The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF JANUARY BEYOND MUSEUM MILE
12-18
< P. 12
2017
Judy Crawford and John Doyle of Crawford Doyle booksellers. Photo: James Freund
A BOOKSTORE’S ‘BITTERSWEET’ END
A bicyclist on the new Second Avenue protected bike lane near 76th Street. Photo: Michael Garofalo
Fans turn out from near and far as Crawford Doyle closes on Madison Avenue
SECOND AVENUE BIKE LANE DEBUTS
BY CHRISTOPHER MOORE
The booksellers were on duty, even during the Jan. 5 reception marking the closing of Crawford Doyle, a retail mainstay on Madison Avenue for the last 21 years. A customer came up to co-owner Judy Crawford and said, “You can give me advice,” and then wondered aloud about what to read next. As longtime fans of the store drank wine, ate cheese and shared memories, Crawford suggested Ian McEwan’s new book, “The Nutshell,” explaining, “It’s very clear and it’s not too long.” The customer seemed satisfied with the suggestion. Crawford and her husband John Doyle had another ongoing task that night: comforting customers upset at the loss of a bookstore in the neighborhood. “This is bittersweet,” Crawford acknowledged. “We didn’t want to wait until we were forced to make a decision.” One staffer, Emma McNairy, said it was weird to see the store being physically dismantled. “It’s like a wake,” she said. Customers came from near and far. Maureen Berescik lives in Connecticut, but showed up for the farewell because she treasured her memories of
The thoroughfare’s protected path now extends nearly uninterrupted from 68th Street to 125th BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
The long-awaited completion of the Second Avenue subway dominated the Upper East Side news cycle in the first week of 2017, but with the opening of the Q train came another significant, if lessheralded, project at street level: the implementation of parkingprotected bike lanes along Second Avenue above 68th Street. The Department of Transportation recently finished the construction of a designated bike lane along the east side of Second Avenue from 105th Street to 68th Street. Parallel street
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parking and pedestrian crossing islands form a buffer protecting cyclists in the bike lane, which is painted green, from southbound motor traffic. The protected bike lane now runs uninterrupted from 125th Street to 68th Street, with the exception of the block between 70th Street and 69th Street, where parked vehicles do not separate the bike lane from motor traffic. The Second Avenue lane joins a similar northbound lane on First Avenue in providing protected north-south thoroughfares for cyclists on the Upper East Side. Joe Enoch, an avid biker who is familiar with the area, said that the new lanes are “very visible” and offer “just about all you could ask for as a cyclist when it comes
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to convenience and safety.” The bike lanes remain a contentious topic for some residents, however, who say that bikers contribute to dangerous conditions for pedestrians. Cyclists, they say, too often make illegal turns, disobey traffic signals and ride in the wrong direction in the one-way bike lanes. Miriam Silverberg, who lives near 57th Street and First Avenue, said that the bike lanes themselves are a good idea, but that police need to ensure that cyclists use them properly. “They act like pedestrians when they feel like it and like autos when they feel like it,” Silverberg said. “If you’re not watching they will slam right into you,” she continued.
A pedestrian was critically injured after being struck by a cyclist in a hit-and-run incident near East 70th Street and First Avenue in November. DOT also plans to install a protected bike lane from 59th Street to 43rd Street on Second Avenue. What that phase of the project is completed, the only remaining stretches of Second Avenue with-
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