Car-Free Parks

While New York City inexplicably continues to open up Central Park to motor vehicles from Thanksgiving to New Year's as a "holiday traffic mitigation," London transformed its most popular shopping area this weekend into a car-free pedestrian zone for holiday shoppers and visitors. Stretches of Oxford and Regents Streets were made into car-free zones this Saturday, December 2 from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm. Mayor Ken Livingstone wants to transform Oxford Street into a permanent pedestrian zone with light rail running down the middle. This weekend's event was set up as a test. This London reports:

The Dept. of Transportation's 2005 study showed there is no need to eliminate car-free hours during the holidays. So why did they do it this year?

mitigate, verb[Latin stem of mitigare, from mitis, mild, gentle]1. Make milder in manner or attitude, make less hostile, mollify.2. Give relief from pain. Lessen the suffering caused by an evil or difficulty.3. Make less oppressive. Make more humane, more bearable.

A Streetsblog tipster notices that Prospect Park motorists seem to be unindoctrinated in the ways of the Litterbug:

Here are a couple of updates from the parks from Streetsblog tipsters. The first is a heads up for all you riders using Central Park:

The following note just came across the Streetsblog transom, from Michael, a 29-year-old business-owner in Manhattan. Michael is a tri-athlete and trains daily in Central Park on his Softride bicycle. This is what happened to him on Friday:

One of the most influential urban thinkers, writers, and activists of the 20th century dies at age 89 in Toronto, Canada.