Photo: Getty via Daily Intel

Among the outcomes so far: The conversion of 15 percent of the taxi fleet to clean-fuel vehicles, the construction of 79 new playgrounds, $100 million a year to increase the energy efficiency of government buildings, 20 pilot projects to clean up city waterways, hundreds of miles of new bike lanes. Ninety-three percent of the 127 initiatives are under way, Mr. Doctoroff said.

"The biggest achievement of them all," he said, is a greenhouse-gas inventory showing a 2.5 percent reduction in citywide carbon emissions, "at a time when greenhouse gases in cities around the nation continue to increase."

There is little doubt that PlaNYC is an ambitious and noble undertaking, despite the failure of congestion pricing -- which Doctoroff rightly cites as a direct cause of the current MTA funding crisis. But it seems a little specious to brag about reductions in greenhouse gas emissions when the Bloomberg administration has continued to vigorously promote VMT-inducing suburban-style parking, a contradiction not lost on City Room commenters like Chris, who writes:

What’s most frustrating is how Bloomberg and his advisors fail to make some very basic connections between their policies, for example working for modest transit improvements while promoting development that is very parking-intensive. Bronx Terminal Market is a prime example of this. Big box development with considerable parking availability which will do exactly what it is designed for- bring more cars, congestion, and pollution into the city.

So give credit where credit is due, but so many people wish Bloomberg would connect the dots.

Indeed. Even as he lobbied for PlaNYC and congestion pricing, Doctoroff himself was a prime mover behind the Yankee Stadium parking deal and greenhouse gas catastrophes like the Gateway Center. There's the legal battle waged by the administration to bring some 20,000 parking spots to Hell's Kitchen. And just last week Bloomberg celebrated the opening of driving-intensive commercial development at the Gateway project -- one day after announcing a new "green" buildings initiative. In fact, when asked point blank by Streetsblog about the connection between more parking and more driving, the mayor either didn't understand the question or chose not to address it.

Chris believes there's something "far more complex than just ignorance" at work here. We agree. The question is, will the Bloomberg administration safeguard the progress of PlaNYC by reversing its disastrous parking policies?

If anyone knows more about any of these folks, or if you spot any outdated info, please share.

The IDA board:

• Robert C. Leiber, Chairman. President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. Former real estate executive. Mayoral appointee.
  
• Derek Park, Vice Chairman. Senior Executive Vice-President, Cohane Rafferty Securities. Mayoral appointee.
  
• Amanda Burden, ex officio. City Planning Director, City Planning Commission Chair.
  
• Michael Cardozo, ex officio. New York City's Corporation Counsel.
• Albert V. De Leon. General Counsel, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken.
• Dan Doctoroff, ex officio. Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding.
• Joseph I. Douek. Chairman and CEO, Willoughby's Konica Imaging Center, friend of Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, and subject of this 2006 critique on Room EIght.
• Kevin Doyle. Executive Vice President, Local 32BJ, "the largest property services union in the country." Doyle was profiled by the Observer when he joined the IDA board. Appointed by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.
• Bernard Haber. Member of Queens Community Board 11. Queens Borough President appointee.
  
• Rafael Salaberrios. President, Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation. Chairman, Bronx Tourism Council. Bronx Borough President appointee.
  
• Robert D. Santos. Vice President for Campus Planning and Facilities Management, City College of New York. Former executive with construction firm Lehrer McGovern Bovis, Inc. Former Assistant Commissioner, NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development. Former Deputy Commissioner for Operations, NYC Department of Parks and Recreation. Mayoral appointee.
  
• William C. Thompson, ex officio. New York City Comptroller.

Alternates:

• Barry Dinerstein. Deputy Director for Housing, Economic Development and Infrastructure Planning, NYC Planning Department.
• John Graham. City Comptroller appointee.
• Angela Sun. Doctoroff appointee.
• Leonard Wasserman. Chief, Economic Development Division, New York City Law Department (Corporation Counsel). 

At a sparsely attended public hearing in Lower Manhattan, Margaret Collins of Save Our Parks told the New York City Industrial Development Agency (IDA) that a "barely contained rage" is simmering over the traffic the new stadium is expected to bring to the area. Surveys show that lack of recreational space and pollution are the top concerns in South Bronx neighborhoods, Collins said -- problems that were exacerbated when the Yankees seized public park land for its stadium complex, and which could yet worsen once its proposed 9,000 parking spaces are put to use.

Though the new facility will have 5,000 fewer seats, and will be served by a new Metro-North station, current plans call for it to have 2,500 more parking spots than the existing stadium. Three new parking garages (of four originally planned) will be financed through $225 million in triple tax exempt bonds, if the IDA approves such action, at a public cost of some $8,000 per space. A vote could come as early as next Tuesday, September 11. The IDA board votes in closed session.

