This was the scene at Herald Square yesterday afternoon. It's full of people doing what the Times' Susan Dominus finds so un-New York: sitting down. Some of these loafers are actually putting their feet up, right in the heart of our fast-paced, cutthroat city. It's like they've never even seen The Sweet Smell of Success.

Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson sent this photo and some others he snapped while shooting footage of the new Broadway. Before we get to those, a few Independence Day weekend notes.

• First, a reminder to tell John Liu that you support the Bicycle Access Bill. This is a big one.
• Second, the Macy's fireworks are switching rivers this year, so instead of the ultimate car-free event on the FDR, we'll have a car-free Route 9A and bike-free Hudson River Greenway. Starting at 4:30 on July 4th, the bikeway will be closed from 14th Street to 68th Street. It's expected to re-open in the wee hours of July 5th, after the cleaning wraps up.

Enjoy the weekend everyone. We'll see you back here on Monday. On to the pictures from Clarence...

Clarence, who is something of a giant chess aficionado, says he's never seen such a large crowd for a match.

You can now see some of the new street surfacing at Times Square.

A future performance area?

This is what the reverse side of a meter receipt looks like now.

Meet Gabe Klein, who was appointed to direct Washington D.C.'s Department of Transportation (DDOT) in December 2008. With a background including four years working for Zipcar, Klein was brought in to look at the city's mobility problems from a fresh perspective. As he says:

Cars are a part of our daily life here in D.C., but what we want to do is try to equalize the playing field. Encourage people to walk, to bike, to bike share; or instead of owning a car -- car share.

D.C. already has one of the lowest household car-ownership rates of any major U.S. city, so actively promoting these modes is essential -- as Klein points out -- to helping people move about with freedom.

If Liu lets the bill come up for a vote, we're looking at a watershed moment for bike commuting in New York. If he doesn't, it will be a major blow to PlaNYC's vision of a bike-friendly city, and the collective record of transportation committee chairs everywhere will somehow sink even lower.

Photo: Newsday

Fatal Crashes (6 Killed This Week, 43 Killed This Year*, 6 Drivers Charged**)

• Brooklyn: 72-Year-Old Cyclist Killed on Fifth Avenue; No Charges Filed (News)
• Related: Fatality Sparks Call for Further Street Improvements (Bklyn Paper)  
• RFK-Triborough Bridge: Woman Killed by Lane-Cutting Driver (News)
• East Northport, LI: Dump Truck Tips Onto Car, Killing Mother of Two (WPIX, Newsday 1, 2)
  
• Miller Place, LI: Pedestrian Hit by Victim in Infamous Beating Case (Newsday) 
• Norwalk: Pedestrian Killed on I-95; Investigation Ongoing (CT Post)
• Saugerties, NY: Woman Dies in Three-Car Crash (Post) 

Photo: Daily News

• Manhattan: Nine Injured When NYPD Officers Crash, Jump Curb (Streetsblog) 
• Related: Out-of-Control Cruiser Barely Misses Infant, Hits Mother (News)
• Queens: Drunk Driver Hits 4-Year-Old With Van (News) 
• Manhattan: Bike-Lane Blocking Motorist Assaults Cyclist (Cyclosity)
• Staten Island: Three-Car Crash in West Brighton (SI Advance)
• Jersey City: Hit-and-Run Driver, Caught on Tape, Leaves Ped in Coma (NJ.com) 
• Weehawken, NJ: Mayor Involved in Crash (NJ.com)
  
• New Cassel, LI: Police Looking for Driver Who Hit 7-Year-Old (Newsday)
• Central Islip, LI: Teen Cyclist Critically Injured by Teen Driver; Vehicle Impounded (Newsday)
• Copiague, LI: Unlicensed Driver Hits U-Turning Mom; Two Kids Seriously Hurt (Newsday)
• Carle Place, LI: Children Injured in School Bus Collision (Newsday)
• North Babylon, LI: Jeep Hits Harley; Motorcyclist and Passenger Hospitalized (Newsday) 
• Haverstraw, NY: Hit-and-Run Driver Injures Ped, Wanted by Police (LoHud) 

Following Up

• Alpine, NJ: Driver Who Killed Cyclist Camille Savoy Cleared of All Charges (Benepe's BB) 
• Riverhead, LI: Woman Sentenced to 1-3 Years for Running Over Boyfriend (Newsday) 
• Hartford: Mother and Son Get Probation for Dump Truck Deaths (Newsday)
• Bridgeport: Man Wanted in Fatal February Crash Surrenders to Police (CT Post)
• Yorktown, NY: Man Pleads Guilty to Road Rage Incident Preceding Fatal Wreck (LoHud)
• Millstone, NJ: NBA Player J.R. Smith Due in Court for Fatal 2007 Crash (NJ.com) 

Photo via Newsday

• Miami, OK: 10 Dead After Tractor-Trailer Plows Into Stopped Cars on I-44 (Newsday)
• Los Angeles: Father Killed, Son Injured on LA Wheelmen Tour (SoapBoxLA) 
• Atlanta: Midtown Parking Garage Collapses; No Injuries Reported (Newsday)
• Related: Construction Company Has History of Problems, Still Building (Red and Black)
  
• Buffalo: Serial Drunk Driver Gets 3-9 Years for Ped Fatality (Newsday)
• Kansas City, MO: Former NFL Player Rich Baldinger Won't Be Charged in Fatal Crash (WIBW) 
• Miami, FL: Judge to Rule on Release of Dante' Stallworth Ped Death Footage (Newsday)
  

Trends

• Philadelphia: Amish Buggy Crash Latest Case for Vulnerable User Law (BCGP) 
• CT Post Questions Law to Protect First Responders From Speeding Drivers
• Boiceville, NY: Shot Glasses Given as Prom Favors (Daily Freeman)
• Are Bankrupt Carmakers Still Accountable for Faulty Products? (Wheels)

* Since the week of June 8
** Drivers charged for deaths since the week of June 8, based on latest available reports

In Chicago's Southland, Streetsblog Network member Active Transportation Alliance has created a program called Footprints that makes this kind of friendly advice available on a wider basis. Footprints pairs anyone who asks with a "coach" who will "create with you a personalized program of biking, walking, and transit options that meets your needs where you live."

In a recent blog post, Footprints coach Mary Lynn Wilson talked about the work she does:

For most of the people we sign up, using a bike for transportation is a novel experience. Using the recommended streets on the Chicagoland bike maps and having the fledgling go at it would bring their noble experiment to a quick halt. So, we coaches poke through maps, Google and Bing only to be faced with a myriad of cul-de-sacs, canals, railroad tracks and streets where a speed limit is merely a suggestion. Persevere we do and manage to come up with a decent route with minimal fast-moving cars, sometimes connecting the rider with a train or bus. We sweeten the pot by offering to make the ride with them. Never give someone a route you wouldn’t ride yourself.…

[W]e have gotten people from the South Suburbs to downtown Chicago, someone from Oak Forest to Roselle, a teacher from Harlem and Northwest Highway to his school in Orland Park, and an intrepid rider from Tinley down to Kankakee State Park. Some trips are strictly by bike, some by bike/public transportation. And for those who see their commute as too long or too difficult, we continue to encourage everyone to think before they get in their car for that 1, 2 or 3 mile trip. This is where Footprints makes its biggest impact.

Services that help people navigate non-car transport are proliferating. Ride the City, which provides bike routes rated for safety and speed, just expanded into Austin. Google's public transit function is being offered in more and more places. And individual municipalities are working on their own web-based route guides. This is all great news.

But Internet-based guides sometimes struggle with common sense (a recent trip to SF and some frustrating encounters with the MUNI online system were the proof of that for me). Another human being can often do a more nuanced job of evaluating a traveler's priorities and proclivities. So the Footprints idea -- of making transportation advice into a connection between two people -- definitely has a place. We'll check in with them in the future to find out how the service is doing.

More from around the network: Orphan Road writes about the California precedent on high-speed rail; Next Stop in St. Louis notes that real estate agents there are touting proximity to transit when they're selling; and World Streets is calling for help in improving the Wikipedia entry for car-sharing.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, with his boss at right. (Photo: whitehouse via Flickr)

Streetsblog Capitol Hill has obtained a copy of the item the administration wants to see added to any 18-month extension. The proposals are narrowly tailored and relatively inexpensive. Still, securing their passage could prove difficult given the House's preference for passing its new federal bill and the Senate's affinity for a "clean as a whistle" extension.

The biggest item on the administration's agenda is $310 million to help state DOTs and local Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) begin collecting data on the usage and ridership of transportation projects.

