When a Citi Bike station was set up next to Bill Whites $2 million townhouse shortly before the bicycle-sharing program launched in late May, he vented his disgust to the most powerful man in the city longtime pal Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The stations proximity to his home, plus the royal blue Citibank signs, spurred White the former president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum to send an appeal on May 25 to the mayors personal email address.
White, 46, described to his buddy of 25 years how the bikes in the racks were hideous and completely out of character with his block, which is part of a historic district in Chelsea. He noted that the citys Landmarks Preservation Committee would never approve the Citibank signs if it had been given a say.
As a fellow town house owner, you have a good idea what [my husband] and I are going through with our own house with Landmarks, White wrote, referring to Bloombergs home on East 79th Street.
We cant change anything on the outside of the house with out lengthy FULL and very strict reviews which this signage commercialization would NEVER EVER pass ever. Can I hang a big blue Citibank sign on my house on that block or could you on 79th?
White beseeched the mayor to remove a section of the bicycle station that was closest to his townhouse and get rid of the advertising altogether.
Please help us Mike this would make people very happy and still keep Citi happy with the rest, White added.
Within an hour, Bloomberg sent a one-sentence reply to White, asking him, Why do you think Citi is paying for the bikes? And a minute later the mayor forwarded the complaint to the citys then-transportation commissioner, Janette Sadik-Khan.
The email, like others obtained by DNAinfo New York, highlight how Bloombergs personal life and relationships sometimes mingled with his public role as mayor.
This email was part of a set of correspondences DNAinfo New York requested under the states Freedom of Information Law. DNAinfo asked for all correspondences between the mayor's personal email address and Sadik-Khan May 1 and June 11, a span covering the weeks before and after Citi Bikes launch. After seven months, the DOT sent the requested emails, which DNAinfo received on Dec. 30, a day before Bloomberg left office.
Nearly all the correspondences dealt with the widely popular but polarizing program.
Citi Bike has already signed up nearly 100,000 annual members, far surpassing official projections. But it has sparked outcry from block associations and co-op boards upset that stations have taken over coveted street space. At least a half-dozen lawsuits have been filed against the city over the placement of stations.
Another pal of Bloomberg's griped in a May 1 email about a Citi Bike station placed directly outside his daughters tony Greenwich Village co-op.
The dad, whose name was redacted in the email, told the mayor that his daughter was aghast at the 39-bike station situated directly outside her apartment at 175 13th St. He noted he had already spoken to the DOTs policy director, Jon Orcutt, but expressed his disappointment that the city didnt solicit more community input before picking a location for the station.
Shes not going to be happy as she loved her apt and street and might choose to sell it now at a much lower value, the dad wrote.
The email also included his daughters written grievances, which noted the station limited the movement of traffic and made it hard for her to tote her guitar and amp in and out of a taxi outside her building.
The email also included photos of the Citi Bike station.
Heres some photos below so you could you imagine if you got this from Emma or Georgina? the dad wrote, referring to Bloombergs two daughters.
That same day, Bloomberg forwarded the complaint to Sadik-Khan and said, Have someone call him. Sadik-Khan replied that she would.
