Hey, isn't the darling, beloved Hudson River Greenway kind of near some major car road or other?

Hm, maybe there ought to be some sort of car-free travel space INSIDE the island, not so close to highways. But of course that's just a CRAZY idea.

However, I think I see where you are going. There are certainly higher and better uses for street space than dedication to free or nearly free automobile movement and storage . Think of Vision42, and how many more thousands of people could be moved via 42nd Street if the traffic was banned and a light-rail system with its own right-of-way was installed.

There are also better uses for on-street parking than practically free automobile parking. Think of the Williamsburg bike parking which will be of value to many more people than the couple of car spaces removed, or think of all the parking spot squats that have shown how much more life can take place in the amount of public space dedicated to cheap private automobile storage.

Once we stop viewing "streets" as synonymous with underpriced movement and storage of private automobiles do we find that they retain their value no matter how high the highest-and-best off-street land values climb.

Sometimes you just don't get involved in an issue until it hits closer to home. Well, I live just blocks from the FDR, and have a kid on the way. Unlike seemingly most readers here, I have been on the fence about congestion pricing and tolling the East River Bridges. Well, reading this study has certainly made me start to lean. (Wow, Miss Representation is right, parents are annoying.)

AD is right on the scarcity of East Side gas stations. Since market forces tell us that there are "higher, better uses" for private land than gas stations, doesn't that also suggest that there are "higher, better uses" for the ~25-40% of public land devoted to streeets?

More to the point, my son (now four) has asthma. We do have a family history of atopic breathing ailments - chronic sinusitis, asthma, emphysema - but I don't think it helped that for the first year of his life we lived just a block from the intersection of the BQE and the LIE in Queens. There were a lot of cemetaries around, but I don't think they did enough to clear the air.

We've since moved to a different part of the neighborhood, and the BQE is six blocks away at the closest point, but we've also got Queens Boulevard and Northern Boulevard to deal with. His asthma has gotten more manageable, but it's still there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBJdjPPehlo

While there was only one family out on the day I filmed this clip, this playground is one of a small handful of open spaces in this part of town and it gets quite a bit of use. I feel sorry for these kids having to play in the exhaust, but I suppose its better than having no playground.

It's hard to say whether the residents of this "swank" neighborhood who use this playground recognize the danger posed by the exhaust. Ignorance of the exhaust-pulmonary disease link may well have as much to do tolerance for this kind of set-up as class-based agendas.

Given Robert Moses's original decision to put this playground next to the FDR (and atop an old Standard Oil site, brilliant!), the only way to reduce exposure to exhaust in the playground is to reduce traffic. But the city should consider using zoning restrictions to keep gas stations away from playgrounds. Gas stations are not only a major source of exhaust, but also incredibly dangerous for kids, as the drivers treat the adjacent sidewalks as part of the road.

Here's the history of the playground, including a story about the visionary and innovative leadership of another great civil servant, Henry Stern:

http://nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=6368

Who cares if London's transportation agency has set targets to reduce air pollution and is responsible for monitoring the data and is successfully reducing all kinds of dangerous emissions. Iris is the first to tell you that New York City isn't London.