What is the economic benefit of causing congestion?

Slinky Bender

The All Powerful Moderator
#1
1) https://gothamist.com/news/essex-crossing-traffic-nightmare-will-likely-hold-people-hostage-years
Up until very recently this area was contiguous blocks of publicly owned land (https://images.app.goo.gl/Wa4HS2caVzVzxMBt7). The City could have easily and with minimal cost widened these streets any time it wanted to for decades. This would have made things safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians (Vision Zero = Zero Vision). Yet instead we went ahead with a plan which anyone with half a brain would know was going to vastly increase an already existing problem which has not only dealt a blow to the quality of life to all the residents of the neighborhood but greatly increased the risk of injury or death to both pedestrians and cyclists.
2) https://www.nydailynews.com/new-yor...0191124-qmj5mh6yare2dkd4drjyzqnd6i-story.html
I've been driving in New York for over 40 years. For most of that time period there was never a problem with congestion on 14th St, 23rd St or any of the major cross-town streets. In fact the entire purpose of these streets was to take traffic away from the smaller sidestreets and make them safer. That is until DOT decided to cause congestion on these streets on purpose by cutting them down to one lane in each direction and turning them into parking lots. Then to "solve" the problem they created the "solution" is to ban cars altogether and make it a bus route. Over the last several months I have spoken with several small business owners on 14th St who have all said there businesses have been seriously impacted and they have doubts they will be able to remain in business.
As an aside, I have seen a number of articles claiming there isn't a problem on side streets with congestion as a result of these changes, but I personally have experienced how terrible things have gotten. A week ago on Saturday night at 8PM it took 45 minutes to get from 1st Avenue and 20th St to 8th Avenue and 24th St (a trip which should be 15 minutes during rush hour).
3) I could easily add dozens more examples of congestion being caused on purpose by NYC and DOT.

So my question is:
What is the economic benefit to NYC, it's businesses or it's residents of causing all this congestion on purpose? Also, what's with the mixed signals on congestion (i.e. "Congestion in Midtown is so bad that we have to cap the number of 'for hire' licenses we allow and instute a tax on anyone who dares enter Manhattan below 60th St" but at the same time "We are upzoning Midtown East to add a couple million more square feet of office space")
 
#2
You are right the dot is doing this on purpose to slow down traffic . I’m in the Bronx and I can tell you that since I been driving from 1998 the Bronx has become a traffic nightmare same thing they cutting all the streets to one lane and all the bs . Well to answer your question quickly,I think they trying to force everyone to use public transportation. If everyone does that $$$$ lots of money to the mta that’s one thing . The rest well to me it makes me like leaving this dam congested city .
 
#3
I seriously think a lot of these decisions are made to solve a problem... however the idiots that are coming up with the ideas as well as the idiots who are approving them do so without think through the ramifications on the effects it causes elsewhere.

I left NY years ago and came back, think it’s time to start thinking about leaving again.

I believe NYC is heading back to the 70’s again where it is crime riddled and falling apart.
 
#4
Can't recall a time where there wasn't self-introduced traffic problems in one place or another. You just learn at what times to drive where. Ditto for the removal/control of parking in Manhattan (and other boroughs too) for no other reason but to do it (with whole blocks of commercial spots empty and rules for getting a commerical vehicle is ridiculous last I looked). I often only go into Manhattan at like 1am and gone by 7am. Part of it's ticket coffers, forcing MTA use and biker rights don't know what the other parts are about.
 
#5
I seriously think a lot of these decisions are made to solve a problem... however the idiots that are coming up with the ideas as well as the idiots who are approving them do so without think through the ramifications on the effects it causes elsewhere.

I left NY years ago and came back, think it’s time to start thinking about leaving again.

I believe NYC is heading back to the 70’s again where it is crime riddled and falling apart.
I laugh when I hear guys say this. Crime is at historically low rates. Something may fall off of a building once in a while but definitely not falling apart. Affordable housing is the biggest challenge.
 
#9
Pointing out a dangerous part of the city in an attempt to extrapolate that as a representation of crime/safety for the city as a whole is not the best way to live up to that username.
The cops fudge the numbers, murders are down cause of modern medicine. Shootings are up. The rest they fudge. By easter this will be Chicago
 
#10
The cops fudge the numbers,
Only this current crop of cops fudge the numbers, right?

murders are down cause of modern medicine.
We're not going back to the days of King George to compare murder rates. A bullet that would've killed you 20 years ago is still killing you today.

Shootings are up.
Wait, why wouldn't they fudge the shooting numbers too? Did previous administrations do that and this one hesitate to? Why fudge the rest of the numbers but leave these as-is?

By easter this will be Chicago
Yes, Chicago can start fudging their numbers so they'll be in line with NY by Easter :D
 
#11
Only this current crop of cops fudge the numbers, right?



We're not going back to the days of King George to compare murder rates. A bullet that would've killed you 20 years ago is still killing you today.



Wait, why wouldn't they fudge the shooting numbers too? Did previous administrations do that and this one hesitate to? Why fudge the rest of the numbers but leave these as-is?



Yes, Chicago can start fudging their numbers so they'll be in line with NY by Easter :D
Well a bullet 25 years ago would kill you but ems and more trauma centers will keep you alive.

You can't fudge a shoot, but you can downgrade assaults and robberies. Why are you defending this shitty city?

Are bill diblasio?
 
#12
Are there more EMS and trauma centers in NYC now compared to 25 years ago that would materially impact the rate at which specifically shooting victims would be kept alive? Do you have any statistics to back that up?

Why can't you fudge shooting statistics though? The government controls the gathering and releasing of this information. So what's stopping them from fudging them? And why didn't previous administrations just downgrade all of those crimes as well?
 
#13
Pointing out a dangerous part of the city in an attempt to extrapolate that as a representation of crime/safety for the city as a whole is not the best way to live up to that username.
Bull Shit.

1st. I said NOTHING about crime in NYC (Mikeinli did in his post and he was wrong as NYC major crimes has gone down past 20 years — in half from 2000 from stats reported by NYC.)
2nd. From NYC Crime stats for parks for Morningside Park: 0 robbery in 3rd qtr 2014 to 5 in 3rd qtr 2019 (latest reported stats as 4th qtr not over yet and I could only find 2014 thru 2019 stats)

Morningside Park was very bad crime wise then got a lot safer past 20 years or so where you could actually walk thru it during the day or early evening and now its going back to bad old days based on NYC reported crime stats. I haven't spent the time looking for data supporting safety > 20 years ago.

3rd.
 
#17
Bull Shit.

1st. I said NOTHING about crime in NYC (Mikeinli did in his post and he was wrong as NYC major crimes has gone down past 20 years — in half from 2000 from stats reported by NYC.)
So another poster (Bricktop) mentioned that crime had gone down in the city, and your immediate and only response was to make a reference to a single park in the city that has seen an uptick in crime while the rest of the city has experienced historic drops in crime?

I stand with my original statement.
 

billyS

Reign of Terror
#18
Alas, fundamental flaw in your thinking as nearly impossible for regular citizens to get gun permits in NYC — so only the criminals will have guns. So perhaps the only ones getting purged will be the regular citizens.
You got a point there
 
#19
Let’s see what things look like a couple of years after the elimination of bail.
It will look pretty much as it does now. They Said the same when stop and frisk was eliminated. Over 600,000 stops a year. Nypd does a great job. If they don’t come back to court date warrant squad will
 
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