"This voluntary program would provide participating entities the opportunity to integrate analysis into investment decisions and prepare for improved accountability standards and merit criteria in the long-term reauthorization," the administration document states.

The administration is also seeking stricter requirements for states and MPOs to report on the costs and performance of projects that are getting federal money.

Coupled with the money for "capacity-building" at states and MPOs, the plan suggests that national performance targets -- the type proposed by Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) but absent from the House's current legislation -- are on the DOT's radar as it plans for transportation reform over the next year or two.

In fact, the White House appears highly cognizant of the political blowback coming from House Democrats over its proposed delay in the transportation re-write. The $20 billion patch to the highway trust fund that Congres aims to pass by August "should be considered 'Stage I' of the broader reauthorization process," the administration document states.

But the new help for states and MPOs isn't the only transportation policy shift the administration is prepared to push for this year. A national infrastructure bank could also be on tap -- one that looks a bit different from what's proposed in the House transportation bill.

The administration's summary of its infrastructure bank plan is available in full after the jump.

BANK PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

Given the nation’s diverse infrastructure needs—including energy, water, transportation, and telecommunications—the Administration proposes the establishment of a National Infrastructure Bank with an initial focus on transportation-related investments and flexibility to expand to other sectors over time. This approach will help target resources to the federal transportation funding system, which is particularly in need of bold reform at this time. In the meantime, the Recovery Act and other funding will help clarify the highest-value approaches to investing in other sectors.

The purpose of the Infrastructure Bank is to establish a new direction in federal infrastructure investment: one that supports regionally and nationally significant, high-value projects funded through a merit-based selection process. The Bank would fund relatively large and transformative projects currently underfunded by the allocation process, including:

• Projects that cross state and local jurisdictions, such as freight and passenger rail;
• Projects that integrate sectors and policy goals, such as highway projects that consider land use and economic development; and
• Projects that cross transportation silos, such as bridge construction that includes a rail line and harbor dredging.

Merit-based project selection would be a fundamental principle of the national Infrastructure Bank. The Bank would compare projects of different modes, incorporating cost effectiveness and equity considerations into its decisions.

BANK DESIGN PRINCIPLES

The budget resolution adopted by Congress includes $2 billion this year and $5 billion next year for a national Infrastructure Bank. President Obama has outlined broad design principles on the focus, governance structure, and financing mechanisms of the Infrastructure Bank. The Obama Administration will work with Congress to establish specific policies and practices for the Bank. 

• Sectors for investment: Transportation & transportation-affiliated projects. The Infrastructure Bank should target transportation and transportation-affiliated projects that emphasize smart land use, economic development, intermodalism, energy conservation, and other priorities of our modern infrastructure system. Focusing on cross-modal transportation projects with special attention to broader economic and environmental impacts would allow for effective targeting of Infrastructure Bank dollars. It would also direct funds to high-value projects that are difficult to finance in the existing system. As the Infrastructure Bank grows over time, its scope could expand to more sectors.

• Project size: Low minimum threshold. The Administration proposes a $25 million minimum threshold on project size. This relatively low project threshold is consistent with the fundamental principle of merit-based selection and would allow the Bank to choose the most valuable of a broad array of projects. The low threshold would also help make Bank funding accessible to all potential applicants, whether large or small, urban or rural. 

• Governance and structure: Independent entity within DOT. Political independence is critical to the success of an Infrastructure Bank. For this reason, the Administration proposes that the Bank be housed as an independent entity within DOT, consistent with the proposed Bank focus on transportation and transportation-affiliated projects. The Bank would be governed by a board of non-governmental advisors with proven expertise in infrastructure, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.  Similar to the role of the IRS Oversight Board, the Bank board would lend expertise and insight to project selection, approve final selection decisions, and protect the Bank from internal and external political pressures.

• Financing mechanisms: Combination of grants and credit products.  A flexible set of financing tools would allow the Bank to provide the most appropriate form of financing to a given project.  The Administration would allow the Bank to offer a combination of grants and credit products like direct loans and loan guarantees.  The Administration does not support Bank authority to borrow independently from private capital markets, since Treasury is the sole entity that borrows on behalf of the federal government and can do so more cheaply and efficiently than any other entity.

