Ask attorney Richard Bernstein of 1-800-CALL-SAM and he’ll gladly tell you how he feels about New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“Mayor Bloomberg is a disgrace. I find him personally offensive. He’s so focused on Big Gulps and cigarettes and all these things. I understand sugary drinks are very important, but you know what, I don’t think anybody has ever spent 10 weeks in the hospital at Mount Sinai because they were injured by a Big Gulp. This is why Bloomberg is a hypocrite.”
It’s been 7 1/2 months since Bernstein, 39, who is blind, was strolling through Central Park, around East 95th Street, when a bicyclist going about 35 mph veered out of control and struck him from behind, fracturing his pelvis and hip. The accident landed him in Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan for more than two months.
Bernstein, who was training for the city’s marathon, didn’t sue the bicyclist, who was apologetic and is a “nice guy. He feels bad.” At first, he just asked the city to take steps to protect pedestrians from speeding bicyclists at Central Park.
But he says the Bloomberg administration thumbed its nose at him, was rude and refused to take action. He thought it a bit odd considering Bloomberg appeared to care so much about the public's well being, crusading against super-sized sugary drinks like the Big Gulp and proposing legislation to force stores to keep tobacco products out of sight.
Whatever the case, he felt there was no other alternative than to finally file a federal lawsuit in Detroit, which has turned into a full-fledged legal battle.
“We are in intensive litigation right now,” says Bernstein. “We are just really battling. I don’t care what happens with this case. I don’t care how much money I spend. I am gong to fight this case until the absolute end. This case will not end until there’s changes. This is an area the mayor of New York could make a change and make life safer and he chooses not to because it’s just not big enough for him.”
He adds: “I’m so passionate about this, you have no idea.”
Lives With Severe Pain
Bernstein, a Birmingham resident who is single and has a “great girlfriend,” has long championed the battles of the disabled. He is also involved in his own personal battle since the accident.
Richard Bernstein recovering in hospital last year. [/Facebook photo]
He’s undergone physical therapy, which has included regular swimming sessions. And then there’s the pain, which isn't medicated.
“My injuries are horrible,” he says. “I deal with horrible pain everyday. I’m trying to just push forward. I’m trying not to let it get me down. I’m very excited that I can walk. That isn’t a small thing.”
Bernstein’s battle with the Bloomberg administration captured the interest of the New York Daily News, which had run an expose on the dangers bicyclists posed for pedestrians just before Bernstein’s accident.
In some ways, Bernstein’s battle has been seen as a David vs. Goliath struggle. He clearly sees himself as the little guy, though he comes to the battle with the deep pockets of the law firm his father Sam started four decades ago.
“I used to be a huge fan of Mayor Bloomberg, not that he cares. I don’t know him. He doesn’t know me. I'm like a nothing. It’s like the elephant and the gnat. I’m like this little gnat.”
While he was stuck in the New York hospital, he said the Bloomberg administration communicated through the press that “they don’t think this is really a big deal. The mayor was steadfast. He said he had no plans to make any changes.”
“I’m not even litigating against the bicyclist,” he says. “If I litigate against him, what change would come from that? Nothing. He made a mistake and feels bad about it. Mistakes happen. He’s a super nice guy.”
Can’t Understand the Fight
But he can’t understand why the city is resisting.
“I cannot emphasize this enough that the request of this litigation is so simple,” he says. “There is no money being sought, not a dime.”
Bernstein said part of the solution would be as simple as assigning a crossing guard at one or two points at the park to watch for speeding bicyclists, to make sure they stop at red lights and stop signs. The lawsuit also asks the city to enforce the 25 mph speed limit. Bernstein was inside the park, walking on a pedestrian lane when he was struck by a biker going 35 mph.
Bernstein, in his lawsuit, says the city, by refusing to address the issues is failing to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990.
"By ignoring the needs and dignity of disabled patrons, and denying equal access to Central Park for Plaintiff and others with disabilities, the defendants treat him as a second-class citizen," Bernstein wrote in his lawsuit.
He said the administration has refused to negotiate and avoid litigation.
