A report released today from the New York City Department of Transportation says the city has seen a 320 percent increase in bicycling since 1990. But don’t tell that to residents of Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

Last night, a cadre of UES residents turned up at a meeting of the Community Board 8 transportation committee to learn complain about a New York City Department of Transportation plan that would bring bike lanes to crosstown streets in the neighborhood. Some of their comments rival what their neighbors had to say when the crosstown lanes were first proposed earlier this year.

Filmmaker Woody Allen was among those in attendance, and evidently the Upper East Side resident is also an expert in street design. Gothamist reports:

“None of the streets can accommodate a bike lane in a graceful way,” Allen said, arguing that the DOT’s plan to add bike lanes to Upper East Side crosstown streets is out of step with the community. “Every street has a good argument why it shouldn’t have a lane.”

Allen wasn’t the only resident to say something in public based on misplaced, unfounded concerns.

Peter Adelaar, 65, demanded that all New York City bikers be required to obtain licenses and carry insurance. “The elderly people, they are scared to death of coming near these things,” he said. The 78th Street resident characterized bike lane supporters as Upper East Side interlopers. “They’re not from here,” Adelaar said. “They’re in their 20s and 30s, they just want their exercise.”

If the elderly people Adelaar is talking about are scared to death of bicycles, just imagine how they’d feel about these other vehicles that weigh about two tons, can travel over 100 mph, and kill more than 30,000 Americans every year.

Another resident spoke of the perceived risks that bicyclists present to pedestrians, especially children.

Megan Irwin, 35, told the board that she was concerned for her three children, who attend schools on East 84th Street. Irwin said cyclists would put residents at risk, “especially our most precious lives.”

Forget about the fact that all 133 pedestrians killed in New York City in 2015 were struck by the drivers of cars, not bicycles. And let’s not forget that bicyclists themselves are vulnerable users of the city’s streets too: all 14 of the bicyclists who were killed in the five boroughs last year were also struck by cars, not other bicyclists.

The number of people riding bikes in New York City is up significantly, but there remain some places where anti-bike sentiment lives on. In light of this episode, it’s especially important that community boards and the DOT continue to support proposals that make streets safer — and not cave for a shrinking, vocal minority.