Thinking of riding your bike to Celebrate Brooklyn this summer but worried about finding a safe and reliable place to lock up? Look no further than the Celebrate Brooklyn Bike Zone, where friendly volunteers from Transportation Alternatives will take great care of your ride (for free!) while you enjoy the sights and sounds of the unbeatable summer lineup. Tonight: MGMT.

The Bike Zone is conveniently located just inside the 11th Street and Prospect Park West entrance, within steps of the bandshell. Check out this handy map [PDF] to scout your best route.

These days, it's not often that we get to report about New York City community boards pushing DOT for more progressive street designs. So sit back and enjoy this post. If you read Streetsblog regularly, it'll blow your mind.

Back in April, DOT met with members of Brooklyn Community Board 9, which covers parts of Crown Heights and Flatbush, about a traffic calming project for Empire Boulevard. At the time, the project did not include a bike lane.

I asked district manager Pearl Miles about that meeting. "We said, 'How about a bike lane?'" she recalls. "Our community is largely residential, so we want it to be safe."

When DOT came back in May for a presentation to the full board [PDF], the project -- now sporting a bike lane -- passed in a resounding 38-2 vote.

Crews are now working on the Empire Boulevard project, which closely resembles the template DOT used to calm traffic on Vanderbilt Avenue. A moving lane will be removed in each direction, and a painted median with pedestrian refuges will run down the center. (Allerton Avenue in the Bronx is slated for similar treatment [PDF], as Mobilizing the Region reported on Monday. "We presented the Allerton project to the CB 11 committee that covers the specific area and we are taking their input as we finalize the plan,” said DOT spokesman Scott Gastel.)

There are many more streets where CB 9 would like to see bike lanes installed. Back in the 90s -- before anyone had ever uttered the words "Google Maps" -- land use chair Mike Cetera plotted out a bike network on an aerial map of the district. The goal, says Miles, was to identify routes for families to ride safely to local parks, including Prospect Park. The addition of the Empire Boulevard bike lane marks a major milestone for that plan.

"This is our first real implementation, and we're excited about it," said Miles.

The 215th Step-Street: still broken. Photo: Brad Aaron

It was at Espaillat's June 25 "town hall" meeting, reports neighborhood blog Inwoodette, that the Department of Design and Construction broke the news -- to a chorus of boos -- that "pre-design" work will not be complete until October 2010. Said a second local blogger, Jewyorican: DDC personnel "made it sound like we wanted the city to build the 215th street space elevator to the moon."

It isn't the first time the city has promised to fix the steps only to later renege. As we reported last year, a previous commitment was made in 2005. For whatever it's worth, Streetsblog has messages in with DDC and Community Board 12 to determine the latest project time line.

Update: From Mark Levine, chair of CB 12's transportation committee:

A lot of us are livid about this delay. Originally construction was to begin this year (and even that was two years after the project was funded!). DDC says they are now negotiating with the consultant on the pre-design scope package for OMB review. Espaillat has contacted the mayor's office and DDC commissioner in an effort to expedite matters.

The number of New Yorkers grew by an estimated 53,000 this year. Will they get more power in Congress? (Photo: lukegeorgeson via flickr)

The urban growth is being attributed to a combination of demographic re-arrangement -- younger families are embracing cities as well as close-in suburbs with transit access -- and the unsustainability, both economic and environmental, of living in sprawl.

It's a pattern that nicely underscores the importance of expanding transportation options beyond the automobile. But will the nation's rising cities see a corresponding increase in the political influence that's necessary to move national policy in a new direction? That's a big question.

The 2010 Census will help determine which states gain or lose seats in the House, the lower congressional chamber where proportional representation rules the roost.

And even if urban populations continue to swell over the next two years, it's still highly likely that western and southern states -- where the housing bubble was largest and sprawl remains the norm -- will gain seats in Congress.

"[T]here would have to be a massive reversal of population trends for this not to happen," demographer Andrew Beveridge of Queens College told the New York Times after the 2007 Census. (The New York state legislature is a different story, as Beveridge reported earlier this week -- but then again, control of that body may be more trouble than it's worth.)

New York's congressional representation is projected to fall by two seats after 2010, hitting a low not seen since the 1810 Census. Illinois and Ohio are also expected to lose representation while Texas and Florida gain seats.

It's a prospect that has Karl Rove dreaming of a GOP comeback, and one that should make advocates for progressive transportation and climate policy sit up and take notice.

