Still Pushing for Car Ban

More would visit Prospect Park, study sez
New York Daily News | May 4, 2006

By Elizabeth Hays

More than 80% of visitors to Prospect Park would use the park more often if cars were banned there, a new study says.The survey by Transportation Alternatives also shows that people are twice as likely to leave the park when cars are allowed to start driving there, and the number of parents with baby strollers also drops 40% during driving time."It makes me not even want to use the park when there are cars there," said Danny Anisfield, an avid biker from Prospect Heights who avoids the park in the evening when cars are allowed in."It's the time of the day when you most want to enjoy the park after a hard day of work, but you can't because there are cars whizzing by at highway speeds."The survey, which will be released today, was based on responses from 450 parkgoers over a nine-month period.It comes as Transportation Alternatives plans to launch an all-out campaign to ban cars in the park in the evening from June to September.The move is the latest salvo in the group's years-long drive to push all cars out of the park, which had made incremental progress in reducing the hours cars are allowed.Currently, cars are permitted on park drives during the week from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.Campaign coordinator Graham Beck said they are focusing on the evening ban because traffic counts made by the group in the 1990s indicate that traffic in the park is lighter then than in the morning."We're not asking for the full Monty right off the bat," Beck said. "In this age of soaring obesity, diabetes and asthma rates, the city should embrace any opportunity to provide its citizens with healthy and safe spaces for recreation."Transportation Department officials declined to comment on the study or the campaign.Transportation Alternatives' campaign has long met strong opposition in some neighborhoods south of the park who are afraid of backups on neighborhood streets."Community Board 14 remains unilaterally opposed to any further restrictions on vehicular traffic in Prospect Park," said chairman Alvin Burke. "It would force motor vehicles and their noise, exhaust fumes and danger onto our residential streets."Borough President Marty Markowitz said the current reduction of driving time "maximizes safety and convenience for parkgoers while minimizing traffic impact in the park's surrounding communities."I believe we have that balance right," he said.

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