Going Green in NYC

With all the talk and blogging about going green, it's no surprise that in this mornings New York Times there was an article that concerns going green. This time it wasn't about recycling or a "greener" lifestyle, it was about banning cars in Manhattan.

NYC's mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, announced this past Monday that on select days, during select times, select parts of the city will turn into "car-free zones". NYC is doing this as an experiment, and the mayor says if it works they will try it again. Not only are the streets going to be free of cars, there will be places for people to rent bikes along the closed streets and even take yoga classes.

This plan got mixed reactions from different types of New Yorkers. For example, cyclists were excited, while parking garage operators were displeased. Some others said they wouldn't even be around to enjoy it, because everyone in their neighborhood goes to the Hamptons on weekends.

I wonder how I would react if Mayor Nutter decided to close Broad St. on select days. Most of me would be enthusiastic to do something like this. Then I started to think about the drawbacks. What if I had an interview in South Philly that I needed to get to and I was late for the train? Would I ride a bike and risk looking messy when I got there? Or if I took a train back into the city, would I want to walk the distance from the 30th St. station with all of my luggage?

It's an interesting concept, but I'm not sure how realistic it is.