For too long, our cities have allowed suburban commuter interests to transform our urban centers from pedestrian friendly environments to those that facilitate the flow of automobiles in and out of the city. Cities have given up sidewalk space (street trees or street parking?), have allowed parking garages and lots to suck the vitality out of city centers, and have even given up entire neighborhoods to freeway construction, all for the sake of auto-mobility. These measures have hurt cities overall, turning city neighborhoods into uninviting and unsafe environments (walking down a city street that is dominated by parking garages can be a scary experience while a lively city street with businesses and restaurants is quite safe).

Of course city residents drive their cars on these streets as well–though most likely they drive far less often and for much shorter trips. And a city that does not accommodate cars and trucks at all will not be very viable. But Sadik-Kahn’s approach to transportation is important because she is working against decades of thinking that prioritized auto-mobility above all else. Her efforts aim to make the city a more pleasant place to be, replacing auto exhaust and diesel engines with public plazas and bicycle lanes.

That’s why it is frustrating that these reforms are viewed by some to be elitist.

But why does transportation reform have to feel so elitist? Related issues like obesity and pollution hit minorities and low-income residents hardest. Poor New Yorkers rely disproportionately on mass transit, and public space is all the more precious to those who live in cramped apartments.

Part of the problem is the movement itself. Like environmentalist groups nationwide, the city’s transportation-reform community is rooted in its affluent, white residents.

Elitism is tied with the idea that certain groups deserve preferential treatment based on a perceived notion of superiority. But when public space is being taken away from a relative few in order to benefit a larger group of people, it is the exact opposite of elitism, it is egalitarianism. These reforms are not made to benefit the few, but the many. Transportation reform is about making the whole city a better place, by reducing auto-related emissions, cutting down on the amount of car traffic (and thereby exhaust fumes, horn honking, and abrasive diesel engine noise), and increasing the amount of public space that is available for all to enjoy. This is a vision that all New Yorkers, and city residents across the country, should be able to embrace.