“What are they fighting so hard against?” he asks. “They don’t want the park to be safe? If you make it safe for someone who is blind or for a wheelchair user, you make it safe for everybody.”
Location Squabble
There is also a battle over venue. Bernstein filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Detroit. The nexus with Michigan, he says, is that New York runs tourism advertisements to lure Michiganians.
“The people who are getting injured in Central Park are the tourists, “he said, adding that the local know the bikes don’t yield for pedestrians, and act accordingly.
The city of New York argued in court papers that New York is the proper venue.
photo by Chayim B. Alevsky
“The city of New York would suffer a great inconvenience if compelled to litigate in the state of Michigan, a case concerning the regulation of bicyclists in Central Park.”
The city has previously made comments denying Bernstein’s allegations that it tried to bully him. In a statement to Deadline Detroit, Gabriel Taussig, chief of the city’s Administrative Law Division, said last week:
“We believe that the lawsuit is defective in several respects. First and most important is the fact the complaint is wrong in stating that the city is violating the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act). However, before that question can be reached, the case must be presented to the proper court. Because that court is in New York and not in Michigan we have moved to have the case dismissed. We requested that Mr. Bernstein voluntarily transfer the case to the proper court, but he refused.”
To its credit, the city, according to a report in the New York Daily News in late September, revealed plans to add signs and road markings and wider pedestrian and bike lanes to make Central Park safer.
Bernstein said those improvements still don’t address his safety concerns.
Bernstein says the suit in Detroit will cost him up to $200,000. If it’s litigated in New York, the cost will double. Besides paying for experts, he’ll have to pay for hotels and living expenses for staff accompanying him to New York.
Philosophical About Accident
Bernstein waxes philosophical about his predicament, saying it’s better that he got hit by the bike rather than a carriage with a baby.
At the 2011 N.Y. Marathon
“If somebody had to get it, if someone had to go down, I was the best person because my body is gonna be able to take it,” he says. “I mean it’s hard and it’s going to be brutal.”
He said he’s also the right guy to fight for change at Central Park.
In the meantime, he says, he’s trying to get life back to normal.
He says he has a full case load again. And he’s working with children who have suffered physical trauma, along with their families.
And he’s adapting to a new view of the world, both mentally and physically.
Going this November for his 18th marathon, Bernstein says his body will never be the same.
Has To Adopt to His New Body
“There’s an old saying that an older attorney told me,” he said. “During an accident like this you’re never going to be the way that your mom made you. I just love that line, because it’s so true.”
“One of the things that you have to do when you go through this kind of process, in a lot of ways, you have to mourn for your old body, you have to mourn for the way your life used to be because then you have to accept your new situation. You have to recognize how you’re going to be.”
“As a blind person, I dealt with my blindness by athletics. As a blind person I felt that if I could be a great athlete, it would allow me to work through my blindness. It was the thing that now just got crushed.”
“When I wake up in the morning, I have arthritis. I’m learning about pain. At the end of the day, you just have to manage it. “
He said he’s currently training for the NYC Marathon in November by swimming. He said he’s not ready to run and do high impact training. “Walking is still difficult.”
“I won’t be doing it at the pace I used to do it. It might take a long time,” said Bernstein who was in New York over the past weekend training for the marathon in Central Park with the Achilles Track Club, which encourages disabled people to participate in mainstream athletics. He will run the marathon with people from the track club, who will help guide him, telling him when to take gradual and hard left and rights.
Bernstein says he tries to make the best of every day. But he knows that will be a challenge.
“I wake up everyday and I literally say to myself, ‘I’m uncomfortable, I don’t feel really good. This is going to be a tough day.’ But I literally say to myself ‘I have to go out and truly make this a positive day.’ What I try to do is find one positive thing about the day, find one really extraordinary thing about the day so I can say ‘this was a relatively good day.’
Then on Saturday, after several conversations with Deadline Detroit, he said he thought of one more thing:
“When this case is over, I’m going to celebrate and go to Central Park and drink a Big Gulp, which I’m going to get from New Jersey.”