Senior Democrats such as Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY), and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) represent urbanites (in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, respectively), but their party's 77-seat hold on the House requires constant attempts to compromise with colleagues from rural and exurban areas.

The more that lawmakers from a wide variety of areas -- particularly highway-fixated and growing states such as Texas -- come to embrace the goals of less auto dependence and more sustainable development, the better.

Photo: Daily News

Two officers responding to a call to help another officer were proceeding north on Avenue D with lights and sirens. Near E. 5th Street, the cruiser collided with a white Cadillac, which was pulling out of a driveway. The cruiser then jumped the curb and struck several pedestrians. Two people were hit when the officer driving the car swerved to avoid a baby carriage. Five pedestrians, including the baby and mother, the two officers in the cruiser, and a driver and passenger in the other car were hospitalized with minor injuries. The most seriously hurt person was a 33-year-old man who suffered a broken leg and a gash on his head.

Miraculously, no one was killed yesterday. But as you can see in the WPIX story after the jump, the scene of a crash is rarely as antiseptic as phrases like "treated and released" make it sound. 

At least one report says the investigation into the incident is continuing, as is no doubt the case. But will the public be fully informed of the findings? And what of reports by multiple witnesses who say the cruiser was traveling at up to 50 mph, that there were no lights or sirens, or that passersby who urged officers to assist victims other than their colleagues were told to "Shut the fuck up"? Will these witnesses be vetted, with appropriate action taken to avoid such mistakes, if they in fact occurred, in the future? How about claims by residents that police routinely speed on Avenue D? Will the department at least crack down on non-emergency dangerous driving to lessen the possibility of future injuries and deaths?

These are rhetorical questions, of course. As we saw in Brooklyn last month, even when an innocent bystander is killed during the course of what witnesses say was clearly a police chase, NYPD can simply declare that no pursuit occurred. Given the near-universal lack of effort by police and prosecutors when a civilian runs down some poor schlub in the street, what can we expect when it's one of their own behind the wheel?

The WPIX reporter said of yesterday's crash: "The first police unit that arrived took the officers, and left behind everybody else who was bleeding on the street." When it comes to traffic safety and enforcement, you'll hardly find a more suitable illustration of NYPD priorities.

This is how mothers roll in Japan: on a "mamachari." Photo by anthonygrimley via Flickr.

I certainly don’t want to discount concerns about safety and fashion, which were issues for me when starting out and two things Dottie and I are trying to help others overcome.

What annoys me is that none of the articles I’ve read on this topic lately go any deeper into why those things present serious obstacles for women but not men, even though men have the same concerns (no one wants to show up for work disheveled and stinky after all). Why bother, when it’s so obvious that men are just much less self-absorbed and a million times braver? It couldn’t be that there are higher expectations for women’s appearances in the workplace, or that the burden of transporting children or household errands like grocery shopping more often falls to them—the first reasons that came to my mind. These are not insurmountable, of course (just ask these cycling superparents, both moms and dads, or the other stylish women bike commuters we know), but they require some thought, negotiation and planning that your average male might not have to overcome in his quest to bicycle commute.

But instead of giving weight to these concerns, or looking into others, these articles stay on the surface. Women are dismissed as frivolous and their absence is mourned not because of the missed opportunity to allow them to discover an activity that can improve their quality of life, but because their presence would improve the scenery. As a girl who likes to look good on her bike, I can’t argue with that statement, but I can argue with it being the number one reason we should get women on bikes -- sorry, Treehugger.

Network member Fifty Car Pileup, who has written about the gender gap before, also had a thoughtful response to the Times piece.

What makes me sad about this whole debate is that in the United States, we tend to think of ourselves as being especially enlightened when it comes to women's issues. Yet women here are still confronted every day with the idea that being sweaty, or even physically active outside of a gym, isn't feminine. If you're not worried about it yourself, you're constantly being reminded by the media that other, "average" women are. Transporting children by bike is almost unheard of.

Meanwhile, Dutch parents have the Bakfiets, of course. And in Japan, women ride their kids on cycles called "mamacharis," or mama chariots. Maybe we'll get there someday.

