Despite earlier crackdowns, hundreds of e-bikes and heavy scooters are once again clogging E. 11th St. off of First Ave. in the East Village.
Well over two hundred heavy scooters and e-bikes are routinely lining the sidewalk and street, causing trash buildup and raising safety issues among area residents. The pile of e-bikes and scooters runs halfway down the south side of 11th St. off of First Ave.
That comes despite the most recent clean up effort on Jan. 9, the first such drive following the swearing in of Mayor Mandami.
Vincent Gragnani, press secretary for the NYC Department of Sanitation’s Bureau of Public Affairs, told the blog EV Grieve that it was a routine street and sidewalk cleaning and not a law enforcement effort.
“This was a standard street and sidewalk cleaning operation, at the request of NYPD, not a more involved joint operation,” he said. “We were asked to clean litter in the area, as we routinely do at the request of agencies, elected officials, community complaints, etc, and that is exactly what we did.”
The issue first drew attention in summer of 2025. One local resident, identified only as Slawomir, expressed his frustration in an interview with PIX11 in July of 2025. “They are vehicles. People are getting into accidents, getting hit by them, the batteries exploding” he states when emphasizing safety concerns.
“You have 300 people that are moving back and forth through this sidewalk on any given day,” a neighborhood resident named Francisco, complained to the New YOrk Post.
The New York Post cited a real estate broker who said the overwhelming presence of e-bikes and scooters on the block between First Ave. and Ave. A was making it impossible to bring prospective renters to the neighborhood.
Christine Renzi, the owner of a real estate management office located on the block, called it an “extreme nuisance,” comparing the situation to a growing encampment.
“They’ve just literally taken over the entire street,” Christine Renzi, told the Post. Her company, Four Guds Realty Corp., has about about 90 units in the area.
“It’s grossly affects my business because people don’t want to rent my apartments,” she said. “No one wants to walk through that.”
The number of parked bikes seems to be growing. Many are migrants who rely on these e-bikes to earn a living through services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Seamless. They often park near the Madina Masjid on the block, using it as a rest spot, gathering place, and overnight storage area.
In a past crackdown on July 30. 2025, the NYPD seized 30 illegal bikes while Department of Sanitation conducted a deep clean of the surrounding area. On August 28. 2025, a follow up included confiscating over 20 more bicycles leading to the impounding of 53 bikes in total.
Despite these efforts and the Department of Transportation’s addition of bike corrals, the bike congestion returned quickly along with all of its issues.
Susan Stetzer, District Manager of Manhattan Community Board 3, has advocated for an even approach, criticizing enforcement for targeting vulnerable workers and pushing for infrastructure like safe parking and charging hubs.
“There has to be infrastructure, accommodations that they can operate legally, if we expect these people to use these bikes to deliver food, there has to be some place they can put them that’s safe and legal,” she told Our Town Downtown. Stetzer also posted cleanup signs in multiple languages in an effort to improve the area’s conditions.
City council member Harvey Epstein had not returned a call seeking comment by presstime.
