Associated Press, November 21, 1997
By TIM WHITMIRE
NEW YORK (AP) -- It's a sign of how far New York City has come in itswar on crime: The hot issue this fall is not subway stabbings or streetshootings, but whether police can clear crowded sidewalks of the two-wheeledmenace posed by deliverymen and bicycle messengers.
Days after police said they would increase enforcement of laws banningbikes from city sidewalks, a deliveryman on a bike struck and killed a68-year-old New Jersey man.
Eduardo Delossantos, 24, who delivers for Chirping Chicken, was givena summons for riding without commercial identification. Police said healso likely would receive a summons for riding illegally on the sidewalk.
``Maybe this will serve as a reminder to bicyclists and (in-line skaters):You do not belong on the sidewalk,'' Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said. ``Ifyou do, you can really put people in danger.''
While Arthur Kaye's death has politicians and pedestrian-rights activistscalling for increased enforcement of current bicycle laws, police alreadyhave been much busier this year monitoring violations.
Lt. Dennis Cirillo said the department this year has increased to 9,867the number of summonses issued for biking violations such as running redlights, riding the wrong way and riding on sidewalks. Last year, 6,111summonses were issued. A judge determines the amount of the fine.
Bette Dewing, a city activist for pedestrian rights, said walking conditionswon't improve unless the mayor makes the issue a priority.
``The police say they're doing something, but it's like the proverbialdrop in the bucket,'' Dewing said. ``Until (Giuliani) says this is a majorpublic safety issue, it's not going to get solved.''
``It's just not a quality of life issue, like dog (feces) on the sidewalkor graffiti. It's a public safety issue,'' she said.
While acknowledging that cars kill more pedestrians than do bicyclists,Dewing said many bicycle-pedestrian collisions go unnoticed because theycause serious but not fatal injuries.
Kaye, of Fort Lee, N.J., hit his head on the pavement after the collisionwith Delossantos Tuesday and died an hour later at a hospital. Doctorssaid heart disease contributed to his death.
Police said Kaye was only the second pedestrian killed by a bicyclethis year, while there was one such fatality last year. By comparison,16 bicyclists have been killed by cars this year.
New York is not the only city trying to cope with bicyclists. Bostonis considering increasing regulations on bicycle messengers and the BostonChamber of Commerce voted last week to send letters to businesses urgingthem to steer clear of unlicensed couriers. The vote came less than threeweeks after a bank executive was hit by a messenger and wound up in a coma.
In New York, Republican City Councilman Andrew Eristoff has proposedlegislation that hold business owners liable for bike-related violationscommitted by their deliverymen.
But Larry Zogby, owner of RDS Delivery in Manhattan, said he left thebicycle messenger business earlier this year because of the high costsof workman's compensation -- a testament to the dangerous conditions whichprevail on the streets of Manhattan.
Zogby, whose couriers now travel by foot, panned Eristoff's proposal.
``I think it would put the small business out of business,'' he said.``Let them go after the biker.
``There's certain conditions ... that force that biker onto the sidewalksometimes. You've got the taxicabs who drive recklessly trying to pickup fares, regular motor traffic. They're scared to ride in the street.''
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