Letters to the Editor
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‘Traffic Congestion Solutions’
Ms. Furchtgott-Roth is right about “free goods,” e.g., free curbside parking spaces being overused. However, her oped piece [Oped, “Traffic Congestion Solutions,” February 9, 2007] ignores the easiest and cheapest solution to traffic congestion in Manhattan — removing the perk of free street parking by government employees.
A study commissioned by Transportation Alternatives — the Schaller Report — demonstrated that government workers commute to work at a much higher rate than employees of private firms, ostensibly because they get free parking.
“No Standing” signs are actually a sick joke, because those spaces are filled by government employees’ commuter vehicles whose dashboard placards state that they are on “official business.”
One can easily examine this issue intuitively. Look at the traffic, as I do in my Lower Manhattan neighborhood, on any government holiday — there is none. Our traffic congestion problem is most easily solved by simply yanking the parking permits of all government employees.
An alternative, albeit slower to implement, solution promised by Mayor Bloomberg when he was a candidate, but has since been completely forgotten by him, was his pledge to relocate government offices out of Manhattan. I doubt that will happen anytime soon.
JOHN OST
New York, N.Y.
Ms. Furchtgott-Roth makes an interesting analogy to the problem of congestion on the city streets, however, she wants to place the burden on the wrong party. The largest increase in traffic comes from trucks, not cars.
Rep. Anthony Weiner reported at house.gov/list/press/ny09_ weiner/070114Trucktraffic.html that over the last 10 years, truck traffic has increased nearly 30%. He also states that by 2020, there will be an 83% increase in citywide truck levels over 1998 levels.
One only has to look at the effect that the one-way tolls have had on the Verrazano Bridge. Thousands of trucks now ply their way up the Gowanus to avoid the tolls. This shift in traffic patterns has hastened the decay of the Gowanus and added to pollution in the residential areas of Brooklyn.
By imposing fees to drive into Manhattan, you will insure that the traffic congestion is pushed to the outer boroughs and only the rich will enjoy Manhattan streets.
As usual, there is no mention of improving mass transit, cracking down on illegally parked dumpsters, illegal construction sites, or simply requiring trucks to deliver on off-peak times. Try these solutions before you start taxing people to come into the city.
DWIGHT SIMMONS
Brooklyn, N.Y.
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