Mayor Bloomberg announced a six-month pilot
program to begin June 5 to reduce traffic in Prospect and Central Parks. Woo hoo. This from the NY Times.

Moving to further reduce traffic in city parks, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
announced yesterday that stretches of Central Park in Manhattan and
Prospect Park in Brooklyn would close to cars under a six-month pilot
program to begin June 5.

Under the plan, vehicles will
no longer be able to use the East Drive of Central Park north of 72nd
Street during weekday mornings or the West Drive in the afternoons. In
Prospect Park, drivers will lose morning access to the West Drive,
which runs roughly parallel to Prospect Park West.

"For many
years people coming to Prospect Park or Central Park for recreation
during weekdays have had to share road space on the park drives with
automobiles," Mr. Bloomberg said in Prospect Park as he announced the
changes.

"These new regulations will be especially welcome for
the cyclists, joggers and in-line skaters who use the park drive and it
should also make entering and leaving the parks safer for pedestrians."

The
changes come as public pressure to ban park traffic entirely has been
increasing and as the City Council is considering a bill, introduced by
Councilwoman Gale A. Brewer, that would mandate a trial of more
comprehensive restrictions. But Mr. Bloomberg said that although he
might personally like to see such a ban, it was unrealistic because of
the congestion it would cause on surrounding streets.

"It would
be better if you didn’t have cars in parks," he said, adding that it
would create chaos to ban traffic completely during the morning and
evening rushes.

Officials estimated that 865 vehicles would be
affected by the Central Park closings and 357 by those in Prospect
Park. By contrast, Mr. Bloomberg said, on weekdays 70,000 people use
Central Park and 15,000 use Prospect Park.

In Central Park, the
West Drive will be open to cars only between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., while
the East Drive north of 72nd Street will be open only from 3 p.m. to 7
p.m. From 72nd Street to 57th Street and the Avenue of the Americas,
the East Drive will continue to be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. In
Prospect Park, only the East Drive will be open from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.,
while both the East and West Drives will be open between 5 p.m. and 7
p.m.