A decade + ago, Janette Sadik-Khan the former NYC commissioner of transportation under Bloomberg, embarked on a radical, fast-paced and innovative transformation of New York, by developing a comprehensive rethink of how people moved about the city. In her book, Streetfight, she details how she went about it, sometimes in a sudden and sneaky way to make the city better. There is no grand plan, no expensive (at least not at first) infrastructure to be built, as she was held accountable for the immediate efficacy of her measures.
While NYC went through this transformation without an ongoing crisis to trigger these changes, I think there is a number of lessons in there about the often perceived sluggishness of our governments and their endless cycles of consultations, approvals and funding efforts. Given the appropriate tools, she was able to implement her ideas at silicon valley speeds, without breaking things while moving fast.
I'm a bit baffled that we haven't taken advantage of the deserted streets to take them over from cars, guerrilla-style and try new things. Right now, much more sidewalk space is needed to conform to social distancing rules and with the much-awaited return of the nice weather, more and more people are going to be tempted to enjoy the outdoors. If nothing gets done, it could put many people at risk and waste a beautiful opportunity to be creative.
If the powers that be do nothing, that's a good enough reason to throw rotten tomatoes at them, don't you think?
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