January 22, 2008

Walkers Unite! DeVehicularize NYC!

Here are resources for create a sane, civilized Manhattan where we can walk in peace, unafraid of reckless, power crazy drivers. Although these web sites are specific for NYC, anyone who lives in a city should visit these sites to learn what can be done to take back your city. If you are a New Yorker, please sign the petition to put the heat on the Mayor, then pass it on!
WHAT IS AUTO-FREE NY?
A movement aimed at exploring and achieving the upper limit of "devehicularization" of our nation's largest city. Get cars out of our parks. Curb the reckless motorists who dominate our streets. Increase pedestrian space and safety. Invest in new transit options and expansion and make bicycling better. A livable city is possible!
P.S. Please also attend the monthly Regional Rail Working Group meetings. This group showcases the efforts of individuals from a variety of transit advocacy groups to awaken our region's sleeping giant, its commuter rail system. The RRWG's next meeting is Wednesday, January 23, 2008 [note that for this month the meeting is a week later than our usual third Wednesday of each month). This month we add a new participating group to the six already on board: Sane Aviation for Everyone, Inc. (SAFE).P.P.S.
The marvelous Vision 42 website lays out the case for restoring light rail to 42nd Street (and for a historical perspective, we lay out four roller-coaster years of late '90's newsclips about the trolley proposal). Finally, with more than 800 million cars bearing down on our planet, and multi-national corporations buying up governments in order to double that number, it's time to get active! The organization Carbusters hosts a World Car-Free Day every year.
vision42 is a citizens' initiative to re-imagine and upgrade surface transit in Midtown Manhattan, with a low-floor light rail line running river-to-river along 42nd Street within a landscaped pedestrian boulevard. vision42 could be a prototype for a whole network of landscaped, pedestrian/light rail streets throughout the city. It is sponsored by the Institute for Rational Urban Mobility, a New York-based not-for-profit corporation. Learn More
Sign the Petition
If you like the vision42 proposal, please please sign our ONLINE PETITION or copy the following letter and send it to Mayor Bloomberg at:
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
FAX (212) 788-2460
E-MAIL: http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
Letter to Mayor Bloomberg
To: Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
Letter to Mayor Bloomberg
To: Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Dear Mayor Bloomberg:
We urge you to reassess the role of the automobile in our pedestrian-and-mass-transit city. New Yorkers and visitors from around the world deserve an alternative to the current overcrowded sidewalks and sooty gridlock caused by cars and buses along 42nd Street. There is another way! Property owners, straphangers, tourists, theater goers, security consultants, disability advocates, and community groups are all getting behind the vision42 proposal to convert 42nd Street into a landscaped, auto-free light rail boulevard.
The vision42 plan can, within tight time and budget constraints, provide a low-floor, pedestrian-friendly light rail line running river-to-river in a dedicated right-of-way, within a vastly improved walking environment. It should very nicely complement the subways, creating first class surface transit that will be a truly effective competitor to private motoring. The landscaped, auto-free street will become a destination in itself, rather than a place to be avoided. And the vision42 project could even set the pace for a future network of such streets throughout the City’s five boroughs.
We hereby request the City of New York to seriously consider the vision42 plan as a dynamic alternative to the continued dysfunctional condition of surface transit and the walking environment on this very central street of our city and region.
Sincerely,

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