Articles and Actions:
Events and Appeals:
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| Tragedies Mount While DOT Dawdles | |||
Four pedestrians were killed on NYC streets in the past week and many more were seriously injured.
According to the NYC Department of Transportation's own website, "pedestrian injuries and fatalities are preventable." The DOT is right: There are many kinds of street designs proven to slow down vehicles and save lives. From changing traffic signal timing to favor walkers, to widening sidewalks and installing speed humps, "traffic calming" measures often make the difference between life and death. But when it comes to action, the DOT is stuck in first gear. Two years ago the DOT announced that it would apply such traffic calming measures where they are needed most: around dozens of city schools. Today the city has virtually nothing to show for this "Safe Routes to School" program. The program has been held up while the DOT traffic engineers make sure that the traffic calming and safety measures these schools need do not compromise the movement of drivers. Meanwhile the deaths and injuries mount. It is time for the City DOT to put the lives of the majority of walking and cycling New Yorkers before the perceived needs of the minority of drivers. Other cities and countries around the world are now setting ambitious targets for encouraging walking and reducing pedestrian injuries and fatalities. These quantifiable targets are forcing immediate action, and making it so that when faced with the trade-off between safety and driver convenience, safety gets put first. London has committed to reducing the number of pedestrians killed or seriously injured by 40% overall, 50% for children by 2010. New York City must adopt similarly ambitious goals for preventing pedestrian injuries and fatalities. |
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| New Data Show Feasibility of Car-Free Summer | |||
The mainstay of the DOT's "case" for refusing to grant New Yorkers a Car-Free Summer in 2006 is the fear that the traffic that now uses the Loop Drive will "spill over" onto adjacent streets and cause gridlock. A new Transportation Alternatives study delivers a serious blow to this dubious claim.
The study, a Car-Free Central Park Committee-led morning car-count, shows that since the entrance closures were put into effect in January 2005, vehicle volumes on Central Park's West Drive during the most congested rush hour (8 am-9 am) have declined 13%. This recent decline in traffic volumes is in addition to the 10% drop seen in entrance volumes between 1991 and 2004 on the West Drive. Best of all, the streets surrounding Central Park have not seen nightmarish traffic jams. Clearly this recent reduction follows an established trend and highlights what T.A. has been saying for years: closing the Central Park Loop to cars is a long overdue common-sense solution that benefits all of New York’s residents and visitors while burdening none. Come and show your support for a Car-Free Summer in Central Park at a rally on Sunday, March 26 at 12 noon at City Hall. Check transalt.org soon for details. |
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| Livable Streets: A New Vision for New York | |||
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The Municipal Art Society of New York and the Livable Streets: A New Vision for New York This very special exhibit features fresh information about travel and transportation in NYC, new pro-pedestrian NYC streetscape illustrations and a series of original presentations from local, national and global leaders in transportation and urban planning. Housed at the Municipal Art Society, the two-month exhibit is the work of the NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign of the Project for Public Spaces, Transportation Alternatives and The Open Planning Project. The exhibit is punctuated by a series of morning and evening marquee presentations and the mid-February release of two groundbreaking studies:
The exhibit opens Wednesday, February 1st
Complete Schedule of Events: (All events at Municipal Art Society 457 Madison Ave. at 51st Street unless otherwise noted ***) 2/15, 6:30-8 pm Neighborhoods and Traffic: How Does Traffic Affect Quality of Life? Karla Quintero from Transportation Alternatives will present the results from a new study quantifying the quality of life impacts of traffic. Tom Samuels, leading traffic calming practitioner from the Chicago Department of Transportation, will discuss successful mitigation measures.
2/23, 8:30-10 am Better Streets = Better Business: How to Attract the Walking Shopper Bruce Schaller, principal of Schaller Consulting, will discuss his groundbreaking new report "The Auto in Manhattan: Necessity or Choice?" exploring the role of auto travel in Manhattan's economy. Todd Litman of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute will discuss the economic benefits of walkable streets.
2/27, 6:30-8 pm Broadway as a Destination Business Improvement District directors, Project for Public Spaces and the Regional Plan Association discuss the appeal of Broadway as a boulevard.
3/15, 6:30-8 pm Stickball: Past, Present and Future of the Quintessential NYC Street Game Stickball was once the ultimate New York street game, requiring only a broom handle, a ball, people to play and a safe street. Is this a sport of a by-gone era or can it make a comeback?
3/20, 6:30-8 pm Connecting Neighborhood Leaders with Resources Technological tools, planning, media and advocacy assistance—that neighborhood activists can use to improve their streets and gain traffic relief.
3/22, 8:30-10 am Less Traffic, More Life *** Enrique Peñalosa, the former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, discusses why he chose to improve the streets to make wonderful spaces for pedestrians and bicyclists. He will explain how these changes led to less traffic and more productivity and enjoyment. *** At the Rosenthal Pavilion of the Kimmel Center, NYU, Washington Square South, Manhattan.
3/27, 6:30-8 pm Designing Public Consensus: The Civic Theater of Community Participation for Architects, Planners and Urban Designers Barbara Faga, recently named one of the top 15 women who are changing architecture, along with Alexander Garvin, author of the prize-winning book, "The American City: What Works, What Doesn't" and Gary Hack, famous for the "Ten Commandments of Design Review," discuss the art of creating change in NYC, Boston and Philadelphia.
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| Win Better Queensboro Bridge Access and Safer Biking on the Upper East Side |
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Come to Manhattan Community Board 8's Transportation Committee meeting on Monday, February 13th to discuss improving bicycling on the Upper East Side.
