Parents Of Cyclist Killed In UES Crash Endorse Maloney's Challenger

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The parents of a young cyclist killed in an Upper East Side crash last month threw their support behind a challenger to longtime congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, after reports emerged that Maloney had helped defeat a proposed bike lake on the street where their daughter was killed.

Janice and James Mott, parents of 28-year-old Carling Mott, announced their endorsement of Suraj Patel in a Monday news conference in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The event was held just two blocks from the quiet stretch of East 85th Street where Carling was fatally struck by a tractor-trailer as she rode a Citi Bike to work on July 26.

The grieving parents waded into the hard-fought Democratic primary for the 12th congressional district, where Patel is challenging incumbents Carolyn Maloney and longtime West Side lawmaker Jerry Nadler in a new district that covers both sides of Central Park.

Janice Mott said she contacted Patel days after her daughter was killed, as she sought to channel her grief into action. She decided that Patel, who has called for building more crosstown bike lanes on the Upper East Side, had the most substantial street-safety platform of any of the 12th District candidates.

"When Carling was killed, I was horrified to learn that there was not a dedicated east-west bike path in her Yorkville area to connect to the north-south bike path to take her to work in Times Square," Janice Mott said. "Not only that, but there was a plan for crosstown bike paths in that area that was squashed."

She was referring to the city's 2016 plan to build a network of crosstown bike lanes along six Upper East Side streets — including 85th between Park and Madison avenues, where Carling Mott was ultimately killed.

That proposal was derailed after facing opposition from Community Board 8 and notable residents including Woody Allen, as Patch previously reported. Other opponents included Maloney herself — who called a community board member to personally lobby against the 85th Street bike lane, saying it would pose a "security challenge" to private schools on the block, according to a voicemail described by the New York Post.

Maloney, who has represented the Upper East Side in Congress since 1993, went mostly unmentioned at Monday's event. (Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)

Instead, Mott's parents focused on their main demand: that the city immediately implement its 2016 plan for crosstown bike lanes.

"It's already paid for. They hired the engineers, they did their research and came up with a plan," said James Mott. It's sitting on a shelf, it's shovel-ready."

"My goal is to come back in 90 days for the ribbon-cutting," he added.

The Department of Transportation told Patch last month that it was "reviewing the street design" as part of its investigation into the July 26 crash. Of the 2016 proposal, the city ultimately built four of the six originally-proposed lanes — omitting East 84th and 85th streets.

A native of Ocean City, N.J., Mott grew up riding bicycles around her hometown — which includes bike paths free of any vehicle traffic, her mother noted. Mott was working as a production manager for Nickelodeon and lived in Yorkville, where she spent weekends with friends "watching football and basketball games at the Stumble-Inn," according to her obituary.

"Carling had a zest for life and was pure sunshine to everyone she met," Janice Mott said Monday. "It is because of her positive energy and her ability to solve problems that I'm here to give her a voice in this mission to make New York City a safer place to bike and walk."

Police have not announced any charges against the driver of the tractor-trailer involved in the crash, which happened on a street that is not a designated truck route. Mott's father praised the response by police, who he said had offered "nothing but support."

Carling, her mother noted, was the 12th cyclist to be killed on a New York City street this year.

"They had families, they had work families, they had friend families, and beautiful lives that were taken away too soon in traffic accidents that should not have happened," she said.

Related coverage:

• Woody Allen Helped Defeat UES Bike Lane Where Woman Was Killed
  
• Woman Killed In UES Truck Crash Identified As Yorkville Local: Police
• Woman On CitiBike Killed In Truck Crash On Upper East Side: NYPD

In the coming days, Patch will publish a preview of the 12th District congressional race, with interviews from each candidate about their positions on neighborhood issues.