Elections
Streetsblog Basics
Thompson: Baseless Speculation Trumps Safety Gains on Grand Street
Mayoral contender Bill Thompson continues to elaborate on his opposition to the city's expanded bike infrastructure. In an interview published Friday, Thompson told the Downtown Express that just because injuries are down on Grand Street since the installation of a protected bike lane last year, doesn't mean those improvements should be preserved.
October 19, 2009
Thompson vs. Bloomberg: The Ultimate Bicycling Referendum?
Tonight at 7:00, mayoral contenders Mike Bloomberg and Bill Thompson face off in the first debate of the general election. Andrew Hawkins at City Hall News has some good pre-debate reading for New Yorkers who care about how this election will affect the future of our streets and public spaces.
October 13, 2009
Bill Thompson Was for Bike Lanes Before He Was Against Them
The current iteration of Grand Street, by most any objective measure, has to be considered a success. In the year since it was reconfigured to host the city's first parking-protected bike lane, with the blessing of Community Board 2, injuries are down 30 percent, with about 1,000 cyclists using the lane daily.
September 22, 2009
Bill Thompson: I’ll Rip Out Bike Lanes and “Review” Safer Streets
Bill Thompson is making it pretty hard for New Yorkers who care about safe streets to get behind his campaign for mayor. With Tony Avella out of the way, Thompson has no bike lane-bashing rival nipping at his heels. There's no anti-livable streets flank to shore up. But that didn't stop the Democratic nominee from telling a NY1 crew that he'll rip out the Grand Street bike lane at the first opportunity:
September 18, 2009
Voters Reject Incumbents in Low Turnout Primary
The biggest news from last night's primaries has to be the ouster of no fewer than four sitting City Council members in a vote marked by low turnout. A fifth incumbent, Maria Baez, looks extremely likely to lose her seat, trailing by 100 votes. In these local primaries, where several winning candidates failed to clear the 2,000 vote threshold, that pretty much qualifies as a solid mandate for challenger Fernando Cabrera. A sixth, Queens rep Thomas White, leads by six votes -- with 1,849 to his credit in the un-certified tally.
September 16, 2009
Today’s Headlines — NYC Primaries Edition
Meet a few of your (highly probable) new City Council members:
September 16, 2009
Election Predictions and Returns: Discuss!
Despite the number of important races to be decided today, signs point to an abysmally low voter turnout. Like many who have reported in, when I voted at around 2:00 this afternoon there was no wait time at my polling place, Good Shepherd Church on Cooper Street in Inwood.
September 15, 2009
Election Open Thread: How Was Your Trip to the Polls?
It's finally here: primary day, with a slew of key races to be decided before the polls close at 9:00 tonight.
September 15, 2009
Can Livable Streets Activism Revive the Public Advocate’s Office?
From a livable streets perspective, the race for public advocate is that rare contest with no clear-cut villains.
September 14, 2009