Noting the low turnout for the hearing, Collins -- herself testifying with sleeping infant in tow -- pointed out that most affected residents can not make it downtown for a meeting in the middle of a workday. She warned that lack of public attendance should not be confused with lack of public engagement. 

"The community is not sleeping on this question," Collins said.

Speaking after an unusual plea for access was presented to the IDA on behalf of Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, Jr., Collins bristled that politicians had signed on to the stadium project without knowing what they were agreeing to. Carrion, a vocal stadium proponent, has been denied what his office termed "vital information" regarding its financing, even though he, like all borough presidents, has an appointee who serves on the IDA board.

The IDA is the financing arm of the New York City Economic Development Corporation. The IDA board is made up of 15 members and alternates, including City Planning Director Amanda Burden and Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff.

While she was outnumbered by IDA board members and staff, Collins was not alone in testifying against the project. Joyce Hogi, who has lived in the vicinity of Yankee Stadium for 30 years, objected to the "snarling traffic" that "consumes" the area, and said the new garages would amount to "induced demand" for otherwise unneeded parking, "providing an incentive to drive into an already overburdened neighborhood." Of the new Metro-North station, Hogi asked, "We spend millions on public transportation and now we plan to spend millions to encourage them not to take it?"

Hogi suggested public moneys would be better spent on upgrades to the Melrose Metro-North and 161st Street subway stations, which would benefit surrounding neighborhoods year-round.

Bettina Damiani, director of Good Jobs New York, said that the parking subsidy, if approved, would bring the public commitment to the new stadium to a total of approximately $795 million.

Photo: Michael Dietsch/Flickr

Unless Mayor Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff are content to leave their legacy in the hands of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority leader Joe Bruno, they should pursue three parking policy reforms that would, like congestion pricing, reduce traffic and generate millions for transportation and street improvements. Unlike congestion pricing, these reforms do not require the approval of the state legislature.

Most Manhattan-bound drivers (PDF file) drive out of choice, not necessity. A recent Schaller Consulting study uncovered the reason why: Most drivers do not pay for parking. As any transportation expert will tell you, the carrot of free parking is too irresistible for drivers to refuse, even when they have decent transit options.

Government workers have their coveted (and often counterfeit) placards, and all drivers have access to a bounty of free and $1.50 per hour spaces, even if they have to circle the block for 40 minutes to find one. Because under-priced spots along the curb are always full, cruising for parking accounts for up to 45 percent of all traffic on city streets.

Three steps, used in other big cities, would enable the mayor to redress root causes of traffic congestion while generating a windfall to fund street improvements:

• Increasing the price for metered parking to a level that frees up spaces and reduces cruising;
• Charging residents for permits that would give them preferences for parking on public streets;
• Cleaning up the rampant misuse and abuse of city issued parking permits.

Adrianne Pasquarelli profiles New Yorkers who commute by bicycle for Crain's New York. You have to subscribe to read the entire article, but here she introduces Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, cyclist:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave bike commuting a boost with PlaNYC 2030, his administration's blueprint for sustainability. It calls for 1,380 additional miles of bike lanes--more than three times the current number--by 2030 and 1,200 more on-street bike racks by 2009.

In fact, one of the city's most high-profile cyclists, Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff, is in charge of implementing PlaNYC. In an effort to combine exercise with his commute, the 48-year-old has been biking to City Hall from the Upper West Side--in fair weather--for the past five years.

"It's the most environmentally friendly way of commuting other than walking," Mr. Doctoroff says. "It contributes to our efforts to reduce air pollution and global warming." Other prominent New Yorkers who pedal to work include Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Village Voice columnist Michael Musto.

"People get it; they can feel good when they're biking," says Mr. Budnick, 29, who cycles 12 miles between Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and his Chelsea office.

Health concerns prompted Monica Gonzalez, 38. Three years ago, the preschool teacher weighed 220 pounds. She began riding to her workplace--making a seven-and-a-half mile trek over the Queensboro Bridge from Sunnyside, Queens, to the Upper West Side. Now 160 pounds, she says biking has also become her therapy.

• Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff estimated congestion pricing would remove 112,000 cars from city streets on a daily basis, with 94,000 would-be drivers switching to transit, in what he said would be "Probably the single greatest mode shift anywhere."

• DOT Deputy Commissioner Bruce Schaller said that whatever edge effect might be felt would be countered by removing 112,000 cars from traffic.

