Car Culture
Streetsblog Basics
Detractors Find Congestion Pricing Facts in Short Supply
Add the Queens Chamber of Commerce to the list of pre-emptive congestion pricing foes.
April 18, 2007
SoHo Car Owners Mobilizing to Save Parking, Fight Bike Lanes
The SoHo Alliance is at it again. The neighborhood organization that specializes in persecuting street vendors and artists rather than helping to figure out ways to carve out a bit of street space for them and all of the people over-spilling SoHo's sidewalks, is now mobilizing against the City's plan to install new bike lanes along Prince and Bleecker Streets.
April 18, 2007
Pedi Politics
On Monday, April 23, the day after Earth Day and the Mayor's Long-Term Sustainability speech, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn plans to hold a decisive vote on Intro. 331-A, a law limiting and restricting pedicabs. Mayor Bloomberg vetoed the bill but rather than going back and trying to improve the legislation by, say, simply increasing the cap on the number of pedicab licenses, Quinn has been twisting Council members arms to override the Mayor's veto.
April 17, 2007
The Parking Dysfunction Meter: Fines Are Five Times Revenue
More enduring than Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster and the resurrection of Elvis is the deeply held belief that there is such a thing as "free" parking for the average motorist in New York City. "Free" means you do not have to pay.
April 16, 2007
Overheard on the Bus: NYC Bicyclists Losing the PR War
Stuck in traffic congestion all day long, one might think that New York City's bus drivers might be at the center of the movement to reduce automobile dependence and encourage more efficent forms of urban transportation. But if the conversation I heard last week is representative, it's the cyclists that are wrecking all that havoc out there on New York City's streets.
April 16, 2007
Quinn’s Pedicab Problem: Personal or Political?
City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn is reportedly pressuring -- some might
say coercing -- council members into backing her effort to override of Mayor Bloomberg's veto of stringent pedicab restrictions. Tony Avella of Queens talked to the Sun about Quinn's anti-pedicab campaign among council members.
April 12, 2007
City’s Parking Expansion Sustains Nothing but Motoring
From the Tri-State Transportation Campaign's latest newsletter, three examples of how City Hall contradicts its stated Long-Term Planning and Sustainability goals with policies that foster more automobile dependence:
April 12, 2007
CB2 Committee Approves “Additional” Prince/Bleecker Routes
The CB2 Traffic & Transportation Committee met at the LGBT Center on Tuesday.
April 12, 2007
We Must Imagine a Future Without Cars
From Alternet, the following is an excerpted version of James Howard Kunstler's recent speech to the Commonwealth Club of California, well worth reading in its entirety. An audio stream of the speech is also available:
April 11, 2007
Park Slope Passes on Traffic-Calming, Ped Safety & Bike Lanes
Gowanus Lounge reports on the debate over DOT's 9th Street redesign plan at last night's Park Slope Civic Council meeting. The Civic Council voted overwhelmingly to "table" a plan that would provide the neighborhood with improved pedestrian safety on one of the most hazardous streets in the area, enhanced cyclist safety along a key access route to Prospect Park and Red Hook, and traffic-calming along an overly broad street with low vehicle counts and a serious speeding problem.
April 6, 2007