Residents Get Some Citi Bike Docking Stations Moved, Other Complaints Ignored

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - The contentious Citi Bike program has been rolling for three weeks but already, some of the hundreds of docking stations have been relocated.

Some high--powered New Yorkers like Barry Diller and celebrities who live in a west SoHo co-op were able to get some bike stations moved.

As 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck reported, there had been a Citi Bike docking station in front of 83 Barrow Street until the tenants complained.

"This is a parking area and it's a much more heavily traveled pedestrian area," tenant Diana Horton told Schuck. "In these neighborhoods, people particularly right by an apartment building have cars and they leave their cars on the street. So it really disrupts their ability to move the car from one side to the other."

"Citi Bike is annoying and just like Bloomberg annoying," a tenant named Elizabeth added. "I think the bikes are taking up a ton of parking spaces, I think it's obnoxious."

Following the condo owners' complaint to the New York City Department of Transportation, the docking station was moved about 100 yards across Hudson Street, Schuck reported.

The station outside Diller's Chelsea was also removed.

LINK: Citi Bike Official Website

High-profile tenants in at least 10 buildings across Manhattan have been successful in pitching for the removal of the docking stations, Schuck reported.

Some of the stations were moved after tenants threatened legal action or submitted petitions against the bike stations.

Street vendors near Zucotti Park, meanwhile, have been unsuccessful in getting the Citi Bike stations near their posts removed. The vendors have complained the bike racks bother their business.

And on the Lower East Side, some residents have signed a petition seeking the removal of the Citi Bike station outside Frank's Bike Shop, which rents bikes to tourists. The DOT has not removed that bike rack.

According to the New York Post, some lawyers have complained that the city is bowing to the pressure of wealthier New Yorkers, while not responding to the requests of others.

Some downtown residents have complained about Citi Bike even before the bike share program launched earlier this month, arguing the blue bikes were ruining their historic blocks.

But the city and others have touted the largest in the nation bike share program for promoting a healthier lifestyle and for adding another way to get around the city.

There are about 6,000 Citi Bikes docked at hundreds of stations in Manhattan south of 59th Street and in parts of Brooklyn.

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