CULTURE CLASH OVER SEXY CYCLISTS
By RICH CALDER
Posted: 3:47 am
September 12, 2008
It's the Hasids vs. the hotties in a Brooklyn bike war.
Leaders of South Wil liamsburg's Hasidic community said yesterday that bike lanes that bring scantily clad cyclists - especially sexy women - peddling through their neighborhood are definitely not kosher.
The red-faced religious sect is calling on city officials to eliminate the car-free lanes on Wythe and Bedford avenues, and to delay construction of a new one planned for Kent Avenue.
"I have to admit, it's a major issue, women passing through here in that dress code," Simon Weisser, a member of Community Board 1 in Williamsburg-Greenpoint, told The Post.
"It bothers me, and it bothers a lot of people."
The existing, one-way lanes are popular with North Williamsburg hipsters - many who ride in shorts or skirts.
The temporary lane planned for Kent Avenue would be a precursor to a 14-mile greenway stretching from Newtown Creek in Greenpoint to Sunset Park.
Hasids are forbidden from looking at members of the opposite sex who aren't fully dressed, said local activist Isaac Abraham.
Weisser and other Hasids said during a Sept. 8 community-board meeting that the lanes on Bedford and Wythe avenues should be eliminated if the neighborhood has to accept being part of the greenway.
The issue of dress - or lack of it - wasn't brought up at the meeting. Weisser and the other Hasids instead complained publicly about bike lanes allegedly causing parking problems and traffic congestion.
Abraham later said another major concern is the safety of children, noting that cyclists "aren't obeying traffic laws. Green lights and red lights are the same."
Hasids last month complained about a sexy billboard promoting the teen drama "90210" that could be seen from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and that featured swimwear-clad characters.
A few years back, some residents complained about billboards for "Sex and the City."
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09122008/news/regionalnews/hasid_lust_cause_128750.htm
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