Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Log In
Streetsblog NY

NY Mayor Has Yet to Say Traffic Is More Dangerous Than Painted Breasts

7:44 AM PDT on August 24, 2015

Mayor de Blasio had a chance today to quell the uproar over his suggestion that the city may rip out the Times Square pedestrian plazas. Instead he equivocated and didn't take the idea off the table:

Here's what Bill de Blasio told NY1 today about the Times Square pedestrian plazas pic.twitter.com/kKQpF4OJlC

— Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) August 21, 2015

This issue is now much bigger than the plazas themselves (and the plazas themselves are a big deal -- the city's most recognizable public space, used by hundreds of thousands of people each day).

De Blasio has made street safety and the elimination of traffic deaths a signature policy goal. Until this episode with the plazas, the main question about City Hall's commitment to those goals was whether the mayor and his deputies were moving fast enough. Advocates could contest whether de Blasio, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, and others were doing everything politically feasible to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries. But at least things were moving in the right direction.

Now the whole enterprise is feeling disingenuous.

We know that making Broadway car-free through Times Square has, among other benefits, cut pedestrian injuries by 40 percent even as the number of people using the space has soared. Reversing that progress, in whole or in part, runs completely counter to the principles of Vision Zero that the administration purportedly espouses.

A day after the idea of ripping up the plazas surfaced in what could charitably be ascribed to off-the-cuff remarks, de Blasio could have reasserted the primacy of pedestrian safety as a core value. He didn't. If the mayor thinks people might be better off exposed to moving traffic than painted breasts, how seriously should anyone take his commitment to Vision Zero?

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

Metro Board Looks to Approve $65 Million for 91 Freeway Widening Projects

Metro staff are recommending the board approve funds to support two 91 Freeway expansion projects located in pollution-burdened communities in Southeast L.A. County - in the cities of Long Beach, Artesia, and Cerritos

September 20, 2023

Study: How Low-Income People Really Use Micromobility

Shared bikes and scooters are meeting low-income people's basic mobility needs — but they're not being subsidized like it.

September 20, 2023

Caltrans “Shakeup” Is a Bad Sign

Why was one of Caltrans' most staunch advocates for sanity within Caltrans "reassigned"?

September 19, 2023

North Hollywood CicLAvia CicLAmini – Open Thread

Thousands of Angelenos crowded North Hollywood streets and businesses. Participants explored on skates, wheelchairs, feet, and bikes.

September 19, 2023
See all posts