Williamsburg “Bump” Begone! Mandami Hails Bridge Bike Lane Fix

Have you heard about the Williamsburg “Bump”? It’s not a new dance craze, cocktail, cannabis strain or trendy, underground sex act. It is—or rather was—literally that, a bump in both the cosmic fabric of the Lower East Side and a bump in the bike lane leading to and from Delancey Street across the mighty East River span called the Williamsburg Bridge.

As of Tuesday January 6, however, the “Bump” begone! In its place there’s a black asphalt ramp—a “Zohramp” if you will—so named, colloquially, to honor Hizzoner Mayor Zohran Mandami who came out that afternoon to join the Department of Transportation hardhats, hold a shovel himself, and tell the gathered gaggle of reporters about the “Bump.”

If you’ve not heard the “Bump,” you’re not alone. Many who have walked, run and ridden pedal bicycles over the Williamsburg Bridge for years were unfamiliar with the “bump” as such. The “bump” was a small, curb-like ledge between the Williamsburg bridge bicycle and pedestrian path and the median of Delancey and Clinton Streets. Though an impediment to some, the “Bump” was a defensible part of making the ingress and egress to the bridge more controlled.

Dangerous riding on the Williamsburg Bridge’s Manhattan-side downhill was already a problem before the largely unregulated “micro-mobility” plague made it worse.

So almost anything, even a “Bump,” that compelled most people to slow down, stop, and gather their situational awareness was okay. Not ideal, perhaps, but better than the unsafe riding that leads to more frequent and more serious crashes.

Not everyone agreed with this assessment, however, and Mayor Mandami, and his newly installed DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn are among them.

First—and this was the primary reason for this event—is to demonstrate that Hizzoner is an engaged Mayor of action. Choosing to address the “Bump” is something he can do, quickly, with zero controversy, while also creating a press friendly event. This is an important consideration for a new administration whose relationship to the media—especially “old media”— is still developing.

The press, in turn, responded, turning out in substantially greater numbers than the Williamsburg “bump” would otherwise have engendered. Besides Straus News, among those present were East Village Radio, 1010 WINS radio, Fox 5 New York, the New York Times, Gothamist and no less than three Streetsblog NYC reporters. Also on the scene were DOT press spokesperson Vincent Barone and, wearing a black jacket that identified him as such, the department’s Deputy Commissioner of Bridges, Paul Schwartz.

Though Mandami arrived around 15 minutes late by CitiBike, with temperatures in the mid-40s, the delay was tolerable. After the Mayor dismounted at Essex Street, flanked by a few stone-faced, suit-wearing undercover cops, a portion of the press surged towards him. Hizzoner, poised, and well-dressed strode purposefully toward the DOT crews working on the “Bump” and wearing yellow work gloves, grabbed a shovel himself—and so a “Zohramp” was born.

While Mandami was kneeling, however, he revealed something about himself that many people are unaware of: his substantial bald spot on the back of head! Turns out, Hizzoner doesn’t hide it—this isn’t FDR and his wheelchair—and while campaigning for Mayor, he even joked about it on occasion with interviewers.

Delivering his Williamsburg Bump address, Mandami made other remarks that tried to reveal the everyman within the Democratic Socialist.

Hizzoner began “In this administration there will be no issue too big for us to take on and no issue too small to focus on. What you have seen in the last few months is countless New Yorkers reaching out, whether be in person, whether it be from their bike, whether it be on social media, that they are tired of obstacles blocking their way, that they are tired of biking across this bridge, with an anxiety what will happen at the end of it. They are tired of the drops beneath their feet.”

“And we know cyclists crossed this bridge 2.3 million times in 2024, I was one of them —I also ran across it at an incredibly slow pace. If you have ever felt the strain of pedaling up this bridge, you know the joy that comes with coming down. And yet you can’t enjoy that momentum oftentimes because you have to navigate a veritable gauntlet of cycling punishment.

“So I am so thankful to these incredible men and women of the New York City DOT, to our new Commissioner, for insuring that we are taking action, to the issues that animate New Yorkers concerns at a large level and small level and these are the very workers who will no longer have to worry about the journey when they’re just trying to get where they’re going.”

The Mayor took questions, first on topic (e-bike and bicycle enforcement), then some off topic. Of the latter, the most relevant to Straus News was Mandami reiterating his support for ex-Comptroller Brad Lander’s challenge to incumbent downtown Congressman Dan Goldman, who’d recently been endorsed by Governor Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries among others.

When question time was over, Hizzoner, again accompanied by his security detail, made his way to the a black SUV parked on the north side of Delancey Street, which turned on its flashing red lights and sped away.