As far as the SoHo Alliance is concerned, pedestrians will bring the ruination of their hip New York neighborhood. Today, the New York Community Board 2’s Transportation Committee will entertain plans for a pilot project that would make Prince St., in the heart of SoHo, a pedestrian-only thoroughfare—for a mere few hours on Sundays.
The overwhelmingly negative reaction to this proposal—even by New Yorkers, who are largely car-free—only proves how attached people are to their cars. They can’t give them up, even for a few hours a week? I’m saddened to see such a fierce reaction to a ped-friendly proposal in a city that caters to its mostly car-free, pedestrian residents.
The SoHo Alliance is papering the area with flyers that expose how great a threat this proposed “pedestrian mall” would be to residents. Mimes and pesky performers would overtake the streets, and the aroma of roasting cashews from vendor’s carts would waft up to eight story windows. Imagine! It would be the downfall of the neighborhood’s fashionable reputation. (At least, that’s what the alliance is afraid of.)
According to Streetsblog, the Alliance has also rallied against new bike lanes, sidewalk widenings, and other efforts to create more livable streets.
In almost every New York neighborhood, the streets are already crowded with pedestrians. City traffic is always bad, and there’s never any parking. Now, SoHo wants to protect cars over people? The Alliance is calling the idea of a purely pedestrian Prince Street “cockamamie.” The Brits, however, have had great success with such ideas, and boosted business with car-free shopping days. It’s high time that SoHo stopped being so bloody snobbish.
Photos via flickr by Tom Simpson & kenyee.
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