Mara’s Homemade is leaving its East Village home on May 14, and we have a feeling it won’t be cyclists turning up in droves to wish her farewell. The Times’ Local blog reiterates the point that Mara Levi “mostly blames the bike lanes” for having to close up shop. The comments section is going fairly bananas at this assertion: “Uhm, the neighborhood is exploding with crowded restaurants and bars and Missus blames the bike lanes for her business failure? Lame!” Another reads, “If you’re in the East Village and your business goes DOWN because of bike lanes then you don’t understand your client base.” The collective umbrage makes for an entertaining read, particularly the Onion-esque historical headlines contributed by one commenter: “Rome Falls; Barbarians Seen on Bikes, in a Lane” and “Abel Slain; Brother Cain Suspected; Bike Lane at Root of Dispute.” (Since we’re on the subject of bike lanes, please go one way in them — the marked way. Because if we see one more delivery dude salmoning straight at us we are gonna turn into this guy.) [Local East Village/NYT]
