Welcome to the 2007 Car-Free Central Park Campaign! It's been a while since we were last in touch, but we have not been idle. The trial closing of portions of the loop road that the city instituted in June has not resulted in the feared traffic gridlock and so it has been extended indefinitely. Now we are gearing up for the reintroduction of the same City Council bill that was introduced last spring, creating a Car-Free Summer 2007 in the park. This time around we hope to have the support not only of a veto-proof majority of the City Council, which we were close to having last year, but the support of Council Speaker Christine Quinn as well.

To help us in our effort to win the backing of Speaker Quinn and key Council members, we need more facts about the drivers who are entering the park from Harlem – specifically, where they are coming from. This information will help us demonstrate that much of the traffic is originating far north of the park and that the park is in fact exacerbating traffic problems in central Harlem by serving as a magnet for cars.

On selected mornings over the next several weeks, Transportation Alternatives will be administering a quick, two-question survey to drivers waiting at lights on the park's West drive. In order for the data to be valid, we're told that we need to survey at least 200 drivers. If you can help with this effort, please reply to this e-mail, telling us which weekday mornings from Tuesday, March 27, to Friday, April 6, you are available and generally what time between 7:30 and 8:30 am you could arrive and how long you could stay. (TA will supply day-glo vests and clipboards for all surveyors.)