Livable Streets

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (pictured right) emphasized quality of life issues in his annual State of the City address last week. Most significant, Newsom put forward an ambitious transportation agenda and laid out specific targets for increasing bicycling and reducing automobile use:

For the last month, since I broke my ankle, New York has ceased to be the same place for me. At least in terms of getting around the city, the landscape has been dramatically transformed. Week 1 was spent in relative isolation at my parents house on Staten Island where they were nice enough to shuttle me around to the few places I need to go. I felt like I was 10 years old again -- though, at 10, I rode my bike all over hilly Staten Island, so you could say I had more independence then. The week after, I came back to Manhattan. Various people had sort of warned me, "Oh, how are you going to get around in Manhattan." I must say, at first I had my doubts about getting around town, but I was able to be much more independent than out in Suburban Staten Island.

March 1996: Residents in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, and Boerum Hill are tired of their streets absorbing overflow from the nearby Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Neighborhood groups have tried repeatedly to convince the City to protect the neighborhoods from rush hour through traffic. So far, the City has done nothing but promise further study. DOT officials have even criticized residents for not wanting to serve as doormats for Manhattan-bound motorists. Residents are now considering civil disobedience to protect their safety and quality of life....

More evidence that hockey -- and livable streets -- aren't just "a white thing." From the New York Times' Metropolitan Diary (along with a photo sent in by the author)...

The MTA's response to the annual Pokey Awards ceremony is always worth looking out for. Rather than using the publicity generated by the event to build political capital for some bus service improvement or another, the Transit Authority's response falls somewhere between defensive and infuriated. This year's statement is a doozy and reminiscent of Mayor Bloomberg's famous remark, "We like traffic, it means economic activity, it means people coming here." Here's what the MTA had to say:

The Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association is holding a rally tomorrow in response to two horrific car killings in Boerum Hill in recent weeks. AABA has been fighting for years for more neighborhood-friendly traffic policies along the Avenue. Here are the details:

Project for Public Spaces just published a great piece of work that is very much worth a download. The paper is called "Nine Ways to Transform New York into a City of Great Places." From the introduction:

Copenhagen is getting all the attention lately, but it's not the only livable European city with great cycling facilities.