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CAR_FREE

                                              February 12, 2007

   A quotation from "Banning Cars from Manhattan"
   by Paul Goodman and Percival Goodman (1961):

   "By banning private cars and reducing traffic, we can, in most
   areas, close off nearly nine out of ten cross-town streets and
   every second north-south avenue. These closed roads plus the
   space now used for off-street parking will give us a handsome
   fund of land for neighborhood relocation. At present over 35
   percent of the area of Manhattan is occupied by roads. Instead
   of the present grid, we can aim at various kinds of enclosed
   neighborhoods, in approximately 1200-foot to 1600-foot
   superblocks. It would be convenient, however, to leave the
   existing street pattern in the main midtown shopping and
   business areas, in the financial district, and wherever the
   access for trucks and service cars is imperative. Our aim is
   to enhance the quality of our city life with the minimum of
   disruption of the existing pattern.

   "The disadvantages of this radical proposal are small. The
   private cars are simply not worth the nuisance they
   cause. Less than 15 percent of the people daily entering
   Manhattan below Sixty-first Street come by private
   car. Traffic is congested, speed is slow, parking is difficult
   or impossible and increasingly expensive. It is estimated that
   the cost of building new garaging is $20,000 per car; parking
   lots are a poor use of land in the heart of a metropolis, and
   also break the urban style of the cityscape.

   "The advantages of our proposal are very great. Important and
   immediate are the relief of tension, noise, and anxiety;
   purifying the air of fumes and smog; alleviating the crowding
   of pedestrians; providing safety for children. Subsequently,
   and not less importantly, we gain the opportunity of
   diversifying the gridiron, beautifying the city, and designing
   a more integrated community life.

   "The problem and our solution to it are probably unique to
   Manhattan Island, though the experiment would provide valuable
   lessons elsewhere.  ... "

         [ref]

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