Two days after the DOT abandoned a plan to transform 34th Street into a crosstown mess, Mayor Bloomberg jumped to Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan’s defense this morning, saying she “can’t catch a break.”
Sadik-Khan scrapped a controversial proposal on Wednesday aimed at speeding bus traffic along 34th St., including the construction of a pedestrian plaza between Fifth and Sixth avenues.
“This woman can’t catch a break,” Bloomberg said on his radio show this morning.
The mayor then took aim at a Post editorial criticizing the plan, saying “Don’t let anyone beat you down.”
Sadik-Khan has said the agency will explore other options, including expanding curb access for deliveries. She declined to be more specific.
Businesses and residents have complained that cars looking for alternate routes across Manhattan would increase traffic on side streets and that proposed bus lanes would block access to their buildings.
Over the past two years, the city has banned cars from parts of Times Square, Union Square and Herald Square in an effort to make it more pedestrian friendly.
On those who have criticized the 34th Street plan, Bloomberg said, “If we listened to the naysayers, Central Park would never have been built.”
With AP