For many reasons, some known, some not known, the New York City Department of Transportation is still mostly stuck in the SimCity Classic phase of urban planning thinking, closer to Robert Moses than Jane Jacobs. While they did recently suggest, to the surprise of many observers, converting a segment of Willoughby Street in Downtown Brooklyn to be pedestrian-only, DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall continues to insist that the Central Park Loop Drive is a “critical transportation link for commuters” and to make other false and misleading statements about the Yankee Stadium plan, Central Park, and others.

TSTC suggests this is a consequence of having no overarching transportation policies the way other cities do. The City Council’s best member, Gale Brewer, clearly agrees and must have read Jane Jacobs or played more modern versions of SimCity, because she introduced a bill laying out a general policy aim of reducing traffic and car/truck pollution, and mandating that the DOT develop specific “performance targets” around this goal.

David Alpert created Greater Greater Washington in 2008 and was its executive director until 2020. He formerly worked in tech and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco Bay, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He lives with his wife and two children in Dupont Circle.