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Community Corner

Cobble Hill Resident Remembered with Ghost Bike Memorial

The late Jeff Axelrod, who was killed in a cycling accident on August 18, is commemorated with a cyclist safety awareness memorial.

A small, somber crowd gathered Saturday afternoon at the corner of Chrystie and Delancey streets in Manhattan to memorialize a local cyclist.

But the family and friends of Jeffrey Axelrod, the beloved Cobble Hill resident who was through the busy intersection, were also there to raise awareness for cycling safety.

Those in attendance, including Axelrod's brother, Lance Axelrod, along with his wife and two daughters, were waiting to commemorate him with a stark symbol: a ghost bike.

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The Street Memorial Project heads New York City's Ghostbike Memorial initiative, which has been operating in the city since 2005. Members of the group place a bicycle, spray-painted white, at the site of a bike accident, in the hopes of increasing awareness of cyclists' safety.

Bicycles are donated to the cause, and the Street Memorial Project generally erects the memorials themselves, althought family and friends are encouraged to participate. The organization holds an , visiting each memorial site in the city.

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"In a way it's suiting that Jeff goes this way. Maybe not on Christie and Delancey, but on a bicycle," said Lance Axelrod. He thanked family and friends for coming together to remember his late brother.

He shared a story of the two boys growing up in Coney Island, when Jeff wrecked his brothers' carefully earned bicycle.

"Now I've inherited Jeff's seventeen bicycles," chuckled Axelrod. "So I guess that was settled."

Squinting into the bright Autumn sunshine, one friend and neighbor of the late Axelrod gestured towards the intersection.

"I think that's where it happened."

Lance Axelrod added a few personal touches to the memorial, producing some spray-painted riding gloves and a white fedora, which were carefully secured to the bike.

The occasion inspired both tears and laughter.

"I wonder what Jeff would have to say about being given a girl's bike," joked Lance Axelrod about the model of the memorial.

The crowd drew a few curious stares as memories of Axelrod were shared.

Lance Axelrod shared a few more memories of his brother, and the crowd dispersed, leaving the monument to be pondered by passersby.

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