The city will replace cars with horse-drawn carriages, connect exercise equipment to the power grid, and build cat runs in parks — if New Yorkers stuffing City Hall’s new cyber-suggestion box have their way.
Fortunately, kooky suggestions like these account for just a fraction of ideas put forth on a new Web site seeking ways to improve the urban environment, Deputy Mayor Stephen Goldsmith told The Post.
“I’d say 20 percent of the ideas ranged from humorous to absurd,” he said. “The rest each had some kernel of truth to them.”
Since launching Thursday, some 600 ideas have been submitted to
nyc.changeby.us, a site intended to generate civic involvement from people who normally wouldn’t bother speaking up at community meetings.
Some of the suggestions range from the implausible to the preposterous.
For instance, the city has no intention of giving all employees paid holidays in July and August to save on air conditioning, nor converting trash into electricity, which is as yet technologically impossible.
In the search for ways to make the city greener, many New Yorkers focused their ideas on garbage bins.
Joseph Kim, 25, of SoHo, suggested littering could be minimized by turning bins into ballot boxes.
“Simply separate the basket into different compartments, each representing a response to a poll posted on the bin,” he wrote.
Several others expressed interest in joining his effort, he said.
“I’m impressed by how easy it is to organize a project. Public trash cans are so ubiquitous, and yet there is still a high amount of litter. It seems worthwhile to see how we can change that.”
Public agencies are not ready to embrace every idea, however.
One user suggested that bike racks be added to city buses, something the MTA said just wasn’t feasible.
“We have no plans to install bike racks on buses,” spokesman Kevin Ortiz said. “The key reason being that bus-depot space is extremely limited, and we park our buses inside depots in close proximity.”
Ideas submitted for making the city “sustainable”:
* Cat runs in city parks
* July and August off as paid vacation to save on air conditioning
* Cars replaced with horses
* Gym equipment turned into electrical generators
* Meatless Mondays for public schools
* Trash converted into electricity