The ghost bike memorial marking the spot where cyclist Robyn Hightman died has been cut down and hauled off by cleaners working for a Midtown business improvement district, leaving family members and safe-streets advocates furious. The white-painted bike had been chained to a lamppost on Sixth Avenue between West 23rd and West 24th Streets for nearly seven years before it was spotted in a trash staging area. Relatives say the roadside shrine was one of the few physical reminders they had of Robyn and are demanding to know why it vanished.
According to Streetsblog New York City, workers employed by the Flatiron NoMad Partnership cut the chains securing the ghost bike to a pole early on Feb. 18 and then moved it into a nearby waste installation. A Flatiron NoMad spokesperson described the flower-covered shrine as “clearly derelict” and said its removal was part of “routine district maintenance operations.” A tipster photo and surveillance footage published with the report show a worker photographing the bike shortly before it was discarded.
Where the Shrine Stood and Why It Mattered
Robyn Hightman, who used they/them pronouns, was killed in June 2019 after falling beneath a box truck while riding north on Sixth Avenue, a crash that drew national attention and deep local mourning. That history and the details of the city’s investigation have been documented by Bicycling. In the days after the fatal collision, friends and fellow riders installed the white-painted bike at the corner as a place to grieve and as a quiet reminder to drivers to share the street. For many in the cycling community, the ghost bike has served as both memorial and modest safety warning at a dangerous stretch of road.
The Driver and the Aftermath
The truck driver involved in the crash, Antonio Garcia, returned to the scene and received five summonses for equipment violations but was not criminally charged, a fact that outraged cyclists and advocates at the time, according to reporting by amNY. Hightman’s death was one of several during a deadly 2019 for the city’s cyclists, and anger over what many saw as light enforcement after fatal crashes helped fuel calls for tougher street protections and more aggressive enforcement.
Family Pushes for Truck Safety Changes
Since the crash, Robyn’s father, Jay Hightman, has pushed for stronger truck-safety rules, including federal requirements for side guards designed to prevent people from being pulled under large vehicles. Investigations into how federal agencies handled side-guard research and industry pressure have been detailed by ProPublica, and advocates say tearing down a long-standing memorial only reenergizes efforts to lock in safety reforms.
Who Maintains Public Memorials and What Comes Next
Business improvement districts such as Flatiron NoMad are private organizations that contract for supplemental sanitation and public-space services in commercial corridors, according to the district’s own site Flatiron NoMad Partnership. The partnership told Streetsblog New York City that it “recognizes the significance of ghost bikes” and “welcomes collaboration with local advocates and impacted individuals to support an appropriate replacement memorial.” Jay Hightman says he hopes to reinstall Robyn’s ghost bike and wants clearer protocols so families do not lose the fragile objects that keep a loved one’s memory visible in public space.
For now, the bike’s removal has reopened a neighborhood debate over who gets to decide what stays in the public right-of-way and how private contractors and city agencies should coordinate when they encounter a memorial. Safety advocates say the answer has to be twofold: stronger protections on the street and agreed-upon rules for handling memorials so grief is not wiped away by routine cleanup.
