Traffic Relief Press Conference

7:55 PM EST on November 6, 2006

On October 12th, NYC DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall spoke at Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer's transportation forum and shocked conference attendees with her promise to promote "aggressive pedestrianization" measures and to move as many people as possible out of cars and into more efficient modes of travel, like buses and bicycles.

Two weeks later, the New York Times leaked a story detailing the top five Bus Rapid Transit corridors and announced that the implementation of two of them will be accelerated for completion by the end of 2007.

Now Transportation Alternatives reports that it is being told that Intro 199, the "Traffic Information and Relief Bill" will get a City Council hearing in early December.

With a new governor in Albany (both primary candidates have transportation in NYC high on their agendas), and Mayor Bloomberg's forthcoming Long-Term Sustainability initiative in the works, we need to send a message that Traffic Relief must be one of the top-tier priorities in New York City and State immediately, and in the years to come.

In order to do that, we need a huge showing at a press conference announcing the Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief.

Aaron Donovan

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

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