Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

Well that didn’t take very long.

Last week, Community Board 7′s Transportation Committee voted to back a proposal that would ban vehicular traffic in Central Park on a trial basis from July through November. The next step is (was?) a vote by the full CB7 board during its June meeting.

DNAinfo is now reporting that Mayor Bloomberg’s office has different ideas.

“We do not have any trial period coming online,” said Bloomberg’s spokesman Marc LaVorgna, who declined to comment on whether the mayor supports legislation proposed by City Councilwoman Gale Brewer in March which would ban traffic permanently.

So while there may be support amongst  the local community boards (the article also mentions a recent vote by CB5 in favor of the proposal), there is nothing imminent if the city isn’t on-board with the idea. (I should also note that MyUpperWest’s in-house counsel — aka my sister — is vehemently against the car ban).

DNAinfo got this response from Brewer: “It’s not going to stop us from advocating,” she said, adding that if she can get a hearing for the bill she will consider amending it to include a pilot program, or apply it only in summer months when she said traffic is “unbelievably” light.

More details in the full article.

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Tags: Center Drive, Central Park, Central Park auto ban, Central Park car ban, Central Park traffic ban, Central Park vehicular traffic, East Drive, Mayor Bloomberg, New York City, NYC, traffic ban, Upper West Side, UWS, West Drive