At a family reunion in Pittsburgh last month, when I told my aunts, uncles and cousins that I was now biking to work in Manhattan, several of them gave me a concerned look and asked, “Is it safe?” 

Considering that I had been mowed down by a bike delivery guy a couple of weeks before, I had to give them an honest, “Yes and no.” And quite honestly, that’s the truth. While New York is in some ways a biker’s paradise -- relatively flat, lots of parks and bike paths -- it has plenty of dangers, too, like car doors opening in bike lanes, thieves armed with bolt cutters, office buildings that won’t let bikes in, and of course, the bicycle’s natural predator: speeding cabs.

At least it keeps your heart pumping (and unfortunately, leads to heated feelings sometimes). But this weekend, I’m looking forward to a more laid-back outing. For the next three Saturdays, New York is closing a 7-mile route along some of its busiest streets to cars so that bikers, pedestrians, rollerbladers and everyone else can enjoy themselves without clogged traffic or exhaust fumes. 

Hard to imagine, isn’t it? After all, before spending much time in New York, my dominant mental image of city streets was a tangle of delivery trucks and taxi cabs that no mere mortal would dare to enter -- certainly not on two wheels (maybe if I owned an Abrams tank). Car-free streets, even for a few Saturdays in the summer, certainly don’t fit that picture.

There’s a movement in New York, however, to reclaim streets from the automobile (or at least give equal time, so to speak, to other options). Efforts by groups such as Transportation Alternatives and the crusading Streetsblog, among many others, have pushed the notion that we shouldn’t allow one form of transportation to dominate all of our planning and thinking about how to get around. Especially when that form contributes so much to greenhouse gas emissions and the warming of our planet. 

Mayor Bloomy appears to get it. Here’s what he said yesterday at a presser promoting the Summer Streets event (via City Room):

Cars are important, but streets are there for everybody. And we’re going to try, for three days in a row -- three Saturdays in a row -- to see if the public wants to go out in the streets and reconnect with each other and bicycle and skateboard and walk and kibbitz and maybe a lot of restaurants will put tables out -- something different. 

Kibitzing in the streets. Now that does sound very New York.

If you want to learn more about Summer Streets or plan to participate, there’s plenty of information here, here and here. Look for me cruising Park Avenue on my black Cannondale! And trust me Uncle Eddie, I'll make sure to keep it safe.