Comments on: The Third Term

By: AlexB

AlexB — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:29:00 +0000

I am a liberal Democrat. I would have loved to vote for Thompson, but why? What was his platform besides promises and generalities? There wasn’t much in the way of specific policy issues I could think of. The way he wanted to undo some of the pedestrian plazas and new bike lanes was just appalling. The reason he did is well as he did is because he isn’t the rich guy who bought the vote. Anybody could have done as well. I’ll take the arrogant technocrat any day if he can get the right things done. I voted for Sadik-Khan more than Bloomberg. She rocks.

By: Resa

Resa — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:05:32 +0000

“The Democratic Party — purported defender of the working class and the environment — failed to make the connection between urban transportation, economic opportunity, and sustainability. “

Which is exactly why I didn’t vote for Thompson. I didn’t vote for Bloomberg either. That left me with Rev. Billy.

Frankly, we deserve better.

By: JK

JK — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:24:49 +0000

While I think transportation/livable streets are important, the exit polls have 3% of voters responding that transportation was their highest priority. “Transportation” is a broad term that could mean everything to people from transit fare hikes to protected bike lanes, so who knows what the masses of voters think about DOTs innovations. Ben says we shouldn’t worry that “plans for bus improvements will be axed.” But the state budget is melting down and the MTA and bus and subway riders will likely pay the price — again.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:03:07 +0000

TDM – with a margin of only 50k votes, I think transportation was definitely part of the equation. Hopefully he’s the last of the Dinosaurs on these issues.

By: The Dynamic Mumshenatz

The Dynamic Mumshenatz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:39:02 +0000

Actually, I think JSK-Bloomberg’s livable streets and bike improvements combined with Thompson’s inability to even put together a coherent sentence on transportation is what put him over the top. As such I see this making transportation a just below top-tier issue and one that pols better take notice of.

Many people I know didn’t want to vote for Bloomberg, but in the end did because Thompson was so, well, what was he? He made the choice easy. Imagine a Democrat running who would have acknowledged the great things that Bloomberg had done for bikes and Times Square and such but also said he failed us on the transit front and wasn’t moving fast enough with BRT, etc? That could have been enough to end Bloomberg’s reign.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:35:45 +0000

One thing that livable streets has on its side in this economy is that most of the projects are relatively cheap and quick compared to other transportation projects. In fact some of our key suggestions to transportation policy is that streets and bridges can be revenue sources and achieve a positive social goal (like clean air).

Now that Liu and DeBlassio are not just representing a small section of the city or engaging in the frenzy of pandering to get elected we need to engage them as constituents. They have broad responsibilities and we need to hold them to account in a positive way.

On “Day One” of deBlassio’s term I intend to start calling about unsafe streets in my neighborhood weekly.

By: BicyclesOnly

BicyclesOnly — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:15:11 +0000

Thanks, J.

By: J

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:14:37 +0000

Apparently the last link didn’t work. It’s here.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/stratplan.shtml

By: J

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:12:31 +0000

Speaking of the sustainability agenda, the DOT released the 2009 Sustainable Streets report, which can be found here. I know a Streetsblog post was printed about this a few weeks ago, but now everyone can read the whole report for themselves.