{"id":268457,"date":"2026-08-19T22:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268457\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T22:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:50:10","slug":"chinatown-funeral-home-cyclists-clash-over-bike-lane-nbc10-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/268457\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinatown funeral home, cyclists clash over bike lane \u2013 NBC10 Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"

A dispute over the use of a bike lane in Philadelphia’s Chinatown is raising safety concerns among cyclists and a decades-old funeral home that uses the space to stage funeral processions.<\/p>\n

Choi Funeral Home, at 12th and Vine streets, has been using the bike lane to stage funeral processions. Cyclists say cars parked there force them to merge into traffic, putting them at risk.<\/p>\n

Jayson Choi, owner and funeral director of Choi Funeral Home, told NBC10 the dispute has escalated to the point that he now fears for his safety.<\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

The controversy intensified after video circulated showing a funeral home employee removing a flexible post from the bike lane, appearing to allow a car to park in the space.<\/p>\n

Choi said the business uses the area only a handful of times each month and never for longer than three hours.<\/p>\n

“When we finish and come back, we put it back,” Choi said of the flex posts. <\/p>\n

The funeral home owner said his business has never destroyed or damaged the posts, and he said any images online of damaged posts are from other vehicles. He said he routinely sees them being driven over. NBC10 saw one flex-post bent while on-location. <\/p>\n

Choi said cars were staged in the area long before the bike lane was installed, pointing to Google Street View images as evidence. He also said workers who installed the posts showed his team how to remove them.<\/p>\n

“It also gives us a chance to stage a procession so everybody will follow along instead of waiting for everybody coming out from all different place,” Choi said. <\/p>\n

Asked whether it is legal to use the bike lane for parking, Choi said pointed to a Pennsylvania law for vehicles in funeral processions. Whether that law applies to vehicles staging in the bike lane is at the center of the dispute.<\/p>\n

NBC10 witnessed roughly a dozen bikers over a 6 hour period on Tuesday. Choi said when funeral stagging occurs, he places signs so bicyclists know what’s going on. <\/p>\n

\"<\/p>\n

Arguments online<\/p>\n

The disagreement has also spilled online. <\/p>\n

A multi-part Reddit thread under r\/phillycycling<\/a> has led to hundreds of comments. Choi said he was blocked after trying to defend himself. <\/p>\n

Choi said he is spending $10,000 on security cameras after what he described as harassment on Reddit and one-star Google reviews related to the bike lane.<\/p>\n

Because services are posted publicly, he worries that someone might come and confront mourners. <\/p>\n

“We would not know anyone from that group will come to make an example out of us, and that\u2019s where our fear is. That\u2019s why I ask Channel 10 to come,” Choi said.<\/p>\n

Cyclist concerns<\/p>\n

Cyclists say they have safety concerns of their own.<\/p>\n

Jacob Russell, an organizer with Philly Bike Action, said cyclists worry about having to merge into high-speed traffic when vehicles are parked in the bike lane.<\/p>\n

“To sort of get this nice upgrade and then have it rendered unusable, is, I think, a really emotional thing for people,” Russell said.<\/p>\n

Russell said the funeral home is an important part of the neighborhood. He believes nearby parking lots or the travel lane could be used instead of the bike lane.<\/p>\n

He pointed to a similar issue on Spruce and Pine streets<\/a>, where churches worked out alternative parking arrangements.<\/p>\n

“So if they’ve done it there, I don’t see why we can’t figure out a solution that allows everyone to attend the services of the funeral home without putting bicyclists at risk,” Russell said.<\/p>\n

The city’s view<\/p>\n

NBC10 sent the City the following questions:<\/p>\n

Is parking in the bike lane permitted during funeral services? <\/p>\n

City: “We are consulting with the City Law Department on applicable state and local laws.”<\/p>\n

Is Choi Funeral Home, or anyone else, permitted to temporarily remove the flex-posts to allow vehicles into the lane?\u00a0<\/p>\n

City: “No.”<\/p>\n

Did any City, PennDOT, contractor, or project employee previously tell the funeral home that it could remove and replace the posts during services?<\/p>\n

City: “We have reached to project team members and could find no evidence of anyone telling the funeral home that they could remove the posts.”<\/p>\n

Has the funeral home been contacted or instructed to stop parking in the lane or removing the posts? (The funeral home showed me an email from last Friday from Kate Meadow asking for a conversation.)<\/p>\n

City: “We have reached out to the funeral home and informed them of the applicable City law and ask them to stop removing the posts. The City is committed to finding a way for the funeral home to continue to thrive in this location while also keeping everyone safe.”<\/p>\n

Is the City\/PennDOT working with the funeral home on an alternative parking or traffic plan?<\/p>\n

City: “Yes.”<\/p>\n

Prior to the City’s email to NBC10, Choi said he was asked Friday to meet with the city to work through alternatives. He also said he has never been fined or ticketed over the practice and supports cyclists.<\/p>\n

“We’re not against you at all, but we want to work together, and you actually provide safety for our family that come to the service and also for you,” Choi said.<\/p>\n

Both sides say they are looking for a way to share the road.<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dispute over the use of a bike lane in Philadelphia’s Chinatown is raising safety concerns among cyclists…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-268457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}