neighborhood news

More and More People Are Always in the Way

New York, UNITED STATES: Crowds fill the sidewalks at Fifth Avenue and 51st Street in Manhattan 21 December, 2006. With only four days before Christmas people are finishing up their shopping. AFP PHOTO/DON EMMERT (Photo credit should read DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images)
Move. Photo: DON EMMERT/2006 AFP

The “pedestrian volume index” at 50 of the city’s most crowded intersections keeps rising, and transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan is blinded by inexplicable optimism: “People like to be around people,” she said, while also noting the economic and health benefits of having congested sidewalks. “With 8.4 million people, you don’t live here unless you like people.” That is an interesting theory. Dear 8.4 million people: walk faster.

More and More People Are Always in the Way