Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg said that he does not plan to ride his bike along Park Avenue, “but I'll certainly walk.” “I just think it would be a media circus and I'd pretty likely run down somebody, so I'd better not.”

“Look, there will be minor inconveniences,” the mayor said about potential disruptions for business owners and residents along Park Avenue. “There's minor inconveniences when it rains, when you have snow; inconveniences when it's hot, when it's cold; inconveniences when there are people on the streets, when they're not.” ...

“You've got to try new things,” Mayor Bloomberg said. “It's three Saturdays. If it does hurt and it doesn't provide any benefits, we won't do it anymore. If it turns out that it's great, we'll do it a lot more, I hope.”

"We were really concerned that people would be very scared off by this idea, that it was too radical a concept," [conference organizer Elly] Blue said. "We said, 'It's a carfree conference, but you don't have to give up your cars.'"