Despite the support of every Community Board that borders Central Park, the city DOT has shot down a temporary automobile ban along the park "loop" without explanation. The proposal would have kept motor vehicles out of the park loop at all times for a summertime trial period, during which researchers were to collect data on how the change affects traffic. Community Boards 5, 7, 8, 9, and 11 all voted for the trial, and the transportation committees of Community Boards 1 and 10 voted unanimously for it. But the DOT has not responded to requests for comment, only issuing a terse, cryptic statement that "there are no plans at this time." What the deuce is going on here?
We can only speculate, but the refusal to implement the trial does seem to be part of a current pattern of "circling the wagons" at the DOT, in reaction to media mudslinging about the supposedly imperious manner in which the department has expanded bike lanes. The heat was turned up to full blast on the DOT earlier this year when residents of Prospect Park West filed a lawsuit to erase the bike lane along Prospect Park, and the tabloids have repeatedly peddled the canard that the DOT shoved the bike lane down residents' throats, when in fact the DOT installed it (and other bike lanes) at the request of the local community board.
"It doesn't make any sense," Mel Wymore, chairman of Community Board 7, tells the Daily News. "There's no downside to this." For more informed speculation, astute Streetsblog commenter dave "paco" abraham writes, "So Bay Ridge Parkway bike lane scrapped, Fort Greene's Lafayette Ave bike lane scrapped, Fort Hamilton pedestrian refuge island scrapped. This year's cautious DOT wants to only do what has overwhelming community board support. Yet, a car-free central park with the blessing of every CB that borders it is out of the question?! WTF? DOT is really screwing themselves with this one, as well as every park user." And Streetsblog commenter mwalker notes, "The timing of this event coincides queasily with the Times' opportunistically confusing hatchet job on the mayor's use of pilot projects."
For now, at least, Central Park remains a true urban oasis only on weekends and certain weekday hours. The DOT won't elaborate, but Transportation Alternatives spokesperson Michael Murphy tells us, "Central Park is New York's backyard and New Yorkers don't want cars zooming through it any more than we want highways cutting through our living rooms. Every community board in the area has recognized this and it's time for the DOT to stop dragging their feet and give Central Park back to New Yorkers."
