Join the elite crew for early set-up of the NYC Century at Central Park (September 9, 2001)! 

NYCcentury.org 

Have a great time cheering on cyclists at one of rest stops, mark the route, help at the start line, or be a Marshal.    We are in particular need of volunteer to work the Saturday Prep Crew, the Alley Pond Park Rest Stop, and the Central Park Early Set-up.

Only 10 days until the NYC Century Bike Tour on September 9, 2001.  Save $5 - Register to Ride the NYC Century Bike Tour today (pre-registration discounts end and pre-registration closes on September 7th). Explore the city and support bicycle advocacy. NYCcentury.org

Donations Wish List

Help cycling and walking and get a tax deduction. Donate to T.A. We need:

-Laptop computer (P 100+)
-Digital Camera
-VCR (4 head)
-Good chairs for conf. table or desks
-Computer Projector

Contact Matt: info@transalt.org

Do Your Part for Safer Streets!  Report:

Potholes and Hazards:
212-442-7070 #2,#1

Dangerous Cabs: 212-221-TAXI

T.A.  News

T.A. welcomes Noah Budnick who has started at T.A. as our new bicycle advocate.  You can e-mail Noah at projects@transalt.org

T.A. also welcomes back Ellen Cavanagh, who is starting as our Campaign Coordinator.  She can be reach at campaign@transalt.org

This is a special issue of the T.A. Bulletin. The T.A. Bulletin is a bi-weekly publication of Transportation Alternatives.

Special Report: August 30, 2001

Special Report: Mayoral Candidates Talk Transportation

Historic moment as leading mayoral candidate pledges Car-Free Central and Prospect Parks

T.A. is pleased to bring you a partial transcript of the August 28th TV debate between the Democratic contenders for Mayor. We are pleased because the candidates fielded a foolish question about making driving easier with good ideas for a Second Ave. Subway, Freight Rail and core T.A. issues like Car-Free Central and Prospect Parks, Red Light Cams, and Traffic Calming. Read for yourself and vote in the primary on September 11.

Partial Transcript of August 28, 2001 Mayoral Debate
(WB11 News at 10:00 co-anchor Jim Watkins)

MR. WATKINS: All right, Kaity. Mr. Spitz, traffic congestion is one quality of life issue that even the current administration has had very little success addressing. What are your short and long-term plans to make it easier to get around the city by car, and to reduce congestion and gridlock particularly in Manhattan?

CITY COUNCIL SPEAKER PETER VALLONE: We are going to bring the City to a halt unless we found newer and 21st-century solutions to our traffic problem. We have a convention center that would double and triple and quadruple its business if we had ways of moving people in and out of the West Side. We have a subway ditch that's been dug for over fifty years for a Second Avenue subway waiting for it …and we still haven't got the Second Avenue subway, and we still don't have the state and federal money that this city is entitled to to help us complete that. The next mayor must understand how important it is to have public transportation work, have public transportation innovatively done for the 21st century and make this City not stop where it was in the 20th century. If you can't get to traffic congestion, you don't deserve to be a person to lead this city.

BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT FERNANDO FERRER: You know, unless you use a red light and siren, you are stuck in gridlock everywhere in this city forever; whether it is going crosstown in Manhattan or on the BQE. And that's just a fact of life for a whole host of reasons. One, we got to build a full-length Second Avenue subway. This city can't afford to do anything less. It unites four boroughs, four new population centers in four boroughs, and a host of new job creation and job road centers. But even more than that, we got to look at congestion pricing on bridges. Clearing traffic off of side streets so the traffic can move expeditiously from one side of the town to another, and bring down the cost of doing business in the City. Traffic is one of the biggest business killers in New York.

PUBLIC ADVOCATE MARK GREEN: Your question reminds me of the Yogi Berra aphorism, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." And that's true in our streets. There are small and large ideas. The small ideas, in '94 I started pushing for many more red-light cameras which can ticket people as they speed through a red light to deter speeding. We need car free Central and Prospect Park. We need low-tech mitigating ideas like speed bumps along Queens Boulevard; high-tech ideas like value or congestion metering, so if cars want to park in the middle of the day when it is expensive, they'll think twice. The big idea, more public transit, less private transit. And I've been pushing, if Tokyo and London can have a new subway system, why can't we after 60 years? The number one goal, a Second Avenue subway from the Bronx through Manhattan into Brooklyn.

CITY CONTROLLER ALAN HEVESI: Let me build on the small ideas that Mark suggested, and the general theme that there should be big ideas. We have to have as priority a building of the Second Avenue subway top to bottom, and follow that up with a long-range plan for West Side development which includes extension of the "7" line out to the West Side. Third, I am an advocate of a rail freight tunnel under the harbor to reestablish that rail freight substitute for the huge amounts of truck traffic that are coming in and out of the city and, by the way, dramatically increasing our respiratory infection rates. And I believe also as a grand -- building a grand design, for restoration of the waterfront and transportation on the waterfront. There was a time in the city that you had a ferry service to connecting every location that was crucial to the city.

Invest in better cycling, walking and car-free parks!  

Please donate your refund check to  T.A. and the movement for better cycling, walking and sensible transportation. 

In appreciation of your gift, we will send you a copy of Andy Singer's CarToons, a new book lampooning automobile dependence.

Give on-line at transalt.org/join, send your check to T.A. 115 W. 30th, #1207, NY, NY 10001, or call 212-629-8080 and donate by credit card over the phone.

T.A. In the News

transalt.org/media

Latest

8/15 Calming B'klyn Roads: DOT to decongest downtown traffic, Daily News

8/15 Traffic Test Planned for Harried Downtown Brooklyn, New York Times

8/9 Cyclists Plead For More Bridge Security, Daily News

Press Watch

The decline in transit ridership in NYC since WWII has reversed itself dramatically. See the NY Times 8/8 "In Switch, Transit Ridership Outpaces Cars, Study Finds."

Stay Smart & Informed.

Sensible Transport Junkies:

Subscribe to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s e-weekly, Mobilizing the Region.  www.tstc.org

Insiders Breakfast on Fresh Baked NYC Politics & Policy

The daily Gotham Gazette. gothamgazette.org  NYC News summaries and savvy commentary.