• Using existing E-ZPass technology, congestion pricing fees would be enforced by employing one camera per lane at 300 to 340 stations.
  

• Assembly Member Richard Brodsky more than once referred to congestion pricing as a "regressive tax," and seemed fixated on what motorists would gain in speed inside the congestion pricing zone. Brodsky's Friday line of questioning was encapsulated in one pre-hearing quote from the Daily News: "Why is this worth a regressive tax on the middle class and a new invasion of privacy to go only six-tenths of a mile further in an hour?"

• Also said by Assemblyman Brodsky during the hearing: "privacy values"; "tremendously unpersuaded"; "I don't have a plan, Mr. Doctoroff."
  

• Queens Assembly Member Cathy Nolan leveled the mayor with a number of pointed questions and comments about the magnitude and efficacy of the pricing scheme. Nolan, a strong supporter of public transit who is considered a thoughtful lawmaker by many advocates, wondered why no Environmental Impact Statement was required and why the City Council did not need to pass a home rule message before the state legislature considered pricing. Deputy Mayor Doctoroff answered that pilot projects do not need an EIS. He added that a home rule message was not required. Nolan followed by asking why fees from residential parking would potentially go the city's general fund and not a dedicated transit fund. She also asserted that the worst air pollution hotspot in Queens was at the tolled Queens Midtown Tunnel and not the untolled Queensboro Bridge. Implicit in Nolan's remarks is that pricing does not work. She concluded by calling congestion pricing "extremely problematical" for areas outside Manhattan.

• Responding to a query from Nolan, PlaNYC Director Rohit Aggarwala said that panel trucks, of the type owned and operated by many small businesses, would be subject to an $8 fee. The $21 charge would apply to large trucks, as defined by the MTA, exceeding a weight of 7,000 pounds.
  

• Mayor Bloomberg said residential permit parking may or may not be established in conjunction with congestion pricing.

• Assembly Member David Gantt, who chairs the Transportation Committee, worried about the burden of "poor" people who might drive into the city ignorant of the fact that there is a congestion charge, and who would end up owing exorbitant late fees. Bloomberg assured Gantt there would be plenty of publicity and signage.

• James Brennan, assemblyman from Brooklyn, asked the mayor what would happen if transit trips take so long that outer borough residents make the "rational choice" and decide to drive anyway. Bloomberg replied that even if congestion were not reduced, the charge would still enable needed transit investments.

• DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan was unable to attend due to previous plans to be out of the country.

Seated alongside ten colleagues in the auditorium of the New York City Bar building in Midtown, Herman "Denny" Farrell, Jr. (D-New York), set the tone right away. In opening remarks, Farrell complained that legislators had been chastized in the media for not acting on PlaNYC before "a single public hearing" could be held, and pledged that the hearings would uncover the facts -- and "just the facts" -- about congestion pricing.

"Clearly, something must be done" about congestion, Farrell said. "However, we must be sure that the cure is not worse than the disease."

Farrell disagreed with Bloomberg over whether a possible $500 million federal grant for city transportation projects hinged on the approval of congestion pricing by state lawmakers, insisting that other initiatives could attract the funds. Bloomberg told Assembly members that almost half of the $500 million would cover pricing start-up costs, while the remaining funds would be invested in immediate transit improvements in the run-up to implementation. The mayor, having met with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters yesterday, said the feds will steer the half-billion dollars to another city if congestion pricing doesn't clear the legislature.

Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said pricing is expected to net $380 million in revenues in its first year, all of which would be spent on further transit upgrades. Farrell was unimpressed, wondering what effect a congestion charge would have on "working folks," and predicting that cars kept off Midtown streets by pricing would be replaced by trucks. When Doctoroff reminded Farrell that large commercial trucks would be subject to a $21 fee, Farrell was dismissive: "It's a write-off, though."

At times Farrell seemed to be arguing for the sake of arguing. In discussing the E-ZPass technology that would be used for billing and collections, the Assembly member declared "I don't give E-ZPass my money." When Bloomberg and company explained that congestion charges could be paid online, by phone and at retail locations throughout the city, Farrell responded with "I don't have a computer."

A bit more thoughtful but no less confrontational, Assembly Member Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) dominated the questioners' time, first thanking Mayor Bloomberg for bringing big ideas to the table, then congratulating him on "stampeding the political class." As if it wasn't clear where he stood from the outset, Brodsky then referred to congestion pricing as "a 600 million dollar tax increase."

Brodsky said he conceded the "wider benefit" of pricing, but asked why the same effect couldn't be achieved by new taxes on wealthy New Yorkers. When Bloomberg replied that the point of congestion pricing is to discourage driving by making it more expensive, Brodsky likened it to "gentrifying the roads."

