New Yorkers of color are far less likely to live near car-free pedestrian plazas than white residents, according to a report published Tuesday by the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives.
The report shows residents of City Council districts where a majority of the population is non-white are 37% less likely to live within a half-mile of a plaza than the citywide average. Residents in districts where the majority of residents are Black are 40% less likely to live close to a plaza than the rest of the city, according to the analysis.
The disparity is “not an accident,” said Elizabeth Adams, the Transportation Alternative’s deputy executive director. She pointed out that most New Yorkers don’t own a car — and said areas reserved for pedestrians improve quality of life.
“I think a lot of the history of city planning has been designed with more affluent communities, and neighborhoods, in mind,” she said. “We’ve seen that play out across New York, and that’s why looking at the data – and seeing where there is access to public space, and where there isn’t, where there are fewer traffic crashes and where there are faster bus lanes – all of these are overlaid by racial and economic inequities in our city.”
The report shows there are more New Yorkers living within walking distance of a pedestrian plaza in Council district 1 – which covers parts of lower Manhattan including Tribeca, SoHo and the Financial District – than all the people who live within walking distance of a plaza in 26 other districts.
Transportation Alternatives argues Mayor Eric Adams should install more pedestrian plazas in diverse neighborhoods. The mayor has failed to meet a mandate passed by the City Council in 2019 requiring the transportation department to build 1 million square feet of new pedestrian space by the end of 2023, the report notes.
The report says parking spots near subway entrances and slip lanes — which allow cars to turn faster at intersections —…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply