Choke Points To Die For

          On Thursday, April 7, 2011, The New York Times reported that, during the week ending the previous day, there had been two automobile accidents at the Queens bound off ramp of the Queensboro Bridge, resulting in two drivers being maimed, one passenger suffering severe head trauma, one passenger suffering a broken ankle, and one pedestrian being killed.  Why should we be surprised?  Where once there had been three lanes for traffic to exit the Bridge safely, the City had narrowed the exit to two lanes, adding wider sidewalks, a bike lane, a park beneath the Bridge, and a wider median with concrete planters.  It made these changes "to make the area more hospitable to pedestrians" and the result is that a pedestrian has been killed.

          In addition, Crescent Street, previously one way south for its entire length, has been blocked off by making the one block opening onto the Bridge exit one way north.  Both north and south of this one way, one block barrier, Crescent Street remains one way south as it always has been.  This one block change prevents traffic exiting the Bridge from bleeding off Queens Plaza quickly,  requires all traffic to funnel into two lanes instead of three, and adds to constant congestion.  Employees of businesses across from the exit now fear for their lives as the traffic is forced to veer closer to their businesses.  In fact, one of the two automobiles involved in the accidents plowed into Villa de Beaute Salon.  Fortunately, one one was at work.  Had there been, there might well have been more deaths.

          This particular exit from the Queensboro Bridge is not the only choke point that poses dangers to pedestrians.  Just off the southern perimeter of Columbus Circle, immediately across from 1802 Broadway, the City, in its infinite wisdom, has installed a pedestrian plaza and parking for pedicabs, eliminating parking for six automobiles and dramatically narrowing Broadway.  On March 28, 2011, as it swung around the Circle, a taxi cab veered off the outer lane, slammed through the pedestrian plaza, and plowed into Columbus Circle Liquor Store and Lens Crafters, killing the driver.  It happens that the accident occurred at 4:30 in the morning.  Had it occurred at 4:30 in the afternoon, a mother and her three children, enjoying an ice cream, would have been hit and all three of them killed.  In addition, without the barrier offered by cars that now are banned from parking, pedestrians on the sidewalk and workers in the stores also could have been killed.

          This action by the City is crazy.  Or is it.  Could it be that our Mayor has set out to increase congestion in the City in order to gather momentum for another go at congestion pricing or, better, congestion taxing?  Let us travel down Broadway a little further to Times Square where traffic patterns have been altered radically.  Watch the traffic of both vehicles and pedestrians.  Even the most cursory glance of the most casual observer will reveal that congestion has dramatically increased.  It is impossible to reduce congestion by erecting barriers to flow patterns. That fact is amply demonstrated in Times Square and at the other locations where traffic patterns have been altered.

          Let us now go back out to Queens in the vicinity of the exits to the Queensboro Bridge.  Of the two entrances to the upper deck of the Bridge, both have been narrowed by fifty percent, one by a bike lane no one uses and the other by plastic barrels.  Of the two entrances to the lower deck, one has been obstructed by limitations to Crescent Street, which acts as an entrance to the Bridge, from intersecting streets.  Vernon Boulevard is no longer a boulevard.  It is an obstacle course.  The City has installed traffic islands that serve no apparent purpose other than to narrow the roadway.  Bike lanes on either side that no one uses narrow the "Boulevard" further.  Finally, at the intersection of Vernon Boulevard and Queens Plaza, the City has installed a stop light where none had existed before.  Prior to the installation of the light, there never was any congestion.  Now the the congestion is constant.  At times drivers have to wait through two or three light changes to make a turn onto Queens Plaza and the now narrowed entrance to the upper deck of the Bridge.  Motor through the surrounding neighborhood.  The traffic lights have been coordinated to cause congestion.  A driver will travel a block and meet a red light.  It turns green and the driver travels another block and must stop again for another red light.  And so on.

