Take a walk!
That’s what Mayor Eric Adams urged on Sunday, saying New Yorkers are “too stationary” and should be getting out of their cars and onto their feet.
The health-conscious mayor called for a “cultural shift” away from driving to take place in the Big Apple as he unveiled a new plan to limit cars on a stretch of Broadway in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.
“There’s a cultural shift that must take place in the city. And when you look at the number of drivers, the number of pedestrians that walk clearly outnumbers the number of drivers,” he said.
The 62-year-old Democrat, who switched to a mostly vegan diet after being diagnosed with diabetes — and who told The Post in 2021 it helped him lose 35 pounds — encouraged New Yorkers to get moving, even by taking the train instead of driving.
“I am encouraging people to get out of their cars, you know, we have the best transportation system — the MTA, I’m on a train all the time. I’m encouraging people, you know, we need to exercise,” he said.
“We’re too stationary — let’s get on our bikes, let’s walk, let’s skateboard,” Adams continued. “I’m hoping that people realize that vehicles are not the only way to get around.”
Under the next phase of the city’s Broadway Vision Plan, two pedestrian plazas would be built between West 25th and 27th Streets, while a new shared street design and two-way bike path would extend north to West 32nd Street.
Most of the New Yorkers that live near the newly planned pedestrian zones are already two steps ahead of Adams’ preachy exhortation.
Only 22% of Manhattan residents own a car, and only 8% of them drive to work, according to city statistics.
As you move further into the outer boroughs, however, more and more New Yorkers depend on vehicles, the data showed.
On Staten Island, 83% of households own a car, and the majority of residents there drive to work instead of taking transit.
And while New York City is in better shape pound for pound than the rest of the country, sobering city statistics show an obesity epidemic in the boroughs, where nearly half of all school children and more than half of adults are overweight.
“We’re gonna always be is a city or country where vehicles are going to be used, but we need to minimize them,” Adams, the former Brooklyn borough president, said Sunday.
“You know, in this city, our transportation system can take you wherever you want to go. And we’re doing it in a safe way.”