Brodsky and others spent a good bit of the morning dwelling on the erosion of civil liberties they fear would be inherent in the photographing of license plates for billing purposes, with Brodsky himself going so far as to condemn traffic cameras as "Un-American."

"I don't even like your red light cameras," he said.

Instead of pricing, Brodsky has presented the city with a proposal involving congestion rationing -- which limits certain cars on certain days based on plate numbers or other identifiers (and is presumably enforced without the use of cameras). But such a plan, Doctoroff pointed out, would do nothing to raise much needed transit funds.

"I'm prepared to vote for a tax increase for mass transit," Brodsky vowed -- indicating, in so many words, that Bloomberg has shamed the Assembly into action of some sort.

Not all legislators were as churlish. Robert Sweeney (D-Lindenhurst) told the mayor he is "glad [Bloomberg] did not adopt a more timid approach" to the city's environmental ills. And James Brennan, (D-Brooklyn) assured Bloomberg is he "generally sympathetic" to the pricing plan. (Even so, Brennan eventually asked how it could be "fair" to force "mom" to pay for ferrying the kids across town for a play date.)

Other queries followed regarding the discredited edge effect, "serious" penalties for late payment, and the "extremely problematical" ramifications for those who aren't among the Manhattan "elite." On many of these points, Bloomberg and staffers -- Doctoroff, PlaNYC Director Rohit Aggarwala, and new DOT Deputy Commissioner Bruce Schaller -- indicated a willingness to provide further clarification and an openness to negotiation. The key, Bloomberg said in his concluding remarks, is to act now.

And if we don't, "Shame on us."

"Janette Sadik-Khan has a superb mix of public and private sector transportation management experience and she will make great addition to our team. She's joining us at an exciting time, as we use the last 979 days of our Administration to enact policies to set this City on the course for a better future," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Janette has the skills and the experience to meet the challenges of overseeing our vast transportation infrastructure, to ensure that people can move around our City safely, and to continue to lead the DOT by implementing innovative and exciting policies."

"I am pleased to be joining Mayor Bloomberg and his team, who are continuing to show leadership by articulating a bold new vision for New York. I look forward to working with the men and women of DOT to realize that vision," said Janette Sadik-Khan. "My first priority is the safety of our residents as they use the networks of roads and bridges that connect our City, and I will focus on making our system more sustainable and achieving a full state of good repair for our aging infrastructure. I am very happy to be returning to city government at such an eventful time."

"This is an exciting time to be joining the Bloomberg Administration and I want to welcome Janette to DOT," said Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding, Daniel Doctoroff. "Because we recognize that transportation is linked with land use, energy, housing development, air and water quality, we truly operate as a team, and I know that Janette will be an integral part of that as we work to meet the challenges that the Mayor has laid out as part of PlaNYC."

Sadik-Khan's first day on the job is May 14th.

Brooklyn Council member Lew Fidler (above) is circulating an anti-congestion pricing resolution urging Mayor Bloomberg to oppose any form of road pricing. Fidler's resolution appears to be a shot across the bow in preparation for the mayor's forthcoming Long-Term Planning and Sustainability speech. Last week, Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff hinted that the speech would include "bold and creative" transportation policy ideas that come with a cost. Fidler, reportedly, will announce his resolution this coming Wednesday. 

In light of that, below is a sneak peak at a new study by transportation consultant Bruce Schaller (download the page here). Analyzing 2000 census data, Schaller found that the vast majority of Fidler's constituents who commute to Manhattan's Central Business Distrcit use transit -- not automobiles. That's right: Even in deepest southern Brooklyn 75% of commuters use transit to get to Manhattan south of 59th Street. Schaller's analysis also explodes the myth of congestion pricing "elitism." In Lew Fidler's district, the average automobile commuter earns about 14% more than the average transit user.

Photo: Lisa Glogowsky

We will know if Mayor Bloomberg heard that call by the choice he makes for DOT. 

As a wise New York City traffic engineer once told me:

"Traffic engineers have failed," Sam Schwartz says. "If you compare the accomplishments of our profession over the last 50 years to the medical profession, our performance is equivalent to millions of people still dying of polio, influenza and other minor bacterial diseases that have been cured."

While London, Paris, and cities and towns all across Northern Europe are, with great success, developing ways to make their dense central districts less convenient, accessible and free to automobiles, American traffic engineers are still focused on figuring out how to shove more motor vehicles through our nation's roadways. The traffic engineers' solution for congestion is to add a lane or build a new road. In Schwartz's words, that's like "telling an obese person that the way to get healthy is to buy a bigger pair of pants and a longer belt."

