Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Car Culture

America to the Automobile: “It’s Over”

llgrab.jpg

In honor of this year's New York International Auto Show, which officially begins tomorrow, we present this very special announcement:

Ms. America to Announce “The End of the Affair” at the NY Auto Show

**Saturday, March 22**
10:30 a.m.
Jacob Javits Center 

 
After 100 years, Lady Liberty, the perennial Ms. America, is finally ending her
“spectacularly combustible love affair” with the automobile

New York, NY —  All things must come to an end, and so apparently it now is for America’s love affair with the automobile. Swept off her feet more than 100 years ago with promises of freedom, comfort and status, Ms. America has now had a change of heart. “The oil addiction, the misguided foreign affairs, the skyrocketing bills… it’s just gotten to be too much,” said Lady Liberty in a recent statement.
 
Lady Liberty will formally announce her break up -- and her big plans for the future -- at the NY International Auto Show on Friday, March 21st at 10:30 a.m. Reverend Billy will be present to both annul her current “dysfunctional” marriage, and will also be on hand to wed Ms. Liberty to not one but three suitors who have been vying for her affection for the past several decades: Walking, Bicycling and Mass Transit.
 
“I’m just ready for a change,” says Lady Liberty, "and frankly, this relationship has just gotten to be much more work than it's worth. My health, liberty and freedom have suffered greatly, and now I hope that my new relationships will finally give me security and happiness.”

CARtoon by Andy Singer, who recently paid a visit to the Minneapolis & St. Paul International Auto Show, along with "Roadkill Bill" Ken Avidor.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Here’s Everything Wrong With the Judge’s Order to Rip Up the 31st Street Protected Bike Lane

A Queens judge overstepped her jurisdiction when she ordered the city to rip up a protected bike lane in Astoria, experts said.

December 9, 2025

MTA Still Won’t Embrace Open Gangway Subway Cars

The see-through cars have been standard across the globe for a generation, but to the MTA, it's still untested technology.

December 9, 2025

How Much Will New Yorkers Pay For Trump’s Penn Station Redevelopment Scheme?

New Yorkers could wind up paying twice for the new Penn Station: once when Amtrak comes asking for money and then when a private developer makes their money back from the project.

December 9, 2025

Tuesday’s Headlines: Clearing the Air Edition

We've been clear that congestion pricing is working. Turns out, congestion pricing was, too! Plus other news.

December 9, 2025

NYPD Finds Mysterious Corpse in Car With Illegal Tints Parked at a Hydrant Near Stationhouse

The discovery is a gruesome demonstration of the NYPD's systemic failure to enforce parking rules around its own station houses.

December 8, 2025

Who Rides on the Sidewalk? To NYPD, Just Blacks and Hispanics

The NYPD has ramped up its enforcement against cyclists for squeezing pedestrians, but in a very suspect manner.

December 8, 2025
See all posts