By Philip Newman
Weinshall testified at a public hearing last Thursday as the Council Transportation Committee considered legislation to require the city Department of Transportation to take more responsibility for relieving traffic and emissions pollution.Weinshall disagreed with observations by some Council members and advocates that vehicle jam-ups south of 60th Street in Manhattan were worse than ever.”We would not call this a crisis, but rather a challenge,” she said. Weinshall said her agency's statistics showed that in 2000 before the World Trade Center attack, 978,487 vehicles entered Manhattan's central business district compared with 943,381 in 2005, the most recent year for which figures were available.Weinshall said it might seem that traffic is more chaotic today because SUVs and other vehicles have become so large that some motorists' view in front of them is blocked.Weinshall said her agency agreed with the spirit of the proposal but suggested it might be premature. She said the DOT would have new statistics available for the goal of the proposed legislation in two years.The commissioner, who has announced that she will resign to become vice chancellor of the City University of New York for facilities planning, also cautioned that although the aim of the Council was to get people out of cars and into mass transit, “you have got to make it worthwhile or people will go back to their cars.”The proposed legislation under consideration would require the DOT to develop new performance goals such as reducing both commute times and limiting traffic congestion. It would also involve lessening of household exposure to roadway emissions, reducing the number of motorists driving into Manhattan and increasing efficient movement of commercial traffic. The DOT would have to report annually on its progress in such categories.”New York City is booming, but it is not moving,” said Councilwoman Gale Brewer (D-Manhattan), who introduced the proposal.Paul Steely White, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, an advocacy agency, expressed dissatisfaction with some responses of the DOT.”The fundamental problem is that our city Department of Transportation still, in the year 2007, is measuring street performance in terms of cars, not in terms of people. Despite the fact that the majority of New York City households and a whopping 80 percent of households in Manhattan, do not even own a car,” White said.”According to a recent study, 25 percent of all cars on a typical Manhattan street were on the street for the sole purpose of circling the block in search of parking,” White said. Gene Russianoff, attorney for the transit advocacy agency Straphangers Campaign, said the offer of free parking for many local, state and some federal workers encouraged thousands to drive into Manhattan rather than use mass transit. “How many parking permits are issued annually by the city of New York?” Russianoff asked.Reach reporter Phil Newman by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300 Ext. 136.
