I got tired of cross-posting my stuff on multiple blogs (and I suspect some of my readers weren’t crazy about it either). As a result, you Gas Water Nothing readers have missed out on my more recent contributions to Urban Sketchers.
Of course all the other contributors to Urban Sketchers do wonderful work, but if you’re in a hurry, there’s a page with just my stuff , or you can subscribe to this feed for just my posts.
We’ll see how my efforts to minimize redundancy play out. Meanwhile, here’s a digest of the stuff I posted to Urban Sketchers in the last month and a half:
Park Slope Food Coop June Annual and General Meeting
As well as being a swell place to buy groceries, the Park Slope Food Coop provides stretches of obligatory downtime ideal for sketching. Usually I capture the street view while doing my shift as a shopping cart retrieval specialist, but tonight I attended a meeting with several hundred fellow coop members.
This was two meetings, Annual and General, rolled in to one. They occurred in alternating segments, each being adjourned so the other could be resume, until it was time to switch again. Of course, exactly the same people and equipment were involved in each, but Robert’s Rules of Order and the laws governing the governance of corporations demand a certain silliness at times.
Central Park South, Tuesday Evening, Late July
Prospect Park Sunset
Keyspan Park Storm Clouds
We tried to go to a baseball game—the Coney Island Cyclones versus the Staten Island Yankees—but it got rained out. (Thanks so much to my pal Rebecca for getting us free tickets to a luxury box!). I had to majorly rush on this once it became apparent I wouldn’t be sitting there for hours.
Sands Street Bike Lane in Action
I’m somewhat giddy that the Sands Street Bike Path (leading to the Brooklyn side of the Manhattan Bridge here in new York City) finally opened. The path was announced over 4 years ago, but the City took forever getting around to building it. It seems to have only taken a few months to build once they finally started.
The smooth, divided, lane is wonderful in many ways. It’s a real pleasure to ride, and a significant step towards New York’s becoming a truly bike-friendly city. But it’s also frustratingly condescending. Unless you’re riding between the bridge and the Navy Yard (which is hardly a common end-destination for cyclists), the new lane takes you far out of your way and adds a hill that wouldn’t otherwise be part of your route.
Also, the crossing from the Sands Street path to the bridge path is convoluted and confusing. I get angry when I think how much better it would be if they just built a ramp from the end of the path to where I was sitting when I sketched this.
I’m saving my real celebration for when we get divided lanes on Flatbush and Atlantic! Harumph.
