Nobody expects walking in New York City to be a walk in the park, but the experience has become exponentially more dangerous thanks to reckless e-bike riders who increasingly aren’t held accountable — even when they break the law.
E-bike collisions, which can cause serious injury or even death, have increased almost 32% this year compared to 2025, according to NYPD data, with more than 500 crashes to date.
This past March, the mayor rescinded the NYPD’s ability to issue criminal summons to lawless e-bike riders. City Hall pledged to improve safety through other measures, but the alarming rise in collisions makes clear this hands-off approach isn’t working.
Now the mayor is adding insult to injury by asking voters to approve a ballot measure that would fast-track so-called “street safety projects,” including new bike lanes, while giving the public less of a say.
Let’s be clear: Adding more bike lanes to an already chaotic streetscape without ensuring a commonsense regulatory framework of licensing and registration is in place, such as what Priscilla’s Law proposes, is a recipe for disaster and puts New Yorkers at greater risk.
After one tragic death involving a horse carriage, the city is finally moving to ban horse-drawn carriages in Central Park. Yet when it comes to e-bikes, the city is creating even more opportunities for the death toll to mount.
A lawsuit challenging the Mamdani administration’s senseless e-bike policy is making its way through the courts.
I was proud to be the lead plaintiff in the suit, filed this past June, to help protect vulnerable New Yorkers like my fellow plaintiff and Staten Islander Walter Matuza, who is legally blind and at great risk of being mowed down by a rogue e-biker. I joined the suit in my personal capacity because, as I said at the time and still strongly believe, I’m a pedestrian before I’m a councilmember.
Even as City Hall has launched a seven-figure, taxpayer funded campaign in favor of this and four other ballot measures, a national health data and analytics company, Truveta, released alarming figures that show emergency room visits tied to e-bike injuries jumped by 1,810% for children and 760% overall.
Prop 3, the third of the five ballot proposals, would let the Department of Transportation (DOT) begin construction on street projects in an expedited manner while dramatically curtailing public input. The proposal also gives the city a legal cushion by limiting what a court can order if it skips a step in the process.
That’s no way to run a city, especially when a glaring safety problem is staring us in the face.
The so-called Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE) had a bumpy beginning, requiring Albany’s 11th-hour intervention to dissolve another Charter Revision Commission created by former Mayor Eric Adams.
Setting aside the fact that its members ignored a clear public desire to consider open primaries, as their predecessors did, COGE’s purported intention — to identify opportunities to streamline city government so it could more effectively work for the people it serves — is arguably worthy.
Unfortunately, the COGE’s ultimate work product, five proposals that claim to cut red tape while reducing public discourse and making New Yorkers less safe, leaves much to be desired.
Taxpayer dollars are being spent to convince New Yorkers to give City Hall fewer checks and balances. That’s quite a sales pitch. On Nov. 3, I’ll be flipping my ballot and voting No on Prop 3. I hope my fellow voters join me in doing the same.
Morano represents the 51st Council District on the South Shore of Staten Island.