NY1: Why is Bloomberg So Weak on Transportation?

11:29 AM EDT on August 16, 2006

Fifty-nine percent of New Yorkers say Mayor Bloomberg is doing a poor-to-fair job on transportation.

Jon Orcutt, Executive Director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign was on New York 1's "In Transit" this weekend discussing the results of a survey showing that most New Yorkers are unhappy with Mayor Bloomberg's job on transportation. Click here to see the video.

NY1: We showed the DOT your poll and they said, 'We're doing things to alleviate traffic, like Thru-Streets and Bus Rapid Transit.'
Orcutt: Thru-Streets is a molecule in a drop in a bucket. It's not addressing traffic congestion. It's not addressing any part of the city other than a very limited piece of Midtown. Bus Rapid Transit is stuck as a study. There is no Bus Rapid Transit in New York City and at the pace they are moving, which is about the pace of the M34 bus, we aren't going to see any Bus Rapid Transit during Mayor Bloomberg's term of office.
The mayor needs to really light a fire under the DOT to get much more ambitious initiatives underway. The mayor needs to a stronger attitude regarding New York City Transit even though he doesn't directly control it. The Mayor has a pretty big microphone in this town and he should use it.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

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