UPPER WEST SIDE — Nearly $10,000 has been set aside for free bike helmets and educating children and adults about bicycle safety under City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal's budget plan.
Rosenthal, a cyclist herself who bikes to local events and her Columbus Avenue office, recently pledged support for a northbound bike lane on Amsterdam Avenue.
Of her budget allocations, $2,500 will go to the nonprofit Bike New York, Inc., which organizes the Five Boro Bike Tour. The organization will provide "Learn to Ride" classes for kids and give out free helmets to participants.
Additionally, $7,000 will go to the Department of Transportation for a bike helmet givewaway, though it was not clear how many helmets would be handed out. The DOT funding will also go toward hosting a bike delivery safety forum.
In 2012, under the leadership of then-Councilwoman Gale Brewer, the city launched a delivery bike safety pilot program aimed at cutting down on delivery people riding the wrong way, making dangerous maneuvers and riding without helmets.
Brewer sponsored legislation to give DOT inspectors the power to hand out tickets for bad behavior in the fall of 2012.
Within four months of the program taking effect, restaurants across the city had been handed 3,000 tickets — with a majority of those tickets coming from the Upper West Side.
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