Some great displays of carbrain in this article.
DeSeta also likened one of the groups advocating for the open street, Transportation Alternatives, to the National Rifle Association.
“TA is a multi-million-dollar not-for-profit lobbying organization. And you know what non-profit lobbyists could be? NRA is a not-for-profit, so, ya know, not-for-profit is a loosey-goosey term,” she said.
…
Like DeSeta, Herb Alter, who lives at 103rd Street and West End Avenue, objected, as many opponents typically do, to the “process” by which decisions were made when he was otherwise engaged. During the pandemic, he said, he and his ill wife decamped to their East Hampton second home — and the first he had heard about the open street was at the local dog run upon his return to the city last year.
Basically, a bunch of 70 year-old rich white people who live in a neighborhood where 73% of people do not own cars are trying to get rid of some intense traffic calming the city did during Covid because they lost 13 parking spaces.
It boggles the mind that there are people who live in Manhattan and choose to own cars without a dedicated place to keep them.
“Under my window alone I’ve had a shootout — guns blazing between cars. So my understanding is you’ll have benches in the middle of the street and people can gather. It’s not a great place between Amsterdam and Broadway to open up to the nefarious folks, you know.”
God this is frustrating. Literally sees problems happening with the cars and somehow assumes it will be worse without the cars.
Oh, look, it’s like a little small scale representation of the US in general. You’ve got:
-Frustrated young people with reasonable takes
-Outnumbered by angry old rich people with nothing better to do than complain that government isn’t catering to their and only their exact needs.
-Working age adults were too busy, burned out, and broke to attend.
The bit where the guy is saying he didn’t know (or care) about the change because he fled to his second home during COVID really just sends it, I think.
“Why am I so angry? My 11-year-old-son was killed by a reckless driver on a I-95 and I almost died also, and I did not ask everybody in Connecticut to give up their cars,” she said.
You should have. And by opposing traffic calming projects like this, you’re only condemning someone else’s 11-year-old son to the same fate.
Look, her kid died so yours should too. Stopping kids from getting killed by cars wouldn’t be fair to all the kids who have already been killed by cars.
73% do not own cars I’m betting there’s an age difference that comes into play between those who do and don’t. The 50s and 60s car propaganda went hard.
Nobody is more abused, harassed, and trampled upon than old wealthy white people.
This is my neighborhood, so I apologize for not knowing about (or attending) this awful-looking meeting. Needless to say these obnoxious attendees are a loud minority that don’t represent the community.
edit: just signed up to help out with ParkToPark103 going forward.
