Not exactly Errol Morris, we know, but the sentiment is there.

Photographer unknown 

We noted yesterday that Barack Obama has promised to direct more federal funds to bike-ped infrastructure if elected. Now comes word that the Illinois Senator is going public with his support for a regional rail network linking midwestern cities, an idea he had floated quietly during the Democratic primary campaign.

In a major address on "American competitiveness," Obama pitched intercity rail as an antidote to faltering airlines. Via Matthew Iglesias:

We can invest in rail, so that cities like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Louis are connected by high-speed trains, and folks have alternatives to air travel.

To be sure, the speech -- delivered in Flint, Michigan -- was also heavy on promises to keep cars rolling off the assembly line. But the mention of rail and a proposal to fund a "National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank" (reminiscent of Congressman Earl Blumenauer's stump speech) suggest that a President Obama may steer federal transportation funding, which has long given transit short shrift, in a different direction.

Photo of parlor car in the Illinois Central Railroad, which went defunct in 1999: Prairie Star / Flickr

State Assembly Transportation Committee to Decide Today Whether Bill Will Receive Floor Vote

On Thursday, the New York City Council voted 40-7 to approve a home rule message enabling state lawmakers to enact bus lane enforcement legislation. The bill would permit the use of bus-mounted cameras to deter cars from using bus-only lanes. It now moves to Albany, where it has already been introduced in both the State Assembly and Senate. The City Council also voted in favor of a measure that would make it easier to enforce restrictions on blocking the box, which is likewise now in Albany's hands.

With the Assembly set to adjourn on June 23rd, and the transportation committee meeting today to discuss the bus camera bill, one more round of calling and reaching out to key legislators will help move this legislation forward.

Automated bus lane enforcement is a key step toward implementation of Bus Rapid Transit, especially since physically separated lanes do not figure heavily in the city's plans. Similar enforcement legislation was first drafted eight years ago, but, lacking support from the governor's office and high-level MTA management, did not progress this far. The City Council vote indicates that circumstances have changed.

"This is unprecedented," said Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives. "City Council is doing the right thing for the millions of bus riders in this city. This is a really good step towards improving mass transit in the short term. For the time being, it's all about buses."

Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson delivers this snappy video recap of yesterday's press conference announcing "Summer Streets," the Ciclovía-style car-free event that will open six miles of Manhattan thoroughfares to pedestrians and cyclists for three Saturdays in August. One quote from Mayor Bloomberg, which doesn't seem to have made the cut in this morning's media coverage, addresses (tentatively) the potential of the event to change the way people look at the city:

We have to try different things if we're going to keep this city vibrant and interesting. We also have to stop talking about global warming and actually do something. I can't tell you this is going to make a big difference, but it says to people, "There's other ways to get around."

David Byrne, Janette Sadik-Khan, Paul Steely White, Lance Armstrong, and Scott Stringer look on mirthfully as Mayor Bloomberg announces "Summer Streets."

New York's Ciclovía-style car-free event will go by the name "Summer Streets," Mayor Bloomberg and Transportation Commissioner Sadik-Khan announced at a press event this afternoon. Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson was on hand to capture footage, which he plans to edit for your viewing pleasure in the near future. To tide you over until then, here are some highlights from the press release (and more photos after the jump):

“We anticipate that hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and visitors will take advantage of streets temporarily opened for recreation,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We hope the Summer Streets experiment will become as much a part of the New York experience as strolling the Coney Island boardwalk, participating in the 5-borough bike tour, or listening to the Philharmonic in the park.”

“In Bogotá, they call it Ciclovia, or bikeway. In Paris, it’s the Plage, or beach. Here in New York, Summer Streets will literally turn the streets of our city into a pedestrian park,” said Commissioner Sadik-Khan. “The streets themselves are among the most valuable public space that the City has to offer, and finding the room within our existing street space for those on two feet or two wheels is a true application of our goals for a sustainable future under the Mayor’s PlaNYC initiatives and the DOT’s strategic plan.

Barack Obama riding with his family last week.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama addressed bicycle advocates and industry leaders at a Chicago fundraiser on Thursday, lending more weight to the pro-bike comments he delivered in Portland, Oregon last month. Industry mag Bicycle Retailer has the scoop:

Barack Obama, in a private 20-minute meeting with members of the Bikes Belong board of directors, told them if he were elected president he would increase funding for cycling and pedestrian projects. And the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee also said he would support Safe Routes to Schools programs.

Stan Day, SRAM’s president, said that Obama "gets it." He pointed out that Obama understands that bicycles can be part of a solution to issues as diverse as health care, obesity, energy and environmental policy. "He does his homework and he can connect the dots," he said.

Obama's Oregon campaign co-chair, Representative Earl Blumenauer, said it was remarkable for a candidate to meet with bike advocates so early in the general election season.

