Mayor Bloomberg's European Vision for New York City

Hiring Janette Sadik-Khan as Commissioner of NYC Department of Transportation might prove to be Mike Bloomberg's most important act while in office. Commissioner's directive to close off traffic in areas like Times and Herald Square is one of the key new ways to move city forward. Considering that 47 million tourists visited the city in 2007 alone, having the eye candy heartland of Manhattan dominated by cars is inexcusable.

Many of the tourists are Europeans who are used to main city streets being narrow, walkable, and accessible for bicycles if the need arises. Being herded like cattle in dense human traffic is bearable but only to a point. The additional unpleasantries of noise and air pollution from endless gigantic American cars do not make return visits to NYC attractive.

Michael Bloomberg, a longtime admirer of London's design, has been increasing the amount of fees cars pay on their way through NYC for a few years now. That didn't seem to make much of a visual impact besides bringing additional revenue from transient passengers needing to get to and from Long Island. New visible measures (that create a feel of being in a new era) are about to be implemented.

Many domestic and foreign tourists dont just come to NYC for the interesting experience of feeling like ants next to awe inspiring architecture. There is the practical consideration of shopping. Major countries in Europe, like Germany and France, have major restrictions on frequency and degree of store discounts. Sales and variety of brand goods seen in stores like Century 21 and Daffys are mind boggling to Europeans. In the past few years we've also seen the price of the euro and the pound rise considerably against the dollar. Making a fly over to NYC became not just a tourist experience for many visitors but a business trip of sorts.

In a time of many state budgets running deficits and NYC experiencing the collapse of its Wall Street heart, courting tourists is more important than ever. During the winter time and the pre-Christmas sales up to a couple hundred thousand visitors are walking around and buying food, goods, and hotel rents on any given day. The failed investment banking oligarchs have speculated away large portions of their taxable incomes and these holes need to be plugged. The best way to do that is to restructure the city so it is more marketable.

NYC is already a few years ahead of other American urban centers in terms of walkability and rent centric culture. Bloomberg seems to understand that it's not enough to just be ahead of the urban national average. He wants New York to move ahead of walkable competitors like Portland, San Francisco, Boston, and Philadelphia. These areas are receiving a lot of the college educated mobile migrants from suburbia and whichever city gains the highest proportion will have the best low level business ingenuity. It's not enough to just have Manhattan filled with professionals and managers whose only task is to serve and entertain the downtown financial oligarchs. There has to be diversification, less social alienation, and the psychological uplift of higher quality of life. Sadik-Khan created 200 miles of additional bike paths and we'll soon see people get more comfortable with getting on a bike and not fearing imminent death. It's easy to see how bikable distances can be taken advantage of. Native New Yorkers and foreigners might appreciate the option of something besides paying $2.50 to get into a dingy loud dungeon of the subway and navigating from there.

Quality of life has long suffered in the supposed urban American jewel. The economic recession does not necessarily need to lead to further deterioration. The mayor's bold 2007 initiative (to make NYC America's first environmentally prudent urban hub) is completely compatible with Obama's vision as well. Reduction of traffic as well as environmental and social transformation will face a lot of reactionary opposition from tax complainers however. NYC can no longer afford to be held hostage by political interests in Long Island and Albany. Middle classes upstate and in Long Island should be financially prodded to either move into NYC or move out of the state. They are the ones funding political factions that stand against NYC's development. Long Island residents have a lot of their children in upstate colleges and that creates a relatively inflexible demand for car travel through NYC. Fees on passing vehicles need to be increased further so Manhattan can take advantage of its geographic nodule location. One might argue that Brooklyn and Queens drivers who need to get to Manhattan are hurt by fees as well. That is true but it also encourages development and job opportunities to spread beyond Manhattan's borders.

The agricultural interests upstate are harder to make money off and need to be financially collaborated with in exchange for political agreements on development. Bloomberg, being an oligarch himself, has more than enough of experience and managerial patience to strike bargains and compromise. The city cannot afford to not re-elect him for the third term.