          This approach to traffic engineering is crazy.  Or is it?  I think the Mayor, hand in hand with his Commissioner of Transportation, Janette Sadik-Khan, is intent on increasing congestion in order to gain ground in his pursuit of taxing the commuting public via "congestion pricing".  The mayor says that he wants people to use public transportation instead of their automobiles.  If he wants more people to use public transportation, he should make it an attractive option that people might want to use.  Instead, he proposes to force people to use it.  Meanwhile, bike lanes that no one uses flourish, traffic patterns change radically, congestion grows, and people are maimed and killed.  http://www.c-mlaw.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce Claugus

Bruce Claugus http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus/ was born in 1948 and has practiced law since 1976. He is the founder of the firm of Claugus & Mitchell LLP http://www.c-mlaw.com/ and DeForest Global Partners LLP http://www.deforest.mx/english/areas.php and practices primarily in the areas of banking, finance, and commercial and intellectual property litigation. http://www.c-mlaw.com/overview/  Mr. Claugus is responsible for all of the areas of practice of the Firm. He pioneered the use of pre-export facilities to finance the privatization of natural resource properties in Latin America http://www.c-mlaw.com/aop/new-york-latin-america/ and is renowned for his forceful and innovative presence and tactics in corporate transactions and litigation.  The formation of DeForest Global Partners LLP exemplifies his drive and focus on innovation and aggressive tactics.  http://www.deforest.mx/english/index.php  This new venture is expected to become a major vehicle in the improvement of services to Mexico and South America with offices in Mexico City, Puebla, Monterrey, Queretaro, of the United Mexican States.  Along with Claugus & Mitchell LLP in New York, Salas Piza (founded in 1989) will maintain the offices in Mexico City, Garcia Heres (founded in 1998), will maintain those in Puebla, Lobo & Graham (founded in 2001) those in Monterrey, and Rodriguez, Ruis y Zepeda (founded in 2002), those in Queretaro. Affiliates include Casa Hierro in Lima, Perú http://www.casahierroabogados.com.pe, Estudio Trevisan in Buenos Aires, Argentina  http://www.estudiotrevisan.com, Garcia Parot y Cia. in Santiago, Chile http://www.garciaparot.cl, and Kosmas y Kosmas in Panamá, Panamá http//www.kosmasykosmas.com.

Mr. Claugus earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree and a Master of Science degree in Engineering Mechanics from The Ohio State University http://majors.osu.edu/pdfview.aspx?id=34 in 1972 and a Juris Doctorem from Georgetown University Law Center www.law.georgetown.edu/  in 1976. He was trained in the practice of law at the firm of Shearman & Sterling http://www.shearman.com/.

In 1984, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Chicago http://www.chicagobooth.edu/ where he studied under Nobel Laureate Merton Miller http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:_KOBVrVPZKgJ:www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/00/000603.miller.shtml+Nobel+Laureate+Merton+Miller&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com, Victor Zarnowitz , and Dean Jack Gould.

Mr. Claugus has been a lecturer at numerous capital markets workshops in New York and Mexico conducted by such entities as El Financiero, The Lubin Center for International Business, and the Harvard Club. He has published with and at the request of Institutional Investor and has been quoted frequently by El Financiero, Latin Finance, and Crain's New York Business.  http://www.c-mlaw.com/attorneys/bruce-claugus/

Professional Memberships

• New York State Bar Association www.nysba.org/
• Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honorary www.tbp.org/
• Down Town Association www.thedta.com/
• India House Club www.indiahouseclub.org/
• The Down Town-Lower Manhattan Association www.d-lma.com/

Admitted to Practice

• New York
• Illinois

Reported Decisions and Articles

• Bank of Cyprus - Decision
• Chevy Chase Bank - Decision
• Chere Amie - Decision
• Moyna - Decision
• Pace - Decision
• El Financiero
• Harvard Club Address
• Latin Finance - Shaping Up
• Latin Finance/El Financiero - Uncertainties, Value, and the Participation of U.S. Institutions
• Unblocking the East
• Pace University
• Infocast - 1 Negotiating 

For more information about Claugus & Mitcehll LLP, visit http://www.c-mlaw.com/.

For moe information from Bruce Claugus, visit http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/choke-points-to-die-for.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/04/business-of-new-york-is-business.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/03/bruce-claugus_4871.html; http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/bruce-claugus-and-his-law-firm-claugus.html; and http://bruceclauguss.blogspot.com/2011/05/new-york-international-law-firm-of_10.html.