bq. The choice is clear: either we choose to be defined by worsening traffic and perilous streets or we can define ourselves through great public spaces and lively streets… The “New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign”:http://www.nycsr.org/ is building the movement to re-imagine our streets as lively public places.

A new campaign launched this month to “Reclaim the Streets” in a very broad sense throughout New York City, complete with some inviting renderings of sidewalks thronged with happy pedestrians. (It almost seems possible, too!) With some concerted action, it seems like many Community Boards — filled with “pedestrian voters”:http://www.carsharing.net/library/carandcityexecsummary.html (scroll down to #10) — could do a lot to reclaim side streets, in particular, from speeding through traffic — but New Yorkers’ simultaneous sense of complaint and begrudging compliance (“ah, fugeddaboutit”) might slow progress.