Bloomberg Touches on Safe Streets, Pricing in State of the City

bloomberg.jpgMayor Bloomberg delivered his seventh State of the City Address yesterday morning at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The speech had several nuggets of news and info related to livable streets issues.

Touting the good news from 2007, the Mayor noted that New York City’s streets are getting safer:

In 2007, we made the safest big city in the nation safer than it has been in generations. The fewest traffic deaths in nearly a century. Historic lows in jail violence. Historic lows in fire fatalities. And the fewest homicides recorded in modern history. This is New York City today.

And, in a roundabout admission that more can be done to improve safety, Bloomberg mentioned a new initiative aimed at making the city more livable for senior citizens (like his own 99-year-old mom), taking a page from Transportation Alternatives’ Safe Routes for Seniors program:

Today I’m announcing a major effort called ‘The All Ages Project.’ In collaboration with the City Council and the New York Academy of Medicine, this project will completely re-envision what it means to grow old in New York… For instance: How can we ensure that more seniors are cared for in their own homes, rather than in institutions? And how do we make our city easier to get around in? Next month, we will begin to address that second challenge with traffic engineering improvements at 25 high-accident areas which are especially problematic for seniors.

He wrapped up with a lengthy push for PlaNYC initiatives, including a brief pitch for congestion pricing:

With the State’s blessing, we’ll also use technology to create a system of congestion pricing — something no other American city has done. It will help us achieve four critical, inter-connected goals: reducing traffic congestion; raising money for mass transit; improving our air quality; and fighting climate change.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

First Impressions of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC Testimony…

|
Did you watch Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing testimony before the New York State legislature? If so, what did you think? Here is the initial impression of John Kaehny, former executive director of Transportation Alternatives:  Mayor Bloomberg’s advocacy for congestion pricing and public transit to a State assembly panel was the most amazing thing I have […]

NYC’s Next Four Years: From Good Enough to Great

|
Mayor Bloomberg has already shown how much his administration can accomplish in just a few years. Since Janette Sadik-Khan’s appointment to head the DOT in 2007, the city has striped hundreds of miles of bike lanes, reclaimed acres of street space for pedestrians and improved bus travel for tens of thousands of New Yorkers. “More […]

Sunday Times City Section Hits Livable Street Trifecta

|
Priorities for New York’s New Year (Editorial)Traffic Congestion. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has offered a dazzling and hopeful plan to prepare the city for what is expected to be a substantial rise in population during the next quarter century, but unless the number of motorists is reduced, New Yorkers will choke on their own gridlock. Mr. […]

PlaNYC 2030 Community Meeting on a Sustainable NYC

|
From Transportation Alternatives: Mayor Bloomberg is considering some bold changes to New York City’s streets and he needs to hear that you support them. Over the next three weeks, his honor’s PlaNYC team will host a Town Hall meeting in every borough to hear New Yorkers’ ideas about creating a sustainable city that can accommodate […]

PlaNYC 2030 Community Meeting on a Sustainable NYC

|
From Transportation Alternatives: Mayor Bloomberg is considering some bold changes to New York City’s streets and he needs to hear that you support them. Over the next three weeks, his honor’s PlaNYC team will host a Town Hall meeting in every borough to hear New Yorkers’ ideas about creating a sustainable city that can accommodate […]

PlaNYC 2030 Community Meeting on a Sustainable NYC

|
From Transportation Alternatives: Mayor Bloomberg is considering some bold changes to New York City’s streets and he needs to hear that you support them. Over the next three weeks, his honor’s PlaNYC team will host a Town Hall meeting in every borough to hear New Yorkers’ ideas about creating a sustainable city that can accommodate […]