c. 2008 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) My assignment on Saturday was to stand on the front steps of our church and hand out free lemonade to pedestrians and bicyclists.

For six hours, Park Avenue was closed to motor vehicles, part of a three-Saturday experiment in making Manhattan less dependent on automobiles.

Normally, pedestrians must dodge speeding taxicabs and limousines, and the air is thick with exhaust fumes and manic honking. On these Saturdays of “Summer Streets,” the focus turned to people. And people turned out in droves: running, riding and walking from the Brooklyn Bridge to 72nd Street.

“They should do this every Saturday!” several said. “This feels like community.”

A similar battle was won years ago, when Central Park was closed to automobiles, except for limited usage during weekday rush hours. Now that cars are banned, throngs use public space that was always intended for people, not vehicles. They ride, run, push strollers, amble idly, stride to work, sprawl on lawns, chat on benches and play games.

Both are signs of what this city _ any city _ could be if we just set aside automobile-free zones and made it more convenient for people to get about on foot and to make longer trips on trains, subways and buses.

Our mayor lost a campaign to tax motorists attempting to drive through Midtown. But that idea will return. So will schemes to have suburban motorists park their cars at suburban stations or at the city’s edges and to take public transportation to work. In more cities than automobile executives expect, the days of driving to a downtown office are ending.

Car-congested cities around the country are taking large steps like reinventing the trolley systems that were ripped out decades ago to please the auto industry, and small steps like narrowing streets normally used by cars and trucks.

Citizens are clearly ready to break their addiction to driving. Even in smaller cities not normally known for urban living, young adults are flocking to downtown housing from which they can walk to work. Even before gasoline prices spiked, property values began rising in neighborhoods served by public transportation and declining in far-flung areas dependent on automobiles.

For quality-of-life reasons, young families are choosing to remain in the city when children arrive. Isolated living on a suburban lane lined with minivans seems to hold little appeal.

Speaking personally, the change in our lives since moving from a car-dependent culture to a walking city has been spectacular. Last Friday, for example, we walked 36 blocks (nearly two miles) to dinner, chatting all the way, and then strolled 36 blocks home in a festival atmosphere of outdoor cafes, ice cream cones and hand-holding. We feel healthier, more engaged with our surroundings, and less at risk in a culture where too many drive distracted or drunk.

Yes, we face inconveniences, like not being to do a week’s shopping at one time, and having to add several minutes to the getting-there part of any outing. Rainy days can be a hassle. So can subways on hot summer days. But none of these hassles matches the aggravation of driving on congested roads, idling in left-turn lanes, and daily near-misses as poor drivers pilot 3,000-pound machines as if they had perfect reflexes.

It won’t be expensive gasoline that makes automobile-free living more appealing. It will be the negatives of driving itself.

(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church consultant and Episcopal priest based in New York. He is the author of “Just Wondering, Jesus,” and the founder of the Church Wellness Project, http://www.churchwellness.com. His Web site is http://www.morningwalkmedia.com.)

DSB/LF END EHRICH650 words

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