Transportation Planning in Rockland?

Yesterday's Rockland Journal News gives a preview of a meeting of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council that will be held on Tuesday at the Palisades Mall. The purpose of the Council's "listening sessions" is to gather ideas from citizens about transportation issues that concern them the most.

Since one of the crucial issues that faces traffic planners is the proliferation of box stores and shopping malls it is indeed ironic to convene anything that deals with traffic over at the biggest mall in the Hudson Valley. On second thought maybe it is the most appropriate venue to examine the traffic problems facing Rockland; the eye of the storm as it were.

As we have been commenting in this regard one of the biggest challenges facing the county is the fact that each town and village reviews development in its jurisdiction without any input from contiguous communities that are sure to be impacted by the projects approved by their neighbors. This is especially unfortunate when it comes to the problems manifested by any proposed Wal-Mart.

So we plan to be at Tuesday's forum and the issue we will present is, how does a region devise traffic plans amidst the autonomy of towns and villages? We will also raise the problem of box stores such as Wal-Mart and the challenge they pose to sustainable development.