with a $1,500 fine for building a makeshift shack where his employees can stay warm.