NYC Official Under Fire for Questioning Benefits and Equity of Transit
She wanted to “start a conversation,” but not necessarily this kind.
A City Planning Commissioner was under fire on Monday from advocates for transit and equity, as well as by the MTA, for a series of statements that suggested she opposes transit improvements and service increases because it might lead to gentrification — a stance that runs afoul of her agency’s own policy.
Planning Commissioner Leah Goodridge’s comments came in a Twitter thread to Twitter that specifically raised questions about the MTA’s long-planned Penn Access project to add four Metro-North stations to underserved and low-income areas of the East Bronx, but also raised more general issues of the alleged deleterious role that better transit plays in neighborhoods of color and poverty.
Here is the start of the thread, with the rest of it below (Streetsblog has embedded the links chosen by Goodridge):
Read More:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
