Mayor Bloomberg, Still a Loser

Some time ago Mayor Michael Bloomberg, in his never-ending quest to show us that he's a big man who's in charge of us, came up with yet another one of his idiotic schemes--divert traffic from Times and Herald squares (two of the cities busiest intersections) and plop pedestrian plazas in the middle of the road.

The results are now in and, of course, it's a mess:

The promised 17 percent increase in traffic flow on Seventh Avenue was only 4 percent. The promised 35 percent increase on Sixth Avenue was just 15 percent.

But the price of those gains was more congestion on other avenues and on Midtown cross streets. Going west on Central Park South was 94 percent slower. Going east on 50th Street was 53 percent slower.

So what is Bloomberg's response to the evidence of his failed experiment? Behold:

"Today I'm pleased to announce I've decided to make this ground breaking project permanent," Bloomberg said.

...

"Some people benefit; some people lose, that's always going to be the case," Bloomberg said.

Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan was also unmoved by the new congestion created by the project.

"In a lot of instances it may be an additional minute or so," Sadik-Khan said.

Politicians, what are they good for?