Location: Let's talk about the Summer Streets program. Has it gone as good as you would have hoped?

Location: Let's talk about the Summer Streets program. Has it gone as good as you would have hoped?

The year 2007 may prove to be one of the most important years in the storied history of New York City's development. In a future timeline of urban advances, it might be printed in as big a font and as bold a type as 1811--when the grid system was adopted--or 1904--when the I.R.T. subway opened. The text adjacent to 2007 could say something like "the start of livable streets," or "the bike boom begins," or "congestion pricing kicks off." It may turn out that all of those descriptions may suit 2007. The real question is, in hindsight, will they?

Recently, a New Yorker (let's call him Tim) was forced off a sidewalk by a double-wide stroller, a large dog, and an elderly pedestrian all traveling abreast. So he shimmied between parked cars, nearly collided with a bike messenger going the wrong way up a one-way street, and walked through the exhaust-choked margin of the avenue while fantasizing about a future in which New York City's clogged streets are reconfigured in favor of pedestrians and cyclists.

In an effort to cut back on the traffic gridlock that accompanies the holiday shopping and tourist bonanza, the city is extending one of the Midtown express lanes it established last week.

On November 29, the city installed plastic barriers on sections of Fifth and Sixth avenues near Rockefeller Center, creating express lanes in the center of the roadways that prevented cars from changing lanes and turning.

Starting today at 7:30 a.m., the NYPD is extending the Sixth Avenue lane five blocks south; it will now run between 43rd and 53rd streets.

A proposed development amid the brownstones and boutique shops of Brooklyn's Park Slope has the traditionally staid residents taking to the street in protest.

It's not a new stadium. And it's not a high rise.

It's a drive-through window.

Commerce Bank, the fastest growing bank in the country, plans to build a new branch on Fifth Avenue and First Street.