Through dreary rain, late Monday afternoon, I dodged jammed Madison Avenue traffic to the Municipal Art Society office in exquisite remains of the Villard Mansion. There NYC’s Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan explained her strategic plan for “Sustainable Streets.” The wine flowed, the sushi, ginger & wasabi were fresh (even without soy sauce), the tabuli tangy, the tapinade, salty.

People packed shoulder to shoulder, making dancing to the swing trio impractical. Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler was there, as was NYPC Commissioner Ray Kelly (Kelly was so freshly dressed, so creased, so unwrinkled, so calm, he glowed. I’ll bet he didn’t cycle over.) The overwhelmingly white, suited crowd had a few cycling advocates mixed in: Transportation Alternatives’ Paul Steely White in his signature vest, Straphanger Gene Russianoff in cacki chinos, Karen Overton, formerly of Recycle-A Bicycle. But, for me the big news was who was missing: I saw no elected officials at all.  read more »

Location

Secret Legislation? When, a couple of days ago, I asked State Senator John Sabini about congestion pricing, he replied, he’d seen no specific legislation. As it turns out, the actual state legislation required for Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030 is still secret. NYC’s draft of enabling legislation has been shared with the Governor’s staff but with no one else. Legislation in the dark continues, it appears, after day one. Via Daily Politics is a report which suggests that some or all of the draft may become less secret Monday when the Mayor goes to Albany to lobby for his plan.

Less regressive? Advocates of congestion pricing sometimes hate to hear voiced the (in my opinion fair)  read more »