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August 2, 2006
Mayor Bloomberg Says NYC Traffic Congestion is Good
StreetsBlog
By Alec Appelbaum
If you're stuck in traffic at the intersection of Atlantic, Flatbush and 4th Avenue, don't expect any sympathy from Mayor Bloomberg. Short of letting them eat cake, the Mayor declared: "We like traffic, it means economic activity, it means people coming here."
The bottom line question to the Mayor and those who hold fast to the dying idea that Traffic = Economic Growth is this: If increasing traffic congestion is the sign of vibrant, growing economy, what happens when New York City reaches a traffic saturation point? What happens when we simply can't squeeze any more cars and trucks into the city's 19th century street grid? Must economic growth stop?
That question is most clearly being answered in the neighborhoods around Mayor Bloomberg's favored mega-development projects, most notably Manhattan's West Side Stadium and Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards. These projects are being fought and killed largely on the grounds that the traffic congestion they will generate is unmanagable and lethal to community life and local business.
Posted by lumi at August 2, 2006 10:34 PM