Janette Sadik-Khan is a front-runner to take over as DOT Commissioner after Iris Weinshall leaves the job on April 13. "It's her job. She just has to decide whether she wants it."

Joan McDonald, senior vice president at the Economic Development Corporation, has been ruled out. She will not get the job.

Dan Doctoroff's headhunters are soliciting resumes from the Land of Congestion Charging. One name that comes up is Jay Walder (right) who just resigned after six years as Transport for London's Managing Director for Finance and Planning to take a job at McKinsey. The well-liked New Yorker worked at the MTA with Bob Kiley and joined Kiley at TfL back in 2001 to help get London's congestion charging system up and running.

New York Magazine talks to Majora Carter:

Janelle Nanos: Part of Moses's legacy is the idea that to get anything done in the city, it needs to be done by fiat. Do you see that happening again now?

Majora Carter: Absolutely. Partially, it's a coliseum mentality, that it has to be big or it doesn't matter. The problem with the big projects of Moses and now Doctoroff is that they don't think about what the long-term impacts are of exercising that much power on people who have none. It's the idea that people are in the way.

Nanos: It's interesting that you group Doctoroff and Moses together. Do you think the deputy mayor sees himself as the new Moses?

Carter: Oh, God, yeah. Completely. He thinks he's the man.

I don't think that any comparison between the period that Moses was active and today is really that relevant. The biggest difference is the need for community input.

With very few exceptions, we have really made an effort to reach out to local communities and understand their needs. Moses was a believer that it was experts who were able to divine what was best for the community or the city on the whole.

A senior vice president at Parsons Brinckerhoff and former Director of the Mayor's Office of Transportation for New York City during the Dinkins Administration, Sadik-Khan would be an ideal candidate for the job, though, to be successful in the post it is clear that she would need a strong reform mandate from the Mayor and the political cover to shake things up.

Sources are also saying that Judith Bergtraum (right), DOT First Deputy Commissioner and a key Weinshall aide (she's also the daughter of local education legends Murry and Edith), has been ruled out as a possible replacement for Weinshall.

Emil Choski (formerly Kozerawski -- he and his wife Haeri Cho combined last names) has given his Car-Free Bedford Avenue project a serious face lift. The 22-year-old freelance graphic designer and community organizer's new web site includes a three dimensional "flyby" visualization accompanied by some very un-Williamsburgy classical music. With apologies to the Meatpacking District and Ninth Avenue, Emil's project has to be my favorite grassroots livable streets initiative going right now. When is Dan Doctoroff going to wake up and give this kid a job at the Economic Development Corporation?! Choski writes:

The plan calls for the complete banning of automobiles on the stretch of Bedford Ave starting at Metropolitan Avenue and passing through and ending at McCarren park. The cross streets would be left open to cars and trucks in order to allow for necessary deliveries. The current traffic as well as the B61 bus will be rerouted to parallel avenues including Driggs Ave and Berry St. Emergency vehicles will continue to have access to Bedford Ave.

What will replace the cars is a thriving pedestrian community, more outdoor seating for restaurants, islands of greenery, public sculpture, and anything else that makes the community more alive and beautiful.

I just caught up with this article in the Times on Saturday about a competition for engineers and architects to envision New York City in 2106. Check out one of the winning design concepts:

After the judges' hasty deliberations, Daniel L. Doctoroff, the city's deputy mayor for economic development, presented the prizes. He said his office was preoccupied by many of the same concerns as the contestants - "parks and open space and pedestrianization and transportation" - though it might not be looking quite as far ahead.

"It's so exciting for me to see this group of architects and designers think so creatively about the future," he said.

Mr. Marvel's team won the honorary mention for technological advancement. The Terreform group won the mention for best presentation, with a proposal that involved eliminating privately owned cars in Manhattan; it predicted that 60 percent of the city's population would be walking to work by 2038.

Over all, the proposals conveyed a confidence that amid energy shortages, population increases and global warming, New York's urban problems could be addressed and even solved.

Photo: Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times

• The creation of the Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability.
• The undertaking of a major greenhouse gas inventory for City government and the City overall.
• The appointment of a Sustainability Advisory Board to advise the City on environmentally sound policies and practices.
• The creation of a new partnership with the Earth Institute of Columbia University to provide the City with scientific research and advice on environmental and climate change-related issues.

Here are some of the more interesting snippets from the City's press release:

The announcement took place during a visit with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to Bloom Energy in Sunnyvale, California, where the Mayor and Governor talked about the State of California's groundbreaking sustainability initiatives.

