There Are Certain Facts That We’ve All Got to Face Up To

10:07 AM EDT on May 10, 2007

Given that it was only a few months ago that Mayor Michael Bloomberg could be heard saying, "We like traffic, it means economic activity, it means people coming here," his pitch for a whole new set of progressive transportation policies at last week's meeting of the Regional Plan Association was all the more remarkable:

There are certain facts that we've just all got to face up to--facts about congestion's impact on our environment, our economy, our health, and our future--on our lives, and the lives of our chlidren. Facts about how we're going to pay for the transportation projects we need to keep our region from choking on its growth in the decades to come.
We're ready to have a reality-based dialogue with anyone about any element of our transportation plan, including congestion pricing. We'll talk about the boundaries of the congestion pricing zone, the fees that might be charged, the hours they would be applicable, and the methodology for administering the program.
But what we won't do--what we can't do--is postpone essential decisions any longer. We won't ignore--if you'll excuse the expression--the "inconvenient truths" of the difficult challenges we face.

Download the text here. And the speech itself can be viewed in the following three video clips courtesy of RPA:

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

There Are Certain Facts That We’ve All Got to Face Up To

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