Upper Green Side

Streetscape Aesthetics vs. Pedestrian Safety

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A sacrifice we were willing to make: Until 1922, much of Park Avenue was, in fact, a park. Looking north on Park Ave at about 50th Street. That’s Saint Bartholomew’s Church on the right.

Streetsblog has posted my reaction to the Community Board meeting on Tuesday night I attended to propose the installation of basic pedestrian protections on the Park Avenue medians. As reported in this morning’s New York Sun, the idea was rejected for a variety of reasons. “Longtime neighborhood residents,” the Sun reports, “said they hated to sacrifice the aesthetics of a landmark city street for a safety issue they felt was no big concern.

While I certainly don’t expect Park Avenue’s median to be restored to its verdant, pre-1922 width any time soon, the photo above illustrates the absurdity of pitting streetscape aesthetics against pedestrian safety. Clearly, Park Avenue was once a whole lot more beautiful and a whole lot more safe than it is today as a roaring six-lane parkway. As we’ve written before, there are lots of ways to make a street safer for pedestrians. Even bollards, the most basic and functional of pedestrian safety measures don’t have to be ugly.
Read my whole article here.