Florent Morellet. Photo: Kevin Cooley/New York MagazineAs City Council Member Alan Gerson attempts to codify opposition to livable streets improvements, Lower Manhattan restaurateur Florent Morellet (a.k.a. the "Unofficial Mayor of the Meatpacking District") has filed a refreshing op-ed in The Villager, touting the commercial benefits of cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure.
Our excerpt offers a taste, but this myth-busting column deserves a full read.
Regarding loss of business due to loss of vehicular traffic, I have a couple of points to make:
First,every study seems to show the same very low number of actual customersdriving in and around the city, under 20 percent. The more on-streetparking, the more traffic generated by cars searching for spaces,reaching close to 40 percent of traffic in Soho on some days.
Second,the latest loss of business in Little Italy has to be taken with agrain of salt; there is not one friend of mine who has not seen hisrestaurant business drop dramatically as of late. With the greatestcollapse of Wall St. ever, I don’t think it is fair to blame businessloss on the little [Grand Street] bike lane that could.
Furthermore,my former restaurant — Florent, on Gansevoort St. — did very well whenpeople could park. It did better when people couldn’t park. And whentraffic came to a standstill because of the nightlife, it was packed.
NewYork is not so different from London, Paris and other cities. If youmake it attractive to people — i.e. pedestrians — they will find theirway and come en masse. Businesses will flourish.
