Residents Rally for Car-Free Central Park

NEW YORK — Waving white petition sheets in the air, stroller moms, runners, cyclists, dog walkers and other Central Park enthusiasts rallied in Central Park Monday afternoon to call for a car-free Central Park loop.

The rally was organized by the non-profit citizen group Transportation Alternatives, a 5,500 member New York City-based group whose Web site says its goal is to provide safer, calmer streets and car-free parks. Transportation Alternatives is asking Mayor Michael Bloomberg to close off the Central Park loop to all car traffic for a three-month trial period in the summer of 2006.

The loop has been closed for previous occasions, such as during the art installation, “The Gates,” earlier this year, races through the park, and other events. A Department of Transportation study was done during “The Gates” closing and, according to Transportation Alternatives member Ken Coughlin, only one intersection experienced an increase in traffic of four additional cars per minute.

The group has recently run a speed test of their own to record the unsafe traffic conditions for runners and others in the park. According to their results, 99.99 percent of the morning traffic they clocked using a radar gun was speeding. Of the 694 cars clocked on three separate mornings in September, only one was traveling at or below the posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour. The average speed was just less than 37 mph.

Transportation Alternative Executive Director Paul Steely White jokingly has the petition signature count at 99,999 and is reserving the 100,000th signature for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. White, who led the crowd of several hundred park goers (mostly upper west siders) in chanting slogans, introduced several speakers at the rally near the Tavern on the Green restaurant, including State Assemblymen Scott Stringer and city council member Gail Brewer, both of whom represent the Upper West Side.

Assemblyman Stringer stressed the need for a city planner that will consider the health and safety of New Yorkers and Council Member Brewer spoke in favor of the three-month trial period next year.

Several rally participants also said that the city needs a safer place to ride bikes and participate in other recreational activities. Lisa Anastasi, a clothing designer who lives in Grammercy Park, has been knocked off her bike three times this year by cars, most recently by a passenger exiting a taxi, who opened the door right in front of her.

Adam Sokulow, 60, who has lived in Manhattan’s upper west side for 20 years, said, “I have been harassed by the cars. I roller blade, bike and walk in the park. The cars come too close, they forget they are a big hunk of metal!”

Transportation Alternatives is hoping Mayor Bloomberg will agree to the three-month car-free trial run next summer, failing that the group will take its 100,000 signatures to the City Council and request a resolution. Quoting the late Fred Lebow, the former director of the New York Road Runners Club, Paul Steely White urged Mayor Bloomberg to provide Central Parkers with clean air to breath and to “return Central Park, the crown jewel of New York, to its original purpose.”