Photo: Associated Press

Last month we reported that DOT was planning a major car-free event this summer in the mold of Bogotá, Colombia's weekly Ciclovía. Details emerged on Friday in the Downtown Express:

On three Saturday mornings in August, the Department of Transportation will ban cars from nearly 5 miles of city streets to make way for cyclists, joggers and walkers. Starting at the beginning of Centre St. in Lower Manhattan, then moving north onto Lafayette St., Fourth Ave. and Park Ave., people will be able to travel all the way to 72nd St. and then to Central Park by walking down the middle of a street.

The streets will be closed to cars on August 9, 16 and 23 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. On 15 major east-west streets, like Canal, 14th St. and 42nd St., cars will be allowed to cross the car-free zone.

Last night's Tony winners aren't the only newsmakers on Broadway these days. In May DOT quietly rolled out plans to give the city's premier north-south thoroughfare the livable streets treatment from Times Square to Herald Square (between 42nd and 35th Streets). The redesign replaces two car travel lanes with pedestrian plazas and a protected bike lane.

Seems like another too-good-to-be-true improvement, but it's for real. Check out specifics here: PDF.

Word is the 42nd to 35th Street design, which looks to have been developed in cooperation with the Times Square Alliance Business Improvement District, will be implemented this summer. Meanwhile, a few blocks south, reclamation work is underway around Madison Square Park, as previewed in remarks from Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and promised in DOT's Sustainable Streets plan.

What with all the changes on Broadway and the debut of New York's own Ciclovía (more coverage coming soon), it looks like it's going to be a boffo summer.

Broadway ped plaza details after the jump.

If you've ever wondered how Aaron Naparstek and Clarence Eckerson whiled away the hours before the advent of Streetsblog and Streetfilms, here's your answer. They donned cheeseheads and Hummer suits while role-playing in support of a car-free Prospect Park. Clarence has been hanging on to this proto-Streetfilm for some time (it was shot in 2002), waiting for the right moment to spring it on us. With the push for a car-free Central Park and Prospect Park gaining steam as summer approaches, not to mention the launch of the Livable Streets Network two days ago, that time is now.

It may look silly, but this little demonstration -- together with a 10,000 signature petition drive and a 500-person town hall meeting -- helped win a significant expansion of car-free hours in Prospect Park. Before the campaign, cars had been allowed through the park 24 hours a day during the work week, from the end of October to the beginning of April. Afterward, cars were only allowed into the park during the morning and evening rush.

So, who says the glory days of car-free park rallies are over? A few more events like this could provide just the push advocates need to get a car-free trial for both parks this summer.

Given the New Jersey Nets' lackluster season (34-48 record, no playoff berth), the franchise is taking a page from another under-performer to unload tickets for next year. That's right: buy 2008-2009 season tickets and the Nets will return 10 percent of the cost in the form of "free" gas, which fans will presumably burn up on the way to all those home games. 'Cause with the Nets, it's not about winning or losing, or even how you play. It's about the free gas.

This promotion brought to you by the would-be savior of Brooklyn.

Earlier this week Governor David Paterson announced appointees to the Ravitch Commission. The 13-member body, headed by former MTA Chair Richard Ravitch, is charged with researching and recommending revenue streams for the MTA in the wake of congestion pricing's initial defeat at the hands of Assembly Democrats.

At least four commission members can probably -- and in some cases, definitely -- be counted as supporters of some form of road pricing: current MTA chief Elliot Sander; NYC Office of Management and Budget Director Mark Page; transportation consultant and former MTA Capital Construction President Mysore L. Nagaraja; and Peter Goldmark, former executive director of the Port Authority and currently with the Environmental Defense Fund.

Since Paterson, who made the commission appointments himself, backed congestion pricing, and since Ravitch has reportedly described pricing as "on his agenda," it's not much of a stretch to assume that the rest of the commission should at least be open to the concept. The question is, with the original proposal's executioners still in office -- and with commission recommendations set to come in December, after the fall elections -- will it matter?

Photo: Michael Nagle/New York Observer 

Earlier this week, the Times real estate section profiled the developer-architect team behind East River Plaza, a big box retail outlet in East Harlem that will include 1,248 parking spaces when it opens next year. In the piece, we learn that the project's designer, an Atlanta-based Home Depot specialist called GreenbergFarrow, is responsible for other parking-rich shopping centers throughout the city, including Gateway Center at Bronx Terminal Market (pictured above), Rego Park Mall II, and the Red Hook Ikea.

In one passage, a GreenbergFarrow architect explains his firm's intention to replicate the suburban shopping experience in the urban core:

People might visit a shopping district like SoHo or Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village as an enjoyable way to pass a few hours, but they shop in big-box stores purely for practical reasons and are annoyed if they are forced to linger, said John R. Clifford, a principal of GreenbergFarrow. “One experience is recreational and the other is all about convenience,” he said in an interview at the company’s Manhattan office.