Roads

Bravo Gale

by David Alpert   •   April 15, 2006 5:10 pm

For many reasons, some known, some not known, the New York City Department of Transportation is still mostly stuck in the 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 is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater.