Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani could make driving in the Big Apple hell on wheels. <\/p>\n
Car-hating Transportation Alternatives boss Ben Furnas has been appointed to Mayor-elect Mamdani\u2019s transition team for transportation, climate and infrastructure \u2014 and his agenda is a nightmare for the city\u2019s drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Furnas was named to the post this week, but his group already had its \u201cfull transportation agenda\u201d<\/a> for the incoming administration ready to go, having released it earlier this month.<\/p>\n Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Ben Furnas has been named to Mamdani\u2019s transportation committee. Stephen Yang<\/p>\n Among the plan\u2019s more than 80 demands is a bizarre proposal to build playgrounds smack in the middle of city streets that would then be redesigned into cul-de-sacs \u2014 a move the group claims will solve the city\u2019s \u201cplayground desert problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The plan fails to mention how traffic would be rerouted.<\/p>\n The group also wants to create \u201cschool streets\u201d by closing streets to traffic near every New York City school. Currently 72 of the Big Apple\u2019s<\/a> nearly 3,000 schools have done so. <\/p>\n Transportation Alternatives is pushing to build busways on every major city route \u2014 similar to the controversial plans to ban cars on 34th Street that even bus riders have opposed<\/a>.<\/p>\n At a community meeting earlier this year, Murray Hill residents voiced concerns that after first banning cars on 14th Street<\/a>, and now 34th Street, the anti-car lobby had its eyes on 42nd Street next. <\/p>\n Transportation Alternatives\u2019 blueprint confirms such a fear by pushing for busways on \u201cevery high-priority bus route, as measured by factors including highest ridership and slowest speeds.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so sick and tired of reading \u2018oh, New York City busses are the slowest,’\u201d slammed Stacey Rauch, a Murray Hill resident who takes the bus every day and argues the problem is the lack of busses \u2013 not the fact they\u2019re slowed down by cars.<\/p>\n The group calls for building playgrounds in the middle of streets, like here on St. Marks Avenue in Crown Heights. Helayne Seidman<\/p>\n The group wants to close streets to traffic by every NYC school. The city has nearly 3,000 of them. 880cities<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s like a cult \u2014 \u2018cars are bad,’\u201d she added. \u201cBe a little bit reasonable and understand that sometimes some people can\u2019t live your puritanical, cultish indulgence of either always walking or biking,\u201d she said, arguing Furnas\u2019 plans will hurt seniors and people with reduced mobility.<\/p>\n \u201cHe may think he\u2019s doing good. I bet you if he went to his grandma, she wouldn\u2019t be too happy.\u201d<\/p>\n Furnas\u2019 group also calls to slash parking spots all over the five boroughs \u2014 with plans to \u201crepurpose\u201d the space on blocks close to subway stations with \u201camenities\u201d like wider sidewalks, larger bus shelters, bike parking, benches, so-called \u201cmicro forests\u201d and even public restrooms.<\/p>\n Mamdani has made free buses a cornerstone of his campaign, but Transportation Alternative\u2019s agenda goes much further. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post<\/p>\n City Council Member Robert Holden (D-Queens) slammed the plans, saying the DOT\u2019s \u201chandlers\u201d at Transportation Alternatives have long ignored the needs of families, seniors, workers and small businesses.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the Mamdani administration lets them continue to turn our neighborhoods into playgrounds in the middle of streets and wage war on drivers, it will be a disaster for public safety, quality of life and basic common sense,\u201d he told The Post. <\/p>\n \u201cThe fact that the worst DOT commissioner of all time, Ydanis Rodriguez, is apparently in line for a job in the Mamdani administration shows exactly how bad things could get.<\/p>\n Furnas\u2019 group wants to replicate the 14th Street model \u2013 where cars were banned in favor of buses \u2013 all over Gotham. Taidgh Barron\/NY Post<\/p>\n Critics say Furnas\u2019 plans would create traffic nightmare for drivers. dantada \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n