MEDIA ADVISORY
Contacts: Benjamin Shepard – 917 586 7952
Barbara Ross – 917 494 8164, press@times-up.org
Time’s Up! Gift Giving to Marty Markowitz
Thursday, December 16th
9:00am: Love Your Lane Bike Clowns gather at Court & Joralemon, near elevator outside of Borough Hall
9:30am: Cyclists walk over to Marty Markowitz’s Office, Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street
New York, NY (Thursday, December 16, 2010) – Thursday morning at 9:30am, the “Love Your Lane” cyclist clowns of environmental organization Time’s Up! come to Brooklyn Borough Hall dressed in holiday- and festive-colored costumes. They will present Borough President Marty Markowitz with his holiday gift of a donated bicycle painted gold with pro-biking messages, and to sing telegrams with their own versions of the song “My Favorite Things.”
This is Time’s Up!’s response to Markowitz’s own clownish behavior last week. That’s when his rendition of “My Favorite Things” to the City Council’s Transportation Committee hearing on NYC Bike Policy illustrated his anti-bike lane stance. By contrast, the “Love Your Lanes” clowns’ songs feature positive messages about bicycling.
“Markowitz used his time last week to sing a song, rather than give any real facts to explain his opposition to the Prospect Park West Bike Lane,” said Barbara Ross of Time’s Up! “Meanwhile, a packed house of New Yorkers in favor of more protected bike lanes waited for hours in below-freezing weather for their turn to testify. Many didn’t.”
“If Marty wants to clown around, we can too,” said Ross. “His stance is not shared by most New Yorkers. Marty does his constituents no favors by lacking both knowledge and a desire to be educated on the challenges faced by pedestrians and cyclists alike.”
Ross noted that other officials like Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and such Council members as Tish James and Gale Brewer came prepared with a both a real sense of the current situation and realistic solutions for bike policies.
“Don’t be a schlemiel Marty, love your bike lanes,” added Ben Shepard, a Time’s Up! volunteer. “We have an obesity epidemic in this town. It can be fought with daily exercise like bicycling. Look at the cyclist who lost 30 pounds commuting to work. How can you not embrace the idea of biking as both transportation and a model of healthy urban living?”
CLICK HERE for the link to Council Members Brad Lander and Steve Levin’s survey about the Prospect Park West bike lane that depicts widespread support for the re-designed street.
TIME’S UP! BIKE CLOWNS, BRING BROOKLYN BP MARKOWITZ A GIFT BICYCLE AND DO SOME CAROLING
OCTOBER 2010 RALLY FOR PROSPECT PARK WEST BIKE LANE DRAWS HUNDREDS
Photo by BicycleOnly
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Time’s Up! is a grassroots environmental group that uses educational outreach and direct action to promote a more sustainable, less toxic city. For more than 20 years, Time’s Up! has worked to educate people about the environmental impacts of everyday decisions, from the food we buy to the means of transportation we use.
