January 29, 2007
NYC Streets Aren't Made For Walking
Today, there's a fascinating Op-Ed by Robert Sullivan about the state of NYC streets. Titled, "The City That Never Walks," Sullivan describes how NYC has "lost [its] golden pedestrian touch."
...yet, here in New York, we even have the debate over bicycle traffic backwards. We focus on drivers’ complaints about the bicycle commuter who races through red lights, rather than on the concerns of the mother biking her child around organic-food delivery trucks that idle in bike-only lanes. In December, the police say, a bicyclist was killed on the Hudson River Greenway by a drunken driver speeding along a bike lane that was completely separated from the road. Asked what was being done to improve safety in light of the biker’s death, Mayor Michael Bloomberg suggested that bikers “pay attention.”Can you imagine Mayor Bloomberg proposing that officials go undercover to bust bad drivers?“Even if they’re in the right, they are the lightweights,” he told a reporter.
Contrast this response with that of Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago after a 4-year-old pedestrian was killed in a hit and run. Mayor Daley immediately set up a pedestrian awareness program, suggested that police sting operations arrest speeding drivers and proposed to add 500 miles of bike lanes, so that there would be one within a half-mile of every resident.
There's also an interesting observation that as NYC has become "the new suburb," families have "brought with them a love of cars." What's particularly damning is that cities like Boulder, Baltimore, Boston, Sacramento, San Diego, Denver, Dallas, Portland, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Grand Rapids seem to be more committed to being pedestrian-friendly than the Big Apple. We hope someone at City Hall read this op-ed - pedestrians and bikers are constantly considered second class citizens. Sure, vehicles are necessary to many business and people, but we have a feeling that a lot of them are just traveling a couple blocks.
What do you think of the op-ed? And Streetsblog annotated the article.
Photograph by dogseat on Flickr
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being a native new yorker, who has lived in san francisco, chicago and boston in the past decade, I can easily say NYC is the least friendly place to live for a ped or biker. from the 'safety' islands getting smaller on houston st, to the way bikers are treated here, it's obvious, nyc is a new suburb. daley is great in chicago for bikers and walkers, i used to bike to work all the time there and i'd never do that here because i enjoy not getting killed. but it's really amazing how nyc was always this sort of europeanish city island in america and now it's becoming more like america while the other big cities are getting more urban. but hey, we have trader joe's now. and suv's.
Problem is that there are far, far too many people that live in the city that have cars (plural) when they hardly leave the city.
If ever.
Great op/ed.
Bloomberg should feel profound shame.
Iris Weinshall should be sacked. DOT should be torn apart and replaced with a Department of Public Space.
that's typical of bloomberg's comments.
remember the Con Ed remark? when asked if Con Ed should be fined, he said to the point of, what ya gonna do? fine us, well tough titties, we're raising your electric bill.
I didn't vote for him, I wanted Wiener.
“Even if they’re in the right, they are the lightweights,”
This pretty much sums up Bloomberg's approach to governance.
To hell with who's right, Bloomberg's sympathies are with one who's got the weight (or the biggest bank account).
I wonder whatever happened to this campaign "promise" from Bloomberg in 2001:
Source: http://www.streetsblog.org/bloombergs-promises/I just don't see it. All of this guy's examples are about bikers, and that's a totally different issue from pedestrians (bikers can be part of making the city less safe for pedestrians, too). I'd defy anyone to give me a real example of how it's become more difficult to get around New York by walking in the last five years, or to make a case that there's another city where it's easier to get by without owning a car.
I totally agree that the debate over bicycle traffic backwards. It's true that careless bicyclists can be dangerous to pedestrians, but they are nowhere near as dangerous as cars.
I am 5 feet 100 lbs. Most people don't have to be worried about being visible to a cyclist who might pop up on the sidewalk at any opportunity, run red lights, wheedle through traffic right into me. I am far more afraid of cyclists in this city than cars.
The sad thing is that I want desperately to support cycling in this city as an environmentally-friendly alternative to unnecessary cars (and there are plenty of unnecessary cars around), but it is hard to feel that way when I fear for my life and safety. I realize that cyclists are often law-breakers because the laws favor automobiles, but something like Critical Mass is just a defiant hazard.
New York City is completely unlivable now, especially if you moved here to escape the suburbs ... it's pretty much all the people you tried to move away from!
This city is awful for the creative community, or anybody who isn't super, super rich. Just wait in a few years and the new cultural wave will be coming from Philly or Pittsburgh, that's how much NYC sucks now.
It's time to get the hell out of here. Have fun with all the stockbrokers, soccer moms, and old-money hipsturs.
New York City is completely unlivable now, especially if you moved here to escape the suburbs ... it's pretty much all the people you tried to move away from!
This city is awful for the creative community, or anybody who isn't super, super rich. Just wait in a few years and the new cultural wave will be coming from Philly or Pittsburgh, that's how much NYC sucks now.
It's time to get the hell out of here. Have fun with all the stockbrokers, soccer moms, and old-money hipsturs.
I don't see this guy's point about pedestrians. How is it any harder to walk around now than ever before? His comparisons to places like Albuquerque and Grand Rapids are laughable. A pedestrian plaza in Detroit is suddenly vaulting that city ahead of NY in urban vitality? Where are these new roads that he seems to say lurk ready to unleash more unwanted traffic? There are no new major roads planned anywhere. New York could definitely be more bicycle-friendly, but the title of his piece is "The City That Never Walks."
I would love to see personal care use restricted. Banned would be great. Cars are such a nusiance in most areas. Drivers are rude to pedestrians and bikers. Especially drivers who have no idea where they are, where they are going or how to drive here.
uuuuuu...: "it's pretty much all the people you tried to move away from!"
Isn't this the truth. I feel this way every day.
Apparently, KC is the place for artists right now.
elmo, that is because the city has become too dangerous for most law-abiding cyclists leaving mostly just the thrill-seekers on bikes to shape your misperceptions of how dangerous cyclists are. not that it justifies riding on a sidewalk, but for them it's a battle for their own safety since they are constantly marginalized by dangerous drivers. it snowballs until only the most dangerous elements are left. if it were safe, the reasonable cyclists would return. successful or not, critical mass is designed to draw attention to that.
Everyone is going to jump on me for this, but I really have three words that could greatly contribute to a decrease in automobile clutter, and an increase in funding for pedestrian-friendly improvements: Urban Boundary Tax. (see: Central London)
You want to drive in and around Manhattan? That's great, but expect to pay for that privilege.
baltimore is not walkable. what are these people talking about. besides, even if it was, youd get a syphilis infected needle of heroin jabbed in your side, or just flat out killed before you could get too far. seriously, stay away from that city.
Being more afraid of cyclists than of cars is naive and just plain stupid. Take a look at the number of deaths and serious injuries caused to pedestrians each year by cars vs bicycles. Heck, take a basic intro physics class which can define the concept of momentum to you.
As a cyclist, your statement would be the same as me saying I worry more about jaywalking pedestrians than I do cars. Sure, jaywalking pedestrians are an annoyance, but they are not likely to crush me under 2 tons of steel.
I agree with RDuffy. Have a tax like London, with the exception of cabs and commercial vehicles, and create a boundary around the financial district/midtown area that charges for car use. Even if other areas aren't within the boundaries, they'll receive a similar effect (who wants to bring a car into Manhattan if you can only drive in half of it?).