Andrew Morgan, Rest in Peace
Posted June 24th, 2005 by eliot
At around 1pm today, members of Visual Resistance installed a “ghost bike” on the corner of Houston St. and Elizabeth St. in Manhattan. A bicycle, spraypainted white, and a small stenciled plaque were attached to a street sign as a memorial to Andrew Morgan, a 25-year old bicyclist who was killed by a truck at the same spot on Wednesday, June 22.
The memorial is the third of its kind. The first was installed June 15 in memory of Elizabeth Padilla, a 28-year old bicyclist killed during her morning commute in Park Slope. The second was installed June 21 in memory of Brandie Bailey, killed May 8 on Houston St. and Avenue A on her way home from work.
As noted in the comments to a previous post, Houston St. is the most dangerous stretch of road for bicyclists in New York City. Bicycle advocacy groups like Transportation Alternatives, Time’s Up!, and others are working overtime to lobby the city for more physical infrastructure to keep bicyclists safe. And a growing network of artists and activists — of which Visual Resistance is a part — are working to raise awareness of bicyclists’ right to safe travel.
Anyone interested in getting involved, email us at visual.resistance[at]gmail.com, or keep checking this site for more information.
Creating and installing a ghost bike is heart-wrenching every time. It’s a project we would like not to have to continue. But we will create memorials as long as they are needed, in respectful memory of each life lost. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Andrew Morgan, Liz Padilla, and Brandie Bailey.
Background: Ghost Bike Project.
Photos from the memorial vigil available here.
July 5th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
Andy was my friend, thank you for honoring his life.
July 10th, 2005 at 3:28 am
unfortunately someone else thought it wasnt the appropriate way to do so, i just heard a rumour that the bike was, just recently, removed:(
August 26th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
[…] […]
August 29th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
[…] If you’ve seen those eerie white "ghost bikes" on Houston Street, you may know that three cyclists have been killed on "the Boulevard of Death" during the past two years: Derek Lake, Brandie Bailey and Andrew Morgan. In the wake of this loss of life, members of Community Board 2’s Traffic & Transportation Committee are holding a rally on Wednesday to ask the DOT to install buffered bike lanes as part of the street’s reconstruction, which is taking space away from pedestrian islands to create left-turn bays for cars. […]