Central Park
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Council Members Urge Bloomberg to Order Car-Free Prospect Park Trial
Last month, as school-age volunteers presented 10,001 signatures in support of a car-free Prospect Park, three City Council Members -- David Yassky, Bill de Blasio and Letitia James -- issued a letter to Mayor Bloomberg requesting a three-month car-free pilot program. The full text appears below.
October 7, 2008
Business Honchos Lobby Bloomberg for Car-Free Parks
It seems elitist "green" types aren't the only ones who think city parks should be reserved for people. A passage from this week's New York Magazine feature "Who Owns Central Park?" reveals that regular Joe business execs recently warned Mayor Bloomberg of the economic consequences of a city so dominated by cars.
June 26, 2008
T.A.: Car-Free Central Park Would Ease Neighborhood Congestion
A study released this week by Transportation Alternatives undercuts the claim that closing Central Park's loop drive to cars would increase traffic on the streets of Harlem. To the contrary, findings indicate that loop entrances on 110th street at Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevards "act as traffic magnets," drawing vehicles onto neighborhood streets from more appropriate routes like the FDR, Harlem River Drive and the West Side Highway.
June 12, 2008
Car-Free Parks: Now More Than Ever
It was on last year's Earth Day that Mayor Bloomberg unveiled his far-reaching plans to make New York City more sustainable, with congestion pricing as one of the centerpieces. For some reason, making Central and Prospect Parks car-free did not make the list of 127 announced initiatives. With congestion pricing off the table for now thanks to some profiles in fecklessness in Albany, the Bloomberg administration has more reason than ever to remedy that oversight.
April 21, 2008
Moses to LaGuardia: Bikes Have No Place on the Street
Dave Lutz of the Neighborhood Open Space Coalition has been digging through the Municipal Archives and look what he found: a 1938 memo from Robert Moses to Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia about the need to create a network of dedicated bike paths in city parks. Moses's reasoning looks odd to modern eyes, in part because he argues for bike paths as a purely recreational amenity. His rationale for bike infrastructure fails to see cycling as transportation (sound familiar?), choosing instead to segregate bike facilities from the street network.
March 19, 2008
Central Park 66th Street Transverse Is Unsafe
A Streetsblog reader brings us an update on the case of the cyclist killed last December in the Central Park Transverse, through information obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request.
August 22, 2007
Thank You for the Extra Car-Free Hour, And…
DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan celebrates the extra Car-Free hour in Central Park with members of Upper Green Side and Transportation Alternatives
August 13, 2007
Parks Dept. Confirms New Employee Parking Policy
Parks Dept. spokesperson Abigail Lootens confirms this morning's story:
August 6, 2007