"The only things that I have to memorialize my [child] are these ghost bikes. Hightman's father told Streetsblog that he has few reminders of his child, who used they/them pronouns, and called the ghost bike's removal heartbreaking and upsetting. There was also a ghost bike for Hightman in their native Virginia, but that was removed as well."
"Following recent winter weather, the ghost bike's appearance had deteriorated and it was mistakenly treated as part of that routine clearing. A spokesperson for the business improvement district called the flower-covered, white-painted shrine clearly derelict and its removal merely part of routine district maintenance operations, though acknowledging it was trashed through standard removal procedures."
"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 and 2024, contradicting claims about its deteriorated condition."
The Flatiron NoMad Partnership removed a ghost bike—a white-painted bicycle memorial decorated with flowers—that honored Robyn Hightman, a cyclist killed by a truck driver in 2019. The removal occurred on February 18, with workers cutting chains securing the bike to a pole on Sixth Avenue. The organization claimed the bike appeared deteriorated after winter weather and was removed as part of routine maintenance. However, photographs show the memorial was in relatively good condition and discarded in a trash bin nearby. Hightman's father expressed devastation, noting the ghost bikes were his primary means of memorializing his child, who used they/them pronouns. The organization subsequently expressed regret and offered to collaborate on an appropriate replacement memorial.
#ghost-bike-memorial #cyclist-safety #urban-maintenance #grief-and-remembrance #business-improvement-district
Read at Streetsblog
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