• inclusionletter

  last modified October 4, 2006 by ekent

Date

 

Dear XXX,

We are writing to enlist your support for the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign (NYCSR).  The goal of the NYCSR is to tranform New York City streets so that they are safer, more productive and more livable.   We hope you agree that the time is long overdue for our great city to strike a better balance between traffic and the needs of pedestrians. 

New York City is defined by its vibrant and diverse streets and neighborhoods. Unfortunately, our neighborhoods and business districts are buckling under increasing amounts of dangerous car and truck  traffic.  Children can no longer play on their own blocks, while parents worry about turning cars smashing into baby carriages. Senior citizens are losing their independence, shut up in their homes for fear of crossing the street.   And shoppers and investors are being turned away by chaotic, traffic-choked avenues.  This is unacceptable.

If we continue planning our streets for cars and traffic, we will get more cars and traffic, but if we start planning our cities for people and places, we will get more people and places.  The city is now at a point where it can either choose to be defined by worsening traffic and perilous streets or define itself by great public spaces and lively street life.

The NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign aims to:

  • Educate New Yorkers about potential transportation policy changes that will improve quality of life across New York City
  • Promote a rebalancing of this public space away from private vehicles and toward community needs
  • Demonstrate the widespread public support for reform on these issues
  • Tap the potential of New Yorkers to re-imagine their own streets


Some New Yorkers believe that congested and dangerous streets are just a part of life in the big city.  This is how New Yorkers used to view crime.  Today, thanks to the application of improved management and policing techniques, New York is one of the safest cities in the nation.  By the same token, our streets can be transformed through the application of modern and improved transportation strategies that are being successfully applied in cities most like New York:  London, Paris and Chicago.

Momentum is building for our city to tackle these important issues head on.  With your support, we will send a clear message that the time has come to fix our city’s streets.

Visit www.nycstreets.org and sign up as a supporter of the NYC Streets Renaissance. Contribute your ideas and join the movement to reinvigorate NYC streets as vital community places. And please, spread the word.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

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