At the top of the agenda is improving safety and access to the Queensboro Bridge path and connections between the bridge, Central Park and the East River Greenway. On the Manhattan side of the Queensboro Bridge, 75% of bikers and walkers coming on and off the bridge travel to and from the west, but right now there is no direct connection to the bridge from that direction, so 100% of path users are forced east and must navigate four blocks of dense, threatening traffic without protection from drivers. For four years the Department of City Planning has been quietly studying improving safety and access to the bridge path, but the agency has yet to release its findings. Community Board 8 should request a presentation on the study from City Planning. City Planning conducted a similar study to improve biking and walking safety and access on the Queens side of the bridge. The agency shared the study at public meetings and is now working with the DOT and NYC Economic Development Corp to build an on-street greenway that will connect to the bridge path. According to the DOT, the 2005 Queensboro Bridge bike volumes are up 179% from 2000 levels and up 430% from 1990 levels. The City must take action to improve street safety and ease of access for the 2,500 bikers and walkers who cross the bridge each day. Community Board 8 Transportation Committee meeting For more information, contact CB8 at info@cb8m.com or (212) 758-4340. The Queens East River Greenway Bike Tour Join T.A. and the Partnership for Parks' Astoria and Long Island City Waterfront Parks Catalyst Project on a bike tour of the planned Queens East River Greenway. See the proposed route up close and get inspired to help make it a reality. Ride the planned greenway and neighborhood streets and visit Queensbridge, Rainey, Socrates, Astoria and Ralph Demarco Parks, which will all be connected by this new waterfront greenway. Please RSVP for the ride via email at bike@transalt.org. To learn more about what is happening on the Queens waterfront, visit astoriawaterfront.org. *In the event of inclement weather, the ride will be rescheduled for Sunday, February 12th at 1 pm. Call (917) 902-9165 for last minute ride details. |
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| Save the Date: A Very Special Evening with Enrique Peñalosa | |||
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March 22nd, 2006 Enrique Peñalosa "If you improve the pedestrian qualities of the city you get improved real estate values. My main worry is equality and happiness, but many people think real estate values are more important, so the interesting thing is that both of them are benefited."
Join Transportation Alternatives, New York City's leading advocacy group for bicycling, walking and environmentally sensible transportation and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy, a leading non-profit organization that promotes environmentally sustainable and equitable transportation worldwide, as we host the visionary politician, economist and urbanist, Enrique Peñalosa. Limited space is available for this event. If you would like more information about this event please click here. |
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| Can NYC Solve Its Parking Problem? | |||
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Monday, February 6, 6-8 pm
The Center for Architecture Adam Millard-Ball, a national expert on parking and car sharing will speak on parking policies and their impacts on communities in a seminar next Monday evening, February 6th, 2006. He will present best practices about how to organize parking and the pricing thereof to benefit your city, community and neighborhood. Of particular interest is the relationship between parking pricing, traffic congestion and streetscape. The talk will be of interest to transportation planners, urban designers, local business organizations, community groups and policy officials. Mr. Millard-Ball has performed recent parking studies in Philadelphia, Arlington, Charlotte, Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A key feature of these studies has been the need to revise parking policies to meet a diverse range of community goals, including housing affordability, economic development and congestion relief. Adam also led the newly published Transportation Research Board study on the benefits of car-sharing, and where and how it succeeds. |
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| Reminder! Cyclists, Take the 2005 Bike Report Card Survey | |||
To better inform the report card and decision makers, we are asking you, the T.A. E-Bulletin reader, to provide your own evaluation of New York City bicycling conditions. Complete the survey and you'll be eligible to win a free ride in the NYC Century Bike Tour on September 10, 2006.
If you would like to view the current results without voting, please click here. |
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| T.A. in the News | |||
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Aiming To Influence City Development, Group Opens 'Livable Streets' Exhibit New York Sun 2/1 Reinventing the Avenue gothamist 1/31 New York Stalls on Traffic Charging Financial Times 1/31 Watch Your Walking gothamist 1/27 Greenbacks for the Queens Greenway Waterwire.net 1/26 City Touts Decline in Pedestrian Deaths, But Others Say More Can Be Done am New York 1/26 Many Pedestrian Injuries at Site Where Bronfman Died New York Sun 1/25 Bike Group Disputes City Stats on Strike Cycling Village Voice 1/24 Strike May Spur Cycle of Change New York Daily News 1/23 Things You Can Do With a Parking Space gothamist 1/19 A Ride Down Hysteria Lane Metropolis Magazine 1/18 Endless Traffic: Can It End? Gotham Gazette 1/16 Readers Respond: Taking the Child Out of Childhood New York Times 1/14 NYC Bicycle Fatalities Up 40 Percent United Press International 1/13 Ride to honor the 21 cyclists killed in 2005 Downtown Express 1/13 Bicycle Fatalities Rose 40% in '05 New York Daily News 1/13 City Kids Face Bumpy Rides WNBC.com 1/13 Cycling Advocates Call for Safer Conditions Epoch Times 1/11 Bike Trail of Tears Marks Where Cyclists Were Killed The Villager 1/11 Ghost Riders: 21 Cyclists Killed Last Year in NYC Village Voice 1/9 New York City Improves Bridge for Cyclists American Bicyclist 1/9 City's Cyclists Pay Tribute to Fallen Riders Metro NY 1/8 Williamsburg Bridge: Bumps To Be Replaced The Ride: East Coast Bike Culture 1/1 NYC Transit Strike The Ride: East Coast Bike Culture 1/1 Transportation Alternatives is a member-supported non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Join T.A. today!
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Making the Grade
