Car-Free Central Park Rally To Be Held Saturday

CENTRAL PARK, NY — An advocacy group for safe streets and better mass transit will hold a demonstration in Central Park on Saturday to rally for a car-free park.

Transportation Alternatives will gather on the west side of Central Park near West 66th Street and Central Park West around 11 a.m. Saturday for the rally, according to the group's website. The rally will include a bike ride through the park and is expected to last about one-and-a-half hours.

The organization was founded in 1973 with the mission "to reclaim New York City's streets from the automobile and to promote bicycling, walking, public transit," according to its website.

The call to ban cars from Central Park's loop comes on the heels the city taking similar measures in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. On Tuesday, the city banned private vehicles from driving on roads inside Prospect Par. Public vehicles such as those belonging to the parks department and NYPD are still allowed to travel inside the park.

"Now as a safe refuge that has permanently removed cars, the park can expect to see even more people enjoying walking, jogging and bicycling on its beautiful loop road," Mayor Bill de Blasio said of banning cars in Prospect Park.

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