"Now, we intend to make New York City a national leader in meeting the challenge of making ours an environmentally sustainable city. To make New York a truly sustainable city, we need a bold plan to use our land in the smartest way possible," Bloomberg said (Editor: Clearly the Mayor here is referring to this morning's Park(ing) Squat in Midtown).

The Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability is led by Director Rohit T. Aggarwala the Office's mission is three-fold: to help develop a plan for the City's long-term growth and development, to integrate sustainability goals and practices into every aspect of that plan; and to make New York City government a "green" organization.

The Mayor announced the launch of an unprecedented effort to measure the entire carbon emissions of New York City. This much broader effort, with a target completion date within six months, will give us the first picture of the total carbon impact of everyone who lives in, works in, or visits New York City.

The Sustainability Advisory Board will be chaired by Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding Daniel L. Doctoroff, and its kick-off meeting will take place on Wednesday, September 27th.

Members of the Sustainability Advisory Board include:

• Christine Quinn, Speaker of the New York City Council
• James F. Gennaro, Council Member and Chair of the Committee on Environmental Protection
• Carlton Brown, COO and Founder, Full Spectrum
• Marcia Bystryn, Executive Director, New York League of Conservation Voters
• Robert Fox, Partner, Cook + Fox Architects
• Ester Fuchs, Professor of Public Affairs and Political Science at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs
• Peter Goldmark, Program Director of NYC Office, Environmental Defense
• Ashok Gupta, Program Director of Air and Energy, Natural Resources Defense Council
• Michael Northrop, Program Officer of Sustainable Development, Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• Ed Ott, Executive Director, NYC Central Labor Council
• Elizabeth Girardi Schoen, Senior Director of Environmental Affairs, Pfizer, Inc.
• Peggy Sheppard, Executive and Co-Founder, West Harlem Environmental Action Coalition (WE ACT)
• Daniel Tishman, Chairman and CEO, Tishman Construction Corporation
• Kathryn Wylde, President and CEO, Partnership for New York City
• Robert Yaro, President, Regional Plan Association
• Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director, UPROSE

We knew that a major policy announcement on long-term planning and environmental sustainability was imminent when we heard last week that Mayor Bloomberg had asked City Council to push back their sustainability hearing from September 18^th to the 26^th. A New York City Mayor likes nothing less than City Council trumping him on a major policy initiative.

Now Streetsblog has learned that Mayor Bloomberg will make a major announcement on New York City sustainability policy today at 3:00 pm EST. Here's the catch: He'll be making that announcement in Sunnyvale, California with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. They'll be appearing at the offices of Bloom Energy, formerly known as Ion America, a high-tech start-up company that apparently specializes in fuel cell technology. We do not know what the details of the announcement will be -- "long-term planning and sustainability" covers a lot of ground -- but based on a couple of recent hires in Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff's new shop, we surmise that the mayor may be touching on economic development, transportation, energy and greenhouse gas emissions in today's talk.

Streetsblog has learned that Mayor Bloomberg's newly established office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability has hired Dr. Rachel Weinberger, an Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in land use and transportation planning. Dr. Weinberger now works at City Hall as the "Senior Policy Advisor for Transportation." On paper, she looks to be an ideal candidate for the job.

According to her bio, Weinberger "has worked on a wide range of transportation planning projects including transportation master plans, parking policy studies, mobility and access plans, ground-side access to airports, adapting strategies of travelers in the New York Metropolitan region after 9/11, and econometric analyses of transportation investment on property value." And at Penn she was on the same faculty as Streetsblog hero Vukan Vuchic, author of "Transportation for Livable Cities." Weinberger is no stranger to New York City. She earned her Masters degree in Urban Planning from Hunter College. And she has been helping DOT deal with street management issues in Lower Manhattan during the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site.

Weinberger's supervisor is Rohit Thomas Aggarwala, also somewhat newly appointed as the Director of the Long-term Planning and Sustainability office, which is housed within the Mayor's Office of Operations and overseen by Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff. Word has it that Doctoroff is pushing Aggarwala hard to get a long-term plan finished within the next three months. The aim is for the Mayor to deliver a speech in January.

Dr. Aggarwala, who provides us with an extraordinarily Googlable name, earned four degrees at Columbia University -- a BA in '93, MA in '98, MBA in '00 and then a Ph.D in history with the legendary Kenneth T. Jackson in 2002. Aggarwala's dissertation, Seat of Empire: New York, Philadelphia, and the Emergence of an American Metropolis, 1776-1837 argues that New York City's "rise to pre-eminence among American cities was neither inevitable nor predictable." And that the story of New York City's success "has significant implications for the future of cities in a globalizing economy" in which "some cities may gain or lose relative stature."

After Columbia, Rit, as he is known to his friends and colleagues, took a job at the New Jersey office of McKinsey & Co., the global management and consulting firm. At McKinsey, Aggarwala worked on light rail and intercity passenger rail systems -- or so we have heard. Streetsblog would have asked him directly but he doesn't want to do a Q&A just yet.

Aggarwala is "a really practical... no-nonsense guy," one student told the Columbia Spectator for an article in 2001. "He knows people well; he can read people's characters very well." Another student said, "Rit is a natural leader, a brilliant speaker, and a charismatic politician. He has an amazing ability to remain objective no matter what his personal views are on a subject."

If Aggarwala is involved in implementing the Mayor's long-term sustainability plan in addition to writing it, then he is going to have the opportunity to put those political skills to good use. Pushing ambitious and challenging ideas through the City's entrenched agency bureaucracy and change-averse Community Boards and City Councilmembers will be no small task. Aggarwala has a big job ahead of him and Mayor Bloomberg hasn't left him much time to get it done -- unless, of course, he gets to continue doing it during a Doctoroff Administration.

A significant piece of the plan was developed by Alex Garvin & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in the planning and development of the urban public realm. Garvin is best known to many New Yorkers as the lead planner for the NYC 2012 Olympics bid.

The aim of the Garvin Report, as it is referred to by some insiders, is to provide strategies and opportunities for increasing New York City's housing supply in a way that improves, rather than degrades, New York City's quality of life. Expecting the city's population to increase by as much as one million by 2030, the Report says, "The city must invest in its public realm to prevent unplanned growth from undermining its competitive advantage."

Towards this end, the Garvin Report presents specific opportunities to build up to 325,000 new housing units with virtually no "residential displacement." All of this housing would be constructed on platforms built over railyards and highways, on underused waterfronts, and by investing in surface transit "to stimulate development in areas without nearby subway service."

The Garvin Report, published May 26, 2006, also recommends a set of strategies for improving New York City's public spaces and surface transit systems. As described in the executive summary:

The city's streets, sidewalks, parks and plazas can become a "mixed-use" public realm that balances pedestrians and cyclists with motor vehicles and mass transit. Greening boulevards, protected bike lanes, Sunday closings, and pedestrian reclamations are four strategies to create this balance on streets throughout all five boroughs.

The Garvin Report takes care to note that it is not "city policy." Rather it is an "Opportunity Analysis" suggesting the "most physically, financially and politically feasible" ways for New York City to manage growth and maintain its competitive edge in the coming decades. As of yet, it is not known whether the Garvin Report has influenced any city policy. It may just be yet another study gathering dust on a shelf in City Hall.

Streetsblog was given a copy of the Garvin Report by a City Hall insider in June. Not wanting to jeopardize the potential for this innovative plan to move forward, we held off on writing about it. But with the Mayor's long-awaited speech on land use and transportation four months late and postponed indefinitely, with transportation and public space issues nowhere near the top of the Bloomberg Administration's second term agenda, and with the story out in today's Observer, there doesn't seem to be any point in continuing to hold this.

As such, we are releasing Garvin & Associates' Visions for New York City: Housing and the Public Realm in its entirety via Streetsblog. Below, you can download the document as a PDF file:

Full Report (6.45 MB)

Or download the report piece by piece:

Introduction (0.6 MB)

Part I: Increasing the Housing Supply

Ch.1: Platform Opportunities (1.0 MB)

Ch. 2: Waterfront Opportunities (1.1 MB)

Ch. 3: Transit-Oriented Development Opportunities (1.4 MB)

Part II: Improving the Public Realm

Ch. 4: Public Realm Opportunities (2.1 MB)

Next Steps (0.4 MB)

Note: These PDF files were made by scanning a photocopied paper document, so the image quality is poor.

Mr. Vesselinovitch relinquished his job as director of the bicycle program at the Department of City Planning to get to what he thought was a position that had some power, he said. Having done similar work in San Francisco, he said he knew there was potential for change once the ball got rolling.

Things weren't what they seemed, he said, and earlier this month he quit his position at the Department of Transportation after five years to pursue a degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. His decision was based mainly on disenchantment with his boss, Commissioner Iris Weinshall, he said in his first interview since leaving the department.

"The city certainly hasn't done everything that it can do to make it safer, or to really use bicycles," Mr. Vesselinovitch said. "My goal was to see bicycling as an easy way to get around town. Right now there are a lot of obstacles that the city can improve and in recent years has even created."

"I want streets to be living places," he said, "places more dedicated to social activities, rather than just conduits for motor vehicles."

Bicycle Tsar Quits, Saying Goal To Increase Safety, Lanes Is Stymied

BY BRADLEY HOPE - Staff Reporter of the Sun
July 24, 2006

When he was first tapped to be director of the bicycle program at the city's Department of Transportation in 2001, Andrew Vesselinovitch, a Chicago-born alternative-transportation advocate, said he jumped at the opportunity.

"There was a new commissioner," he said. "She held some promise. It was felt that she could be good on biking issues."

The city was only four years out from the landmark 74-page Bicycle Master Plan that, in the minds of many transportation advocates, was going to make bicycling a part of everyday life on the gridlocked streets. The plan referred to New York Ciy as a place that is "in many ways ideal for cycling." It recommended the city boost the miles of bicycle lanes to just more than 900 - an increase of about eight times over what the city then had under Mayor Giuliani.

Mr. Vesselinovitch relinquished his job as director of the bicycle program at the Department of City Planning to get to what he thought was a position that had some power, he said. Having done similar work in San Francisco, he said he knew there was potential for change once the ball got rolling.

Things weren't what they seemed, he said, and earlier this month he quit his position at the Department of Transportation after five years to pursue a degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology. His decision was based mainly on disenchantment with his boss, Commissioner Iris Weinshall, he said in his first interview since leaving the department.

"The city certainly hasn't done everything that it can do to make it safer, or to really use bicycles," Mr. Vesselinovitch said. "My goal was to see bicycling as an easy way to get around town. Right now there are a lot of obstacles that the city can improve and in recent years has even created."

He said the commissioner shot down about half of the proposals his six-person office put forward while he was there. A year after he started, Mr. Vesselinovitch said, he watched the miles of bicycle lanes diminish to 20 from 30, and then to 12 miles by the 2005-06 fiscal year. Since Mayor Bloomberg was re-elected, the department has added about five miles, he said.

At that rate, it would take the lifespan of a tortoise to achieve the goals in the Bicycle Master Plan, Mr. Vesselinovitch said. Considering that each direction of bike lane is counted as one mile, the plan requires about 1,800 miles of lanes, of which about 400 miles are completed so far, he said. The parks department and the state Department of Transportation also are responsible for some of these miles, he said.

"We could have done about 50 miles a year without an increase in our staff, and I had a small staff," he said. "It's not a question of money. The city has federal reimbursement funds."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation, Kay Sarlin, said the department decided in the last months to increase the quota of bicycle lanes per year by several-fold. Refusing to address Mr. Vesselinovitch's claims, she pointed to the department's bicycling victories, including lanes on the East River bridges and an upcoming report about bicycle fatalities.

Mr. Vesselinovitch said that when Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff in April asked the department for more miles of bicycle lanes, his superiors asked him to come up with excuses to refuse to do so, including the need for more staff and the interference of other city agencies. In fact, he said, there was nothing impeding the new lanes except for Ms. Weinshall and her insistence on giving community boards veto power over proposed lanes.

"Involving someone in a discussion is very different than giving them the final word," Mr. Vesselinovitch said. "Whether someone's life should be saved should not have to win a popularity contest."

Bicycle lanes aren't just a matter of convenience, but safety, Mr. Vesselinovitch said. In the last decade, about 200 people have died while bicycling in the city, he said. According to police, five people have died while riding their bicycles so far this year. For the same period last year, 12 people died while riding their bicycles, the statistics show.

With his degree in architecture, Mr. Vesselinovitch said he hopes to again join a city government that envisions healthier and more efficient ways for people to get around.

"I want streets to be living places," he said, "places more dedicated to social activities, rather than just conduits for motor vehicles."

Streetsblog is picking up many under-the-radar signals that the Bloomberg Administration may finally be asking its transportation agency to do more than fill pot holes and that Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff is leading a serious push to develop a comprehensive transportation and land use strategy for New York City.

The first signal came at the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg's second term when DOT Commissioner Iris Weinhall's box was moved on the Administration's org chart and she began reporting directly to Doctoroff.

Next, DOT's creative, competent Lower Manhattan Borough Commissioner, Steve Weber was promoted to a newly created Strategic Planning position. Amazingly, prior to Weber's appointment, there was no one in New York City government responsible for long-term transportation planning and strategy.

Now, in, perhaps, the most public sign that a major transportation and land use planning initiative is underway, Weber is assembling a Strategic Planning staff. Sources say that he will have as many as eight full-timers working under him.  

Here are three job postings that just came online:

Associate Project Manager - Level I-III (Strategic Planning)
Project Manager - Strategic Planning
Associate City Planner - Level I-II (Strategic Planning)