Other good things from around the network: imagineNATIVEamerica writes about the debate between New Urbanists and the proponents of sprawl; the Hard Drive reports some Oregon drivers don't see why they should have to put down their cellphones; and The MinusCar Project expects "green business" initiatives to be more than business as usual.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week the return and expansion of the Summer Streets program along with more than 1,500 free events taking place throughout New York City this summer. The mayor was joined by DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who noted that some 50,000 people enjoyed Summer Streets each time it was held last year, and that temporary car-free streets were spreading this year to 14 locations across all five boroughs. Among some of the others supporting the mayor's announcement were Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe, Assemblyman Joseph Lentol, Def Jam record label co-founder Russell Simmons and actor Luis Guzmán.

Eight pedestrians have been hurt in a car accident involving a New York City police cruiser on the Lower East Side.

Police say the accident happened Tuesday afternoon on Avenue D near East 5th Street.

EMS says five of the injuries were serious.

It is unclear what led to the crash.

According to wooDave the officer(s) may have been pursuing a cyclist. If you know of other coverage of this breaking story, please link from comments.

Update: The Daily News says the cruiser hit another car, "at least five" pedestrians "including a baby," and a building.

A police car spun out of control in the East Village Tuesday - striking at least five pedestrians, including a baby, cops at the scene said.

The victims were rushed to Bellevue Hospital after the 4:15 p.m. accident on Ave. D and E. 6th St., sources said.

Witnesses said the NYPD car was speeding without a siren and collided with a white Cadillac heading in the opposite direction.

The police car mounted the curb, hitting several pedestrians.

"The cop was going really fast, too fast," said Brian Cooper, 42, who lives in the neighborhood.

"The police car jumped the curb and struck pedestrians on the sidewalk.

"I heard two loud bangs, the first when he hit the Cadillac and the second when he hit the building."

A few months ago, John Liu was all for bikes in buildings.

Danny Kanner, a spokesman for bill sponsor David Yassky, confirmed this afternoon that the landmark piece of legislation has yet to clear John Liu's transportation committee. "The bill has been laid on council members' desks for eight days, which is typically what is done before a bill comes before the full council," said Kanner. "That was done with the anticipation that it would be voted out of the transportation committee today."

Liu's office has not yet returned requests for comment. But here's what we know.

• When a previous version of this bill surfaced in the council in 2006, John Liu was a co-sponsor.
  
• Last September, Liu joined Yassky and Tish James on the steps of City Hall to call for better bike access to buildings. Rally speakers noted the odd aversion many building owners display toward letting bikes inside office buildings, and the manifold benefits of legislation to correct that bias.
  
• In March, Liu switched from the crowded public advocate race to the somewhat less crowded comptroller race, in which he faces two other candidates from Queens -- and Yassky.
• At the last transportation committee hearing on the bill, Liu started questioning whether DOT should have jurisdiction over bicycle access to buildings. No one else on the committee voiced similar concerns. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri assured Liu that their agencies would have it covered.
• Today, Liu's committee did not meet and advance the bill despite the widespread expectation that it would do so.
  

The next opportunity to move the bill will come in July, when the full City Council is scheduled to hold a stated meeting. "David and a variety of advocates have worked hard on this bill, a bill that will reduce congestion, carbon emissions, and improve public health," Kanner said. "It should pass."

This driver suffered a seizure, but not to worry -- the phone booth was protected. Photo: Gothamist

“We don’t want to tell anyone how to run their businesses until it impacts our business,” Mr. Kelly said.

According to data provided by the Police Department, there were 444 bank robbery attempts in 2008 -- up 57 percent from the year before.

While statistics produced by both sides show that about 90 percent of the 1,700 commercial bank branches in New York already have some form of barrier in place between tellers and would-be robbers, many small local banks -- and some chains like TD Bank -- do not have them.

The effectiveness of the barriers is questionable. Kelly himself said that last year 47 percent of bank robberies in the city occurred at banks with the barriers, while 53 percent of banks targeted by robbers did not have them. And Gregory B. Braca of TD Bank testified that the barriers can actually invite additional trouble, saying, "There is evidence that if we had to install barriers, it could increase the risk of hostage-taking and injury to our customers."

Now, for comparison's sake, consider the 444 attempted bank robberies in 2008 alongside the 15,000 injuries and 150 deaths suffered by pedestrians at the hands of New York City drivers in the average year. Many of those victims are injured and killed not in the street, but while standing on a corner, walking down a sidewalk, or having a meal inside a restaurant.

