No Mercy For Car Claiming To 'Predate' Park Slope Bike Lane

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — New Yorkers have been known to rail against bike lanes, but one driver recently claimed to live in a time before one existed.

A viral photo of a Subaru Forester blocking a new bike lane in Park Slope would have been just another cyclist's gripe if it weren't for the novel excuse attached to the back windshield.

"This car predates the bike lane," reads a note taped to the crimson car parked on Ninth Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues. "It was parked here before the city put in the lane (check the paint)."

The photo indeed shows fresh-looking bright white paint next to a row of parked cars.

"Please be understanding," the note pleads.

Cyclists were less than understanding after bike commuter Adam White posted a picture of the car to Twitter on Sunday. Some cranky riders even attached sticky notes to the car with "personal notes of condemnation," White tweeted.

White's original tweet had generated 200 retweets, more than 800 likes and plenty of outrage as of Tuesday afternoon.

"This guy thinks his right to park in the bike lane was grandfathered to him. Amazing!" White wrote.

The apparent owner said in a no-longer-existent Instagram post captured by another Twitter user that the city added the bike lane "48 hours after we left town for a week-long vacation."

"We are sandwiched in and the police and tow trucks are not pleased," she wrote. "Our sweet Subaru has become a community board for neighborhood messages, with grumpy cyclists sounding off, and empathetic passersby showing support."

The poster said the lane was installed without any warning or signage. The parking situation will hopefully be resolved by next week, as the poster added the hashtag "#homeonsaturday."

But the city Department of Transportation said the car should have been moved before the markings were completed on Friday, as there were "No Parking" signs posted along Ninth Street the day before. Alternate-side parking rules were also in effect Friday, a DOT spokesman said.

It's unknown if the vehicle has been ticketed.

The bike lane was among several safety enhancements to be implemented on that stretch of Ninth Street after a driver hit and killed two children crossing the street in March.

The apparent owner's explanation did not sway some irate Twitter users. Safe-streets advocate Brian Howald, who created a Twitter account that checks drivers' traffic violation records, wrote that the unfortunate parking was likely "par for the course" for the car "given the extensive history of tickets this vehicle has for impeding street cleaning."

"There is nothing 'sweet' about your hunk of steel," Joanna Oltman Smith tweeted. "People on bikes are 'grumpy' because you are endangering all, even kids."

(Lead image: Photo by Nick Rizzi/Patch)