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?

Cell phone toting drivers in the city just can't seem to shut up, despite a 2001 law outlawing talking on hand held phones while on the road.

The number of violations has grown exponentially since the law was first instituted five years ago, totaling nearly 200,000 across the five boroughs in 2007, a fivefold jump from 2002.

New Yorkers' failure to keep both hands on the wheel worried bicycling and pedestrian advocates.

A Department of Transportation proposal to close six blocks of Prince St. in Soho to car traffic on Sundays is steering proponents and opponents on a collision course, as they paint vastly different portraits of what will transpire if the plan is enacted.

On Tues., March 11, the Traffic and Transportation Committee of Community Board 2 heard a proposal by D.O.T. on whether to make Prince St. between Lafayette St. and West Broadway into a car-free zone on Sundays between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

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?