More pedestrian hostile than ever.

More cars than ever.

More buses than ever. Isn't that good? It might be if they didn't have a greater percentage of empty seats than ever. Oh, and if the buses weren't driving more and more on congested streets in downtown White Plains.

2-3 lanes of traffic turning simultaneously on five lane roads AND immediately crossing  diagonally parallel to the crosswalk unable to see pedestrians.

About three years ago the mayor repeatedly criticised the urban planning of half a century ago, which included creating the many 4-5 lane one way streets in downtown White Plains. But not a single change has been made.

Now 5,000 new apartments are being added in downtown White Plains with more parking spaces than the number of apartments. What the heck?

Opinion nytimes.com
The Pedestrian Strikes Back Dec. 15, 2018
Officials in several countries are getting the message: Cities are about people, not cars.

By Richard Conniff
Contributing Opinion Writer

Many American cities still rely on “level of service” (LOS) design models developed in the 1960s that focus single-mindedly on keeping vehicle traffic moving, according to Elizabeth Macdonald, an urban design specialist at the University of California, Berkeley. “Hence improvements for other modes (walking, cycling, transit) that might increase vehicle delay are characterized as LOS. impediments,” she and her co-authors write in The Journal of Urban Design. The idea of pedestrians as “impediments” is of course perverse, especially given the word’s original meaning: An impediment was something that functioned as a shackle for the feet — unlimited vehicle traffic, say.
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Congestion Pricing in Manhattan, First Such Plan in U.S., Is Close to Approval nytimes.com  March 25, 2019

By Jesse McKinley and Winnie Hu

ALBANY — After years of hesitation, New York is poised to become the first city in the United States to introduce congestion pricing, which would put new electronic tolls in place for drivers entering the busiest stretches of Manhattan...

Other American cities are exploring variations of congestion pricing, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
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White Plains needs a Pedestrian Commissioner. Sunday, June 13, 2010

It's obvious that neither the Traffic nor Public Safety Commissioners give a damn how pedestrian hostile White Plains becomes, so how about a Pedestrian Commissioner, someone who represents the interests of pedestrians? ...

The Traffic Commissioner has established non-intuitive rules such as cars being allowed to turn from other than the immediate lane ...

... the Public Safety Commissioner does not enforce the laws and ... neither the mayor nor the common council members do anything to make WP less pedestrian hostile.
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White Plains Common Council members for the last half century live in houses outside downtown White Plains almost exclusively. They are elected at large, not by geographic district. They represent the people who live on their street. Those people are interested in one thing: being able to drive from their house into downtown White Plains in ten minutes. That's it. Anything else is superfluous.

Oh, and having their taxes subsidized by people living in apartments who send proportionately few children to the public schools. And being subsidized by businesses whose employees drive through downtown White Plains by the thousands, not to shop, but simply to escape and go home.

Downtown White Plains is pedestrian hostile in the extreme and getting worse by the day. If White Plains Common Council members ever walked around, they might know that.

http://white-plains-ny.blogspot.com/search/label/Pedestrians

Same as last year: Galleria parking garage sidewalk not cleared of snow.

The same violators year after year. See the businesses on Martine Avenue adjacent to the recently defunct Tighe's Tavern, established 1935.

Galleria parking garage sidewalk not cleared of snow. Wednesday, February 7, 2018

And it's right across the street from the Public Safety building. Some workers in that building park in the Galleria parking garage and then jaywalk across Martine Avenue into their office. They must see that snow was ignored on the Galleria parking garage sidewalk well after the snow had been cleared from the sidewalks of the municipal buildings along Martine across the street. And the Public Safety building has windows.

Photos taken at 11:40 AM, Wednesday, February 7, 2018:

(Click link above to view photos taken last year.)

Notice in the second photo that the snow was cleared half way down the block on South Lexington but snow was left on the sidewalk adjacent to the Galleria parking garage. It couldn't be more obvious that whatever entity is responsible for snow removal of the Galleria parking garage sidewalk is negligent. But enforcement people directly across the street are oblivious.

You would think that whoever cleared the snow from the Galleria retail sidewalk along Main Street might be responsible enough to continue and do it along Martine Avenue. But no common sense there either.

Saturday, December 16, 2017
Snow removal: does the city ever enforce sidewalk clearing without complaints?

Apparently not. White Plains is a one horse town. Always was. Always will be.
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