Ride Honors Fallen Cyclists
New York Post
Published: Jan, 7 2010
Last Updated: 1:25 PM, January 8, 2010
Posted: 3:31 PM, January 7, 2010
Pablo
Pasáran became a statistic Aug. 8 as he rode his bicycle to make a food
delivery near the Ravenswood Houses in Long Island City.
The
26-year-old Bronx father of three was struck and killed there at the
intersection of 21st Street and 35th Avenue by a vehicle driven by a
suspected drug dealer during a high-speed police chase.
Pasáran
is one of 10 known New Yorkers killed while riding a bicycle in the
city in 2009, according to Transportation Alternatives, a group that
advocatessafer streets for pedestrians and cyclists.
Although he
has been reduced to a memory as one of the hundreds of pedestrians
killed on city streets in the last decade, the New York City Street
Memorial Project is working to ensure that he did not die in vain.
So
the volunteer group has chained a whitewashed bicycle with a sign
displaying the details of his death to a signpost on the corner where
he lost his life.
The makeshift memorial is one of 11 “ghost
bikes” the group dedicated Sunday morning and afternoon during its
fifth-annual memorial ride and walk, a procession of about 20
bundled-up bikers who rode their bikes to several stops at similar
memorials in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Woodside.
“We ride with love
in our hearts, with sadness at what has been lost, and with rage that
this has happened, and we hope we’ll never have to do this again,” said
Curtis Anderson, a member of the group who participated in the ride.
Group
members placed flowers in between the spokes of the bike’s wheels, then
headed off to Woodside to honor James Langergaard, 38, who was struck
by a vehicle and killed Aug. 4, at the busy intersection of 69th Avenue
and Queens Boulevard.
A dedicated member of the city’s burgeoning
pedestrian and cycling advocacy movement, Langergaard was a friend and
colleague of several of the riders who braved whipping winds and frigid
temperatures Sunday to remember their fallen fellow cyclists.
Langergaard had volunteered with Transportation Alternatives since the
early 1990s.
“James understood that bicyclists have never been
given our fair share of rights on the streets,” said Ed Ravin, a
Brooklyn resident, board member of Five Borough Bicycle Club and
longtime friend of Langergaard’s, at the site of his death. “James
worked for that in his life by riding everywhere, and in his spare time
by volunteering. He literally died for the cause.”
James’s
mother, Linda Langergaard, attended the dedication of his ghost bike
and said she found it ironic that her son, who had fought so hard to
make roads like Queens Boulevard safer for cyclists, would be killed as
he was.
“This is a terrible intersection,” she said. “I hope that
people become more aware of the danger to cyclists and that drivers are
more aware.”
The cyclists paid their respects, then headed on to
Brooklyn for further remembrance activities. As they made their way
from site to site, their faces grew flushed with cold and ice chunks
peppered the full beard of one hardy rider, but their resolve did not
falter as they continued their work drawing attention to the ongoing
problem of pedestrian fatalities on New York City streets.
“We’re a little bit crazy, but we believe in this,” said group member Leah Todd of Brooklyn.
This story also ran in the Queens Ledger
Published: Jan, 7 2010
Last Updated: 1:25 PM, January 8, 2010
Posted: 3:31 PM, January 7, 2010
Pablo
Pasáran became a statistic Aug. 8 as he rode his bicycle to make a food
delivery near the Ravenswood Houses in Long Island City.
The
26-year-old Bronx father of three was struck and killed there at the
intersection of 21st Street and 35th Avenue by a vehicle driven by a
suspected drug dealer during a high-speed police chase.
Pasáran
is one of 10 known New Yorkers killed while riding a bicycle in the
city in 2009, according to Transportation Alternatives, a group that
advocatessafer streets for pedestrians and cyclists.
Although he
has been reduced to a memory as one of the hundreds of pedestrians
killed on city streets in the last decade, the New York City Street
Memorial Project is working to ensure that he did not die in vain.
So
the volunteer group has chained a whitewashed bicycle with a sign
displaying the details of his death to a signpost on the corner where
he lost his life.
The makeshift memorial is one of 11 “ghost
bikes” the group dedicated Sunday morning and afternoon during its
fifth-annual memorial ride and walk, a procession of about 20
bundled-up bikers who rode their bikes to several stops at similar
memorials in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Woodside.
“We ride with love
in our hearts, with sadness at what has been lost, and with rage that
this has happened, and we hope we’ll never have to do this again,” said
Curtis Anderson, a member of the group who participated in the ride.
Group
members placed flowers in between the spokes of the bike’s wheels, then
headed off to Woodside to honor James Langergaard, 38, who was struck
by a vehicle and killed Aug. 4, at the busy intersection of 69th Avenue
and Queens Boulevard.
A dedicated member of the city’s burgeoning
pedestrian and cycling advocacy movement, Langergaard was a friend and
colleague of several of the riders who braved whipping winds and frigid
temperatures Sunday to remember their fallen fellow cyclists.
Langergaard had volunteered with Transportation Alternatives since the
early 1990s.
“James understood that bicyclists have never been
given our fair share of rights on the streets,” said Ed Ravin, a
Brooklyn resident, board member of Five Borough Bicycle Club and
longtime friend of Langergaard’s, at the site of his death. “James
worked for that in his life by riding everywhere, and in his spare time
by volunteering. He literally died for the cause.”
James’s
mother, Linda Langergaard, attended the dedication of his ghost bike
and said she found it ironic that her son, who had fought so hard to
make roads like Queens Boulevard safer for cyclists, would be killed as
he was.
“This is a terrible intersection,” she said. “I hope that
people become more aware of the danger to cyclists and that drivers are
more aware.”
The cyclists paid their respects, then headed on to
Brooklyn for further remembrance activities. As they made their way
from site to site, their faces grew flushed with cold and ice chunks
peppered the full beard of one hardy rider, but their resolve did not
falter as they continued their work drawing attention to the ongoing
problem of pedestrian fatalities on New York City streets.
“We’re a little bit crazy, but we believe in this,” said group member Leah Todd of Brooklyn.
This story also ran in the Queens Ledger