Pintchik Hardware Not Easy on Bikes

There's a lot to say in support of Pintchik Harware of Brooklyn. It's old. It's odd. It's a great hardware store. It's weirdly, garishly yellow. And it boast associations with Brooklyn literary figures such as Jonathan Safran Foer and Jonathan Letham. What other hammer-and-nail shop can you say such things about?

One thing it isn't, however, is bike-friendly. One of the most-used bike paths in Brooklyn, the one that runs along Bergen street, passes right by Pintchik. But so many trucks are constantly delivering and unloading so many things to Pintchik every day, that they inevitably clog up hundreds of yards of that bike path. (See a line of said trucks above. The picture was taken on a Friday afternoon.)

I understand that trucks must do what trucks must do, and American runs on trucks and blah, blah, blah. But I have little to no patience with any gas-consuming vehicle who thinks it's OK to idle or stop in a bike lane. To me, it's no better than an able-bodied person parking in a space reserved for the handicapped; you're trading a lesser-advantaged person's safety for your convenience.

If trucks can't find a place to unload the first swing around the block, well, just keep trying. Or double park on Flatbush. The bike lane is not an option. And the owners of Pinkchik should be policing their delivery men with this in mind. Don't believe me? Ask the oracle.