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No Smoking, Typewriters or Fedoras in This “City Room”

The New York Times metro reporting team has launched its new blog, City Room, with a flattering profile of Streetsblog by Sewell Chan, the web site's bureau chief.

The New York Times metro reporting team has launched its new blog, City Room, with a flattering profile of Streetsblog by Sewell Chan, the web site’s bureau chief.

Regardless of the flattery (and legendary columnist Pete Hamill’s recent admonition not to “waste your time with blogs”) I suspect City Room points to the future of professional journalism and newspaper reporting.

Here’s what former DOT spokeswoman Kay Sarlin had to say about Streetsblog:

Before Streetsblog launched, there was no centralized forum for people who are passionate about transportation. Advocates gained a powerful ally with its inception, because reporters and government officials started reading the site. Often, Streetsblog’s greatest strength is posting photos that highlight a problem. When they show dozens of bikes crowded together next to a Williamsburg L stop, it becomes clear that more people are choosing to ride bicycles and that on-street bicycle parking is needed. They help the conversation become focused on ‘How can we fix this?’ instead of ‘Is this really a problem?’

Photo of Aaron Naparstek
Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.

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