Removing bike lanes an act of Hasidic xenophobia?

Last week the Hasidic community leaders in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood finally got their way, and bike lanes were sand-blasted from Bedford Ave (which passes through their enclave). The Hasids claimed that the bike lanes were a  religious hazard because they attracted provocatively-dressed "hipsters" in various states of undress, making it difficult to comply with the Hasidic laws forbidding ogling the opposite sex. They also complained that cyclists didn't follow traffic laws and posed a safety threat to the community's children.

At 3:30 on Wednesday morning, two bike advocates re-painting the bike lanes with rollers, spray paint, and stencils were caught by Shomrim Patrol. When the police arrived, the perpetrators were not arrested or issued a summons.  However, Quinn Hechtropf and Katherine Piccochi were urged to turn themselves in after the Hasidic community pressured police to press charges. "We're self-hating Jewish hipsters," said Hechtropf after being dealt charges for mischief and defacing public property.

Members of the Hasidic community are indignant that the incident was treated so casually. "That unauthorized painting on New York City property is unlawful, but that is overlooked because it's committed against the terrible Hasidim," Moshe Goldberger told the New York Post.

But Baruch Herzfeld, a bike activist in the Williamsburg neighborhood argues that the Hasids' reaction to passing cyclists are rooted more in xenophobia. "They don't want the hipsters in their neighborhood," Herzfeld told the Post. "It's like in Howard Beach back in the day when they didn't want black people in the neighborhood."

"Cyclists have a right to be on Bedford Avenue," Wiley Norvell, spokesman for cycling advocacy group Transportation Alternatives told the Post. Removing the bike lanes may do nothing to reduce bike traffic through the neighborhood.

The Department of Transportation issued a statement saying, "We will continue to work with any community on ways we can make changes to our streets without compromising safety." As far as the bike lanes go, a source told the Brooklyn Paper, "[a]ny paint remaining after [Wednesday’s] expected rainfall will be removed."