Michael Bloomberg

The Sands Street bike path, a physically protected approach to the Manhattan Bridge, has languished behind schedule for years, held up in the city's construction bureaucracy. The project serves as a prime illustration that livable streets hinge not just on DOT, but on other, more obscure city agencies as well.

As I wrote in a post last week, the City of Melbourne, Australia, is working hard to make cycling easier and safer -- but not quickly enough to save the life of one cyclist. The day after my post a 33-year-old Melbourne woman was killed when her wheels slipped on tram tracks on Melbourne's main thoroughfare, Swanston Street, and she fell into the path of an oncoming Gray Line tour bus.

Mayor Bloomberg and DOT Commish Janette Sadik-Khan will be officially unveiling public space improvements to Madison Square at 11:00 this morning, on 23rd St. between Broadway and Fifth Ave.

The Observer reported last week that Extell Development wants to lease an underground chunk of its huge West Side project to big box retailer Costco. Included in the plan: 2,300 parking spaces. To put that in perspective, the Red Hook Ikea, projected to yield 17,000 car trips on peak days, makes do with a 1,400-car parking lot. The building where Extell wants to put the Costco and the garage will be mostly residential. No matter how many spaces are set aside for residents or shoppers, the inclusion of so much parking flies in the face of the city's stated goal to reduce traffic.

After calling attention last month to the traffic-reducing power of parking reform, Transportation Alternatives has released a follow-up report with a parking prescription for New York. "Pricing the Curb" [PDF] looks to innovative programs underway in Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Chicago for inspiration. With DOT taking steps toward setting variable-rate prices for curbside parking -- which it calls "peak rate parking" -- the report urges the Bloomberg administration to go further. A full-featured parking policy is one way the city can take on traffic without Albany's approval.

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.

David Byrne, Janette Sadik-Khan, Paul Steely White, Lance Armstrong, and Scott Stringer look on mirthfully as Mayor Bloomberg announces "Summer Streets."