With all the talk about congestion pricing that's going on in New York the last couple of weeks, momentum is building to do something other than continue to talk about it. And from the first reactions of the political establishment, you can break down the reaction to basically Manhattanites favoring the idea and folks from Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island opposing it.

But based on the chart above, 39% of the total number of people and 606,000 people by car entering the Central business district enter through 60th Street from either the Upper East or Upper West Sides. This includes the all the traffic that enters the CBD from Northern Manhattan, the Bronx, Westchester/Rockland Counties, Northern New Jersey GW Bridge) and Connecticut.

What if that's where we start with Congestion Pricing? What would the political landscape look like if we just started with all vehicles going over the strip line at 60th street going south in the morning and north in the afternoon / evening?

Today, Peakguy, Super G and I attended a rally-slash-PR event intended to call attention to the need for a bike lane on Houston St. Houston St. is currently being redeveloped, but there are no plans to make the street safer and more accessible for cyclists. While Greenwich Village and Community Board 2 had a significant amount of input regarding the redesign, their initial focus was on pedestrian safety, and cycling issues fell by the wayside. Since the original plan for the redesign was approved, however, three cyclists have died on Houston Street, providing the impetus for the community to ask the DOT to reconsider the plan and add a bike lane. This measure is supported by just about all Manhattan luminaries short of the mayor himself: Borough President Scott Stringer, Assemblyperson Deborah Glick, Councilman Alan Gerson, Senator Tom Duane, even Speaker Christine Quinn.

As a cyclist, this seems like a no-brainer to me. But the issue of bike lanes is actually a contentious one. Drivers, of course, think they're the only thing that matters, and often feel like cyclists are nothing more than a nuisance. The DOT doesn't want the hassle of putting a lane in, because it may take precious space away from cars.

But are bike lanes even useful? Are they safe for cyclists? Well, there are pros and cons to the issue.

On Sunday May 14th (Mother's Day) 2006 it took me double the time and double the fare to travel from 86th St & Second Ave to New Brighton Staten Island. Normally it only takes 1.5 hrs and $2, but this weekend the NYC's transit system failed to deliver on its mission of moving people through the city efficiently for one $2 fare.

The lure of free parking encourages excessive driving. Most side streets in Manhattan have free parking 24/7, except for a couple of hours a week when they clean the streets. This results in a little dance that happens everyday on NYC's streets that most people shrug off as inconsequential, but in reality serves to destroy quality of life and public health. I call it "The Alternate Side Dance".

On the day when the street cleaning happens on one side of the street, people simply do a quick sidestep and double park across the street. This gift to drivers is in not only a theft of valuable public space from pedestrians, but causes increased ground level pollution and noise.

The other day I decided to document the dance that occurs on my block every alternative side day.