Lisa Sladkus, Mobilized Moms 917-842-7183

When: Tuesday, October 7th, 4:30 pm
Who: Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Council Member Gale Brewer, mothers with strollers and children marching with banners
Where: March begins at Central Park West and West 72nd Street, culminating in a rally in front of the Promenade band shell

Fed up with cars recklessly exceeding the speed limit, illegally entering the park during car-free time, and discouraging recreational use of the park before and after school, a group of mothers is marching and rallying to make Central Park safer for children and families by closing the loop drive to automobile traffic.

Mobilized Moms is a new community effort of concerned mothers from Harlem, the Upper West Side and the Upper East Side working to permanently close the Central Park loop drive to automobile traffic and open it up to walkers, joggers, stroller moms and bicyclists. The effort is modeled on the famed Mothers of Central Park, which successfully blocked Robert Moses' plan to pave part of Central Park for a parking lot in 1956.

"I'm sick of rushing my family out of the park as the waves of cars come rolling in. Central Park and its playgrounds can't be a safe place for children and function as a traffic artery at the same time," says Lisa Sladkus, founder of Moblized Moms.

"Central Park is the greatest park in this City and New Yorkers looking to run, walk, bike and just enjoy the park should not have to contend with automobiles whizzing by," says UWS Council Member Gail Brewer. "I support Mobilized Moms in their efforts to make Central Park car free and am proud to have sponsored legislation on this matter, too."

"With the highest Asthma rates in the City, East Harlem residents desperately need all measures to improve air quality," says Harlem Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito. "I have worked hard to preserve our community gardens, incorporate more green space into neighborhoods and to install more green roofs as measures to improve air quality, but nothing is as effective as reducing car emissions. I believe a car-free trial will achieve this by diverting traffic to the outer perimeter of Manhattan. I fully support a car-free Central Park."

"How can the City claim to encourage active recreation and park development with one hand, and insist on maintaining our premier park as a hazardous speedway?" says Paul Steely White, Executive Director of Transportation Alternatives.

More than 104,000 have signed the petition for a Car-Free Central Park. Car traffic once dominated the loop drive 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Efforts by Transportation Alternatives have reduced car hours to two hours on weekday mornings on the West Drive and two hours during the evening rush on the East Drive. The campaign for a car-free park does not encompass the transverse streets, which are set below street level and were part of Central Park's initial design.

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