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Today Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a major change to the PLANYC initiative. For those of you not aware of what PLANYC is, it is a plan developed under the guidance of Bloomberg to transform NYC into the modern model of a sustainable, green city.
One of the key hallmarks of the plan is to contribute a 30% reduction in global warming emissions. One way to cut down on emissions is to reduce the number of cars in New York City. Mayor Bloomberg is thus putting his weight behind bikes as a form of transportation.
The fact that riding a bike helps reduce green house emissions is not news. What is news is that Bloomberg has announced that as a part of his plan, bicycles using gears will be outlawed in Manhattan starting at the end of the current year. Bloomberg had this to say:
Manhattan is the epicenter of what is hip and cool in the world. It is common knowledge that the fixed gear bicycle is the hippest and coolest bicycle option out there. Therefore, I announce that as of the end of this year, only fixed gear bicycles will be allowed on the island of Manhattan. Those who wish to ride bicycles with gears in the other four boroughs are welcome to do so, however Manhattan has an image to maintain and we just cannot have Lycra clad, gear riding, speed maniacs compromising our image as the epicenter of cool.
The most hard hit are likely to be food delivery cyclists. No comment from restaurant owners at this point but there is sure to be a response soon.
1 comment for this entry ↓
1 Ryan // Apr 1, 2008 at 5:50 am
I got a kick out of this. Nice blog entry.
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