In a major restructuring of the Bloomberg Administration, outgoing Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall will be replaced by Public Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. Bloomberg's surprise announcement came at a rare Sunday morning press conference, where the mayor also rolled out a major piece of his 2030 Sustainability plan for reducing congestion.

After thanking Weinshall for her efforts, Bloomberg set forth his vision for New York's new Transportation Commissioner. "Today begins a new day, when we look at our streets differently, when we see the inextricable link between public health and and the public realm, when we choose clean air and quality of life over congestion. What I started on Friday with my veto of the pedicab cap will continue through the end of my administration. We will free this city from the negative consequences of automobile congestion."

"Driving a single-passenger private motor vehicle in New York City is about to go the way of smoking in restaurants," Commissioner Frieden said. "I accepted this job because I realized that the best way to achieve many of our public health goals is to reduce New Yorkers' automobile dependence."

Bloomberg went on to announce his support for congestion pricing and said that he would begin taking street space away from private motor vehicles throughout the city to help accelerate his long-stalled Bus Rapid Transit project. Bloomberg named Vision42 founder George Haikalis as DOT Deputy Commissioner and boldly announced that by the end of his term 42nd Street would be transformed into a car-free light rail pedestrian boulevard.

He then introduced Dr. Thomas Frieden as the new DOT chief. "Tom is the natural choice. He has been a remarkable innovator as New York City's Health Commissioner, but he can do more for public health as DOT commissioner than he can in his current position," the mayor said.


Vision 42: One of the many innovative projects now embraced by the Bloomberg Administration

"As we move more people out of automobiles and encourage more people to bike and walk around the city," Dr. Frieden said, "our city's residents will get fitter and healthier. We'll reduce obesity and diabetes rates. Moreover, we will start eliminating the ground-level pollution that causes asthma, lung cancer and other respiratory ailments that plague so many New Yorkers, our children and seniors in particular."

Frieden also pointed to the fact that much of the traffic congestion and pollution was from automobiles merely driving through the city as something he intends to address. "Automobile congestion is not only making our residents sick, it is stymieing New York City's economic development and holding us back from being the greatest city in the world."

The move stunned Livable Streets advocates. Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives, was initially very excited about the announcement, but quickly realized the full impact of City Hall suddenly buying in to his entire agenda. "I'm not really sure what TA's mission would be moving forward. I mean, if Frieden's running the show, what are we going to complain about?" He was last seen scratching his head and mumbling something about updating his resume and trying to get a job in the new DOT.

Ken Coughlin, chairman of the Car Free Central Park campaign, reportedly received a call in advance of Frieden's appointment from Dan Doctoroff. "He told me that he's been a big supporter of Car Free Central Park from day one, but just has been waiting for the right moment to announce his support for a total ban on automobiles from entering the park." Coughlin then did three cartwheels in front of City Hall and high-fived several people around him.

Streetsblog will be following this story as it unfolds. Stay tuned and happy April Fools Day.

Russianoff generated one of the nicer soundbites to come out of yesterday's Citywide Coalition for Traffic Relief rally in this interview with Stan Brooks of 1010 WINS. You can listen to it online but here's the gist of it:

Traffic is really an urban health issue. It's about our lungs, our ears, our sensibilities walking down the street and this is a mayor who has really done a lot to make the city healthier. There's a long way to go and a key way [to make the city healthier] is to tame traffic. This is a walking city, a beautiful city and a city that gives far too much priority to cars driven by individuals and not enough to people on bikes, in buses or pedestrians.

Brooks summarizes: "He says the Mayor has tackled cigarettes and transfats and cigarettes, why not go after traffic?"

There are high hopes that tomorrow's public unveiling, whatever it may show, begins to lay the groundwork for a serious traffic reduction program in New York City, perhaps in the form of London-style congestion charging. With this year's elections out of the way there is no longer any worry that the inevitably difficult public discussion of congestion charging might force a gubernatorial candidate into a corner. Governor Elect Spitzer's vow to raise subway fares only as a last resort almost guarantees an MTA fiscal crisis in the coming months. Might a fiscal crisis also serve as the impetus for a congestion charging push? Among political insiders there is a feeling that the only possible way to sell congestion charging to New York is in response to a serious crisis. In other words, the Doctor needs to make it clear that the patient is sick and needs to make dificult, but ultimately fulfilling, lifestyle changes.

We have heard that the Partnership for New York City's secretive, years-long congestion charging study is far along in its analysis and modeling. The project is being masterminded by Janette Sadik-Khan at Parsons Brinckerhoff (pictured right). A serious candidate for DOT commissioner when Michael Bloomberg was first elected mayor, Sadik-Khan's resume includes a stint as the Director of the Mayor's Office of Transportation for New York City during the Dinkins Administration. Transportation consultant Bruce Schaller is also working on a congestion charging study for the conservative think tank, the Manhattan Institute.

All of which leads us to a more pressing issue: Can anyone out there come up with a better name for it than "congestion charging?"

Traffic Relief Zone, anyone?

Word has it that as city agenices flesh out their budgets for next year, Mayor Bloomberg is considering requiring that they include the cost of employee parking permits as a specific budget line item. In other words, if the NYPD or any other agency wants to give out untold hundreds of parking permits to its employees, that is going to cost something and be accounted for. This won't necessarily convince the unions to stop printing bogus parking permits for their members and it won't get the cops to start towing the illegally parked cars of their colleagues but, hey, it's a start.

Transportation researcher Bruce Schaller estimates that the curbside parking spaces consumed by government employees would be worth $46 million per year in parking meter revenue. If government employees drove to work at the same rate as their private sector counterparts, 19,200 fewer cars would enter Manhattan each day.

• Parking Permit Abuse Study Released
• NYPD Parking Abuse Scandal Widens
• Streetfilms: Gridlock Sam on Govt Employee Parking Abuse

Just imagine: A transportation policy expert running the region's most important transportation agency rather than a Republican real estate mogul.

Kiley is generally credited as being the architect of the system that reduced traffic congestion by 25 percent, eliminated 70 road casualties per year, cut carbon emissions by 16 percent, sped up buses by 46 percent, increased bicycling by 43 percent, and is raising over $200 million dollars per year for mass transit, pedestrian and cyclist improvements in London, England.

Welcome back to New York City, Bob!