Mayor Bloomberg is presenting his penultimate State of the City address at this hour. His prepared remarks, which we've excerpted below, include more regarding livable streets than we've seen since 2008, and the most any mayor has said about bike policy in a State of the City address. The big transportation issue last year was "Five Borough" taxi service. In a video shown before today's conference, the mayor is depicted arriving at Morris High School in the Bronx after hailing a Town Car.
From today's speech:
We’ll also make our city smarter and safer by deploying Traffic Enforcement Agents to safety hot spots at key intersections, doubling the number of 20 mile-per-hour zones for schools, and continuing adding more miles of protected bike lanes.
Now, I realize the debate over bike lanes has sometimes been hot and heavy. But the reality is more and more New Yorkers are biking, and the more bike lanes we put in, the fewer deaths and serious injuries we have on our streets.
This year, we’ll take steps to enforce the law requiring every delivery rider to have proper safety equipment and clothing that identifies the name of the business. At the same time, we’ll launch the largest bike share program of any city in the country. Those bikes will create another option for getting around town faster and easier, and so will new Select Bus Service in Brooklyn, which we’ll launch in partnership with MTA Chairman Joe Lhota.
Watch it live here.
Update: Bloomberg also talked a little about parks and waterfront development. Read more after the jump.
All across the city, we’ll continue reclaiming and revitalizing our waterfront. We’ll open Rockaway Park in Queens. We’ll complete the reconstruction of McCarren Pool in Williamsburg, and the first phase of Calvert Vaux Park in Bensonhurst and we’ll transform Pier 5 of Brooklyn Bridge Park into soccer fields and open space.
Here in the South Bronx, we’ll begin construction of Soundview Park. And out in the harbor, we’ll continue transforming the island that time passed by, with 30 new acres of parkland that will make Governors Island one of the great waterfront destinations in the world.
And across the city, we’ll join with AT&T to bring Wi-Fi service to a dozen city parks -- so even if you’re enjoying a beautiful day, you can still work or study or play 'Words with Friends.'
Reclaiming the waterfront and wiring our parks are just two of the ways we’re re-orienting our city around the needs of people today, not the needs of people 30 years ago.