Couldn't Commissioner Kelly also advocate for additional barriers between people and outlaw drivers? "Bandit bollards" has a nice ring, doesn't it? Or, if Kelly has his way and bank barriers are eventually mandated, might NYPD redeploy officers from banks to the streets to protect pedestrians? After all, those 15,000 calls a year must also be a burden -- and much like a bank, we never know who'll be hit next.

Last week DOT unveiled this conceptual plan for a better gateway to the Brooklyn Bridge [PDF]. For the thousands of pedestrians and cyclists who access the bridge on the Brooklyn side every day, it's a winner.

Presented at a public meeting in downtown Brooklyn, the new design features a more generous, boulevard-style bike-ped access ramp to the bridge, plus wider medians and sidewalks, curb extensions, and separated bike lanes on each of the three approaches to the ramp. If implemented, the proposal would greatly improve safety at one of the most complex, heavily-trafficked intersections in the city.

The project is still in its early stages. This plan, based on input from an earlier public workshop in January, will be refined again, with DOT aiming to bring a more finished proposal before Community Board 2 this fall. The multi-million dollar reconstruction of Tillary Street and Adams Street, which cross paths at the foot of the ramp, is slated to begin in 2012.

A reader who went to last week's workshop tells us the reception was generally positive. About 40 people attended, and after DOT's presentation, everyone marked up large copies of the plan with notes about what they liked and didn't like.

Some highlights from the concept plan:

• The entry ramp, currently a concrete barrier-lined chute where pedestrians and cyclists vie for space on a 10-foot wide path, would expand to a 14-foot wide path with plantings on each side. To make room, existing medians would be consolidated and service lanes on Adams Street would be eliminated or reduced in width.
  
• Two-way protected bike paths would extend at least one block in each direction from the foot of the ramp. On Adams Street, cyclists would have a straight shot to and from the ramp thanks to a center median two-way bike path.
• More pedestrian space -- including wider sidewalks, medians and curb extensions -- all along Tillary from Clinton Street to Flatbush Avenue. Similar treatment on Adams directly south of the access ramp.

The city is, in some ways, making up for lost time on this one. An earlier DOT regime passed up the chance to improve safety at the Tillary/Adams intersection when the Adams Street median was redesigned in 1998.

More graphics from DOT's concept plan after the jump.

The intersection of Adams and Tillary in DOT's concept plan. The foot of the Brooklyn Bridge access ramp is at the top of the picture. Proposed additions and enhancements to ped/bike areas are shaded lighter than existing sidewalk. For a look at the existing conditions and the full plan, see this PDF.

Proposed geometry for the bridge access ramp. Image: NYCDOT.

We wondered a few months back why Upper Manhattan Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat, a supporter of congestion pricing, would side with the usual suspects in opposing Ravitch-backed East and Harlem River bridge tolls. At the time, Espaillat told Streetsblog readers that new tolls would place an unfair burden on his district, and blamed MTA financial woes on "contemptible bookkeeping and abject failure to control spending."

Et tu, Adriano? Photo: Brad Aaron

At a "town hall" meeting in Inwood last Thursday, Streetsblog reader Peter Brinkmann again found the assemblyman indifferent to concerns about auto-inflicted quality of life issues. Writes Peter:

In response to my question about distorted traffic patterns caused by car commuters who take the Broadway bridge [into and out of Inwood] in order to avoid paying the toll for Henry Hudson Bridge, he launched into his usual routine about how East River bridge tolls would be a regressive tax on families; he didn't address the issue of a residential neighborhood serving as a bypass for a major artery. When asked about possibly repaving 218th Street, he seemed to be in favor, in part because 218th Street draws a lot of traffic from drivers who want to avoid Henry Hudson Bridge. In other words, he's aware of distorted traffic patterns and doesn't seem to have a problem with them.

Peter says Espaillat "dismissed the upcoming MTA fare hike as nothing more than a regular increase and didn't address the bigger problem of service cuts." If you're confused as to how a representative from a district where 80 percent of the population relies on transit could be so disconnected, here is Espaillat on the subject of planned improvements to two Inwood 1 train elevated platforms:

When talking about the upcoming renovation of the Dyckman and 207th St stations, he kept talking about the "1 and 9" trains. That might just be some NY verbal tic, like having to say "Z" after saying "J," but I suspect that he doesn't take the subway and hasn't noticed that the 9 train has gone the way of the dodo.

Based on Espaillat's performance during and since the doomsday debacle, we wouldn't be surprised.