A proposal to ban cars on the Central Park Drives for the summer has been approved by five community boards that neighbor the park, and a City Council bill calling for it was introduced this year, but the proposal has run into fierce resistance from the Bloomberg administration although the city's transportation commission is said to be a fan, according to an article in today's edition of The New York Times by Michael M. Grynbaum.
Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner, supports the idea of a car-free Central Park, according to two people familiar with her thinking, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid straining a relationship with the commissioner, the article said.
The park drives, which act as bucolic shortcuts to and from Midtown, are open to automobiles only during certain hours on weekdays, the article said, adding that City Hall has stayed "curiously coy, a surprising stance for an administration that usually relishes a chance to elevate pedestrians and bicycles over automobiles."
"Some advocates suspect that political fear has something to do with the city's reluctance. The Transportation Department has run into stiff criticism on its high-profile initiatives, and the city is preparing for a major publicity push later this year in support of a new public bicycle-sharing program that would install kiosks in parks, parking spaces and sidewalks throughout the city. One aide conceded that City Hall had hoped to avoid publicity on the Central Park matter," the article said.
"Mel Wymore, the chairman of Community Board 7, who has spearheaded the most recent proposal, said he had been told by a Transportation Department official that the city wanted to gather more data on how a closing would affect traffic on neighboring streets. But Mr. Wymore said the tone did not sound positive. 'We've gotten no indication that there's an inclination to do this now or in the future,' he said," the article said.
The article said that "Henry Stern, a former parks commissioner, said he believed that adjacent streets and avenues might be flooded with traffic if the drives were closed," adding that "this administration is not what you call auto-friendly," and "the auto extremists will not be satisfied until the last automobile engine is crushed in a compactor."
Janette Sadik-Khan, the transportation commissioner, supports the idea of a car-free Central Park, according to two people familiar with her thinking, who asked to remain anonymous to avoid straining a relationship with the commissioner, the article said.
The park drives, which act as bucolic shortcuts to and from Midtown, are open to automobiles only during certain hours on weekdays, the article said, adding that City Hall has stayed "curiously coy, a surprising stance for an administration that usually relishes a chance to elevate pedestrians and bicycles over automobiles."
"Some advocates suspect that political fear has something to do with the city's reluctance. The Transportation Department has run into stiff criticism on its high-profile initiatives, and the city is preparing for a major publicity push later this year in support of a new public bicycle-sharing program that would install kiosks in parks, parking spaces and sidewalks throughout the city. One aide conceded that City Hall had hoped to avoid publicity on the Central Park matter," the article said.
"Mel Wymore, the chairman of Community Board 7, who has spearheaded the most recent proposal, said he had been told by a Transportation Department official that the city wanted to gather more data on how a closing would affect traffic on neighboring streets. But Mr. Wymore said the tone did not sound positive. 'We've gotten no indication that there's an inclination to do this now or in the future,' he said," the article said.
The article said that "Henry Stern, a former parks commissioner, said he believed that adjacent streets and avenues might be flooded with traffic if the drives were closed," adding that "this administration is not what you call auto-friendly," and "the auto extremists will not be satisfied until the last automobile engine is crushed in a compactor."
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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