Urban Planning
Streetsblog Basics
Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway: Important Meeting Tonight
The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Inititiave is one of the most inspiring and visionary development projects going in New York City right now. The project is very grassroots. Over ten years ago, three Brooklyn residents, Brian McCormick, Milton Puryear and Meg Fellerath got it in their heads that Brooklyn's waterfront should have a bike path and linear park just as good as the popular Hudson River Greenway in Manhattan (see the rendering of Columbia Street at right).
October 12, 2006
Planetizen Interview With Amanda Burden
Planetizen publishes a Q&A with New York City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden. She says some great things and below are excerpts.
October 11, 2006
