""There is a natural link between all of these things that we are building, and so these things need to be under one umbrella," she said in a recent interview. "By doing that a city is really signaling that they are taking seriously the importance of the public realm." "One of the big things are making Vision Zero not just a policy that the city adopted but something that we implemented as a regular practice.""
""Jersey City's transportation transformation under former Mayor Steve Fulop came thanks to his fateful decision to centralize control of the public realm under little-known Director of the Department of Infrastructure Barkha Patel - a concept advocates want to bring across the river to New York City. Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams appointed a \"chief public realm officer,\" Ya-Ting Liu, who worked one of Adams's deputy mayors. But Adams did not attach the level of authority and resources Fulop handed Patel.""
Centralized control under a Director of Infrastructure gave Jersey City unified authority over streets, parks, transit, and public facilities, enabling coordinated projects and policy implementation. Barkha Patel led the department for a decade and oversaw transportation, public spaces, and safety initiatives before leaving at the end of the mayor's term. The model concentrated resources and decision-making power to make Vision Zero a routine practice rather than a standalone policy. New York City created a chief public realm officer but did not grant equivalent authority or resources. Advocates view the Jersey City approach as a template for cross-agency coordination to expand transportation alternatives and improve street safety.
Read at Streetsblog
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]