Adrian Benepe

If New York City had a livable streets hall of fame, Thomas P. F. Hoving would be enshrined alongside heroes like Jane Jacobs. As Parks Commissioner under Mayor John Lindsay, Hoving spearheaded the original effort to reverse the onslaught of motor vehicle traffic in the city's flagship parks, instituting the first car-free hours on the Central Park loop drive in 1966. It was a pioneering act of reclamation for pedestrians and cyclists.

In contrast -- or, conceivably, as a complement -- to the L.A. Times portrait of city cycling, here's a Streetfilm from Elizabeth Press, shot yesterday at Transportation Alternatives' Bike Month NYC kick-off.

A Parks Dept. truck crashes a Central Park wedding

Thanks to Streetsblog tipsters who've written in about the evening rush closure of Prospect Park's East Drive. This sign went up Friday at the corner of Parkside and Ocean Avenues.

For better and worse, the Parks Dept. seems to be popping up quite a bit lately. In July, Parks was spotted clipping locks and seizing bicycles in Forest Hills, Queens. And last week the agency revoked employee parking permits for Central Park's East Drive. This week, a tipster sends along this Aug. 6 e-mail sent by Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, pictured right, to Parks Dept. employees.

As we reported yesterday, starting Monday, August 6, Car-Free time in Central Park will be increased by one hour in the morning on the Park's West Drive. Here are the details from the Dept. of Transportation:

In Central Park the police will, supposedly, be handing out traffic tickets to cyclists who ride through red lights, even during car-free hours. Last year around this time, the police were running a bicyclist dragnet on Central Park's East Drive at about 98th Street (which strikes us as kind of incredible given the lack of police enforcement for motor vehicle moving violations throughout the rest of the city). While we have not heard any reports of bicyclist ticket blitzes this season, a Streetsblog reader wrote a letter of objection to Parks commissioner Adrian Benepe regarding the ticketing policy, and here is the reply that she received: