![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/hightman-twofer.jpg\")
Surveillance footage obtained by Streetsblog’s Max White show the workers first cutting the bike’s chain from a pole (left) and then one worker taking a picture of the other as the bike was junked.<\/p>\n
\u201cFollowing recent winter weather, the ghost bike\u2019s appearance had deteriorated and it was mistakenly treated as part of that routine clearing,\u201d the spokesperson said, acknowledging it was trashed \u2014 though the spokesperson offered the euphemism \u201cthrough standard removal procedures.”<\/p>\n
But that does not appear to be accurate: A photo obtained by Streetsblog shows the ghost bike decorated with colorful flowers sitting in the trash about a block away from where it formerly sat as a memorial. It didn’t look starkly different compared to Google Street View photos of it from 2022<\/a> and 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hightman\u2019s father, Jay, told Streetsblog that he has few reminders of his child, who used they\/them pronouns, and called the ghost bike\u2019s removal \u201cheartbreaking and upsetting.\u201d There was also a ghost bike for Hightman in their native Virginia, but that was removed as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe only things that I have to memorialize my [child[ are these ghost bikes,\u201d the father said.<\/p>\n Despite trashing the ghost bike, the Flatiron NoMad Partnership spokesperson claims the organization \u201cwelcomes collaboration with local advocates and impacted individuals to support an appropriate replacement memorial.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Flatiron NoMad Partnership recognizes the significance of ghost bikes as tributes to cyclists who have lost their lives and regrets that this occurred,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Business improvement districts such as the Flatiron NoMad Partnership are private entities that raise money from area businesses to provide supplemental services such as sanitation and security. Workers for such organizations do not work for the city Department of Sanitation, which gives its employees proper training about ghost bikes, including not to touch them, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n The ghost bike honoring Hightman<\/a> memorialized their death and served as a reminder to drivers to share the road with cyclists. Hightman died during a wave of 29 cyclist deaths<\/a> after vehicle crashes in 2019, which eventually spurred then-Mayor de Blasio to implement the \u201cGreen Wave<\/a>\u201d bicycle plan.<\/p>\n Since Robyn’s death, Jay Hightman has become an advocate<\/a> for infrastructure and transportation improvements designed to improve street safety and save lives. He\u2019s now working to help pass federal regulations requiring side guards<\/a> on tractor-trailers, which he believes could saved his child\u2019s life, as they died after falling beneath a truck.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ghost-bike-2-e1771977739526.jpg\")
A tipster photographed the ghost bike near a waste installation on Feb. 18, hours after workers moved it.Photo: Tipster<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_0030-e1771977963863.jpeg\")
The ghost bike memorializing Robyn Hightman sat next to this pole on Sixth Avenue for almost seven years.Photo: Max White<\/p>\n