I’m involved in an effort at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, one of the largest and most influential synagogues on the Upper West Side , to develop a plan for greening our street, the 200 block of West 88th Street , between Broadway and West End Avenue . The Environmental Action Hevra, one of several committees in the synagogue’s social justice/social action program, has adopted this as its primary objective for this year. Using the UWSSR Blueprint as our handbook, we’re examining various options, including chicanes to divert through traffic, angled parking to replace parallel parking, secure bike parking, curb extensions, etc. In short, pretty much the whole set of street modifications for a residential side street that are depicted in the Blueprint. We hope to make ours a model block and hopefully to extend the redesign to neighboring blocks.

Before devising a specific proposal to the DOT, which we expect to pass through the Community Board, we plan to build local support by meeting with other residents and businesses on the block to explain the project and its benefits in terms of greater safety for pedestrians and cyclists, cleaner air, reduced noise, and an altogether more pleasant and congenial environment. With a lot of work, we hope to see a proposal before the DOT within six months.

Meanwhile, Hazon (www.hazon.org), an organization that promotes environmental awareness and action in the Jewish community, has recently begun working with other Upper West Side synagogues to promote similar Livable Streets initiatives appropriate to their particular locations, though none are as far advanced in considering such projects as B’nai Jeshurun. They are also being encouraged to show their support for improvements like protected bicycle lanes by sending post cards and signing petitions to Community Board 7 and the DOT. Stay tuned for more developments.

At the last meeting of the Green Committee of Community Board 7 of the Upper West Side we watched a documentary about the transformation of Curitiba, Brazil.  It’s called “A Convenient Truth” and I highly recommend it, though you must not watch the trailer on Youtube which makes it seem like little but talking heads with cheesy music in the background.  

“A Convenient Truth” describes Curitiba’s instituting the best of cutting-edge urban design, and doing so with such speed and executive authority that in one example residents went to sleep beside a traffic-choked noisy nightmare of a main thoroughfare, and woke up to a pedestrianized street with benches and birds singing. The pedestrianized street quickly became a success with business owners (because people buy more when they are strolling than when they are driving by at 30 mph) and residents.  

Here are a couple other examples:  Curitiba took away traffic lanes from cars in order to create one of the most advanced bus rapid transit systems (BRTs) I’ve yet seen. The BRT was much cheaper to build than a subway, and it now moves a huge proportion of the City, cuts down on air and noise pollution, lessens traffic and helps people get from one part of the City to another faster and with less aggravation (less traffic jams and noisy streets).  

Curitiba paid residents of an easily flooded urban lowland to move to higher ground, and then restored the flood plain to a wetland that protects the City from dangerous floods.  The wetland and flood plain became part of a huge park that offers recreation and green space.  

Note that there could be environmental justice aspects to this action: I would like to know what the class was of the residents of the flood plain, and if the City paid the flood plain residents adequately for their dislocation and displacement to other neighborhoods.  If those issues were treated with sensitivity and justice, then this big new park - where people eat their lunches, canoe and picnic while the wildlife habitat filters flood waters safely and saves the city money - is a true accomplishment.  

Overall, A Convenient Truth describes can be done when a government decides to use the best of modern urban design to make itself more livable.