Comments on: Good Stuff in This Week’s Mobilizing the Region

By: Red

Red — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:33:20 +0000

Angus, I will second you that Ferry Street and the Ironbound are a great street and neighborhood, respectively. Still, it's amazing that even there such basic amenities as pedestrian crossing signals are missing (at least on my last visit, which was about two months ago).

By: lee

lee — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:28:50 +0000

i haven't discussed it on this blog, as far as i remember.
if congestion pricing is going to fail i would rather the city do something to allevate congestion and reduce emissions instead of nothing.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 13:46:40 +0000

lee - haven't we all been thru this discussion already? such a ban wouldn't raise funds for transit expansion.

By: lee

lee — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 04:12:35 +0000

the single occupant vehicle ban that was put into effect after 9/11 and during the transit strike would probably result in a larger reduction in traffic than congestion pricing would.

By: L. Craig Schoonmaker

L. Craig Schoonmaker — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 18:12:16 +0000

The greatest danger for pedestrians and drivers in Newark is the insane insistence of myriad pedestrians on walking in the street rather than the sidewalk, chatting with drivers on the street side of the car, and generally treating the streets as tho they were sidewalks or parks. Even where there are wide, smooth, well-lited sidewalks, Newarkers by the thousands walk in the streets with total disregard of traffic, at all hours of day and nite. People with dark skin wear dark clothing and walk in the streets with their backs to traffic and headphones over their ears, or mosey across traffic lanes between intersections and against the lite, assuming they are much more easily visible than they really are. People who don't drive don't understand how hard it is to see little pedestrians when you're watching out for big vehicles, at nite, in the rain, with the glare of oncoming headlites, especially on wet pavement. Newark has a hugely disproportionate percentage of the entire state's deaths to pedestrians precisely because of this. The city has got to crack down on this.

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 01:27:16 +0000

From the original article:

Walking tours (MTR #542) prove much can be done to improve pedestrian safety in the resurgent city.

And from the mentioned issue 542:

The pedestrian environment in Newark is similarly hostile. Last week, Tri-State and staff of La Casa de Don Pedro and other Newark activists, walked a portion of Bloomfield Avenue to identify truck route indicators and pedestrian safety hazards. Not one truck route sign was spotted, and many trucks were illegally traveling on residential streets. Generally, Newark streets are designed for through traffic, not for local residents walking around: streets are overly-wide, walking signals and crosswalks are lacking and students lack safe walking routes to school. Street signs pointing drivers to the convention center and other attractions are in perfect condition, while signs about local parking, truck regulations and bus routes are covered in graffiti. Newark has twelve of the state’s 25 most dangerous intersections, and 44% of Newark residents do not have access to a car.

Ferry Street is actually one of the nicest, most pedestrian-friendly parts of Newark, and it's a great place to go for Portuguese food. The subway is also worth a trip for transit buffs, although it's not as interesting as it was when they still ran the PCC cars. The other parts of Newark I've been to have been pretty hostile to pedestrians, particularly around Branch Brook Park, which seems to be treated by the city as an extra-wide parkway.

By: Gary

Gary — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 21:12:47 +0000

It's been a long road and a long way still to go, but Newark is on its way back.

I spent three years commuting to law school there from 2002-2005, and the infrastructure is pretty tremendous. The riots and white flight of the '60s have been difficult to overcome, but there has been tremendous investment downtown. The newly expanded light rail and subway system; extensive rail network; considerable white collar, gov, and university employment. Dormitory capacity is finally being increased. Spaces around the university campus are gentrifying.

Newark's got a good ways to go, but the current leadership is solid and a heap of investment is starting to pay off.