Fake New York meets the real thing (Jack Bog's Blog)

This New Yorker's got an interesting idea:

As you can see, where once there was simply traffic, there are now happy pedestrians enjoying the vehicular exhaust and awaiting an out-of-control taxi like so many bowling pins....
Outdoor living, traffic-calming, bicycle-friendly streets -- all of these are hallmarks of both "Livable Streets" and of Portland, Oregon. Furthermore, New York City appears to want to become Portland anyway. So why not simply install a giant Portland right in the middle of New York? Not only does it include an excellent cycling and public transit infrastructure already in situ, but it also comes with a bunch of breweries as well as like half a million smug yet amiable residents who require little beyond ready access to fair trade coffee and whimisical trinkets to weave into their blond dreadlocks. Indeed, installing a Portland in New York will be no more difficult than sliding a 10-speed cassette onto a freehub or assembling a piece of Ikea furniture.

The whole thing, with maps no less, is here.

Comments (6)

Jack - just thought I'd let you know that the Eastside Burnside/Couch Couplet is now in full operation. I drive a middle school car pool for my daughter two days a week to daVinci Middle School on 24th and Everett and work in NW. Normally, it takes me 5 to 10 minutes to get from SE 24th & Sandy to NW 12th & Couch. Now that Burnside is a one-way street and you have 12 traffic lights down Couch instead of 1 down Burnside (from 12th to MLK), my 5-10 minute commute took 25 minutes today. It is a litteral Cluster F@#&! The Recall Sam Adams group needs to have people at each light on SE Couch taking signatures from the people creeping along at a snail's pace. I haven't been this angry in traffic in 20 years!

Posted by karl hausafus | April 13, 2010 9:07 AM

Karl, the powers that be in City Hall just love it when filthy, dirty, planet destroying car drivers get cheezed off not being able to get around. It's all part of their plan to get us so fed up we stop driving and go by streetcar or bike. So rage away. They laugh in glee.

I for one am not voting for anyone that belongs to BTA or is Green Party member. These Green religious zealots have stranglehold on politics in this town and it's time for some fresh ideas.

Posted by dm | April 13, 2010 10:28 AM

karl, they're doing the same on the west side of Burnside as well. Burnside and Couch will basically function like 25mph downtown streets with lights at every intersection. You can time them, but only if you're moving at 15mph or so.

City Council: "Improving Your City by Making It Worse"

Posted by Snards | April 13, 2010 10:34 AM

And, long before you get to 24th, the City appears to be doing the same traffic lights = grid lock settings in the Hollywood area. Anyone else try to head towards downtown from around 50th, only to get stopped at every single light?

What Sam/Rand need to realize - if the city wants business/jobs, we need some folks with cash, and the big expensive cars they've earned from making some money by having a business.

Posted by umpire | April 13, 2010 10:57 AM

Oh, that's not an original idea. The crew at DieHipster.com is understandably horrified of the idea. Starting with Stumptown coffee, it's becoming obvious that every time Williamsburg (or Austin, or Minneapolis) gets infested with a particularly asinine or juvenile idea, it originally came from someone who left Alberta Street and figured "Let me spread the contagion."

Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | April 13, 2010 3:40 PM

Ya know - last night @ recall openhouse the conversation did include the possibility that Adams vacuity in city council meetings could be a tell, that Adams is using beloved Portland as his springboard into NY politics.

Ya think, maybe ?

Posted by jussaskin | April 13, 2010 4:38 PM

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Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Fake New York meets the real thing

Comments (6)

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