A number of articles have recently been written criticizing New York City Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan for dramatically changing the city's mobility. This column from Metropolis says that criticism is misdirected.
"Sadik-Khan's enlightened Department of Transportation was able to accomplish a remarkable thing. She has come tantalizingly close to building-mostly out of strategically placed green paint, white stripes, and signage-the city's first new transportation network since well, since Robert Moses built his highways in the early to mid-20th century. Gross,
I assume, used the sobriquet "Roberta Moses" as an insult, but I see it as high praise. I don't ride a bicycle daily, but I ride often enough to marvel at how cleverly Sadik-Khan's DOT has stitched together enough bike lanes-some 250 miles so far-to make cycling in New York borderline practical. She has built something stunningly logical, surprisingly monumental, and genuinely new in a city where most commissioners find it hard to simply keep up with potholes. And she had the audacity to do it on a street where people with political clout live. Time for a little comeuppance."
Columnist Karrie Jacobs argues that Sadik-Khan's should be celebrated, but that a group of affluent community members are successfully pushing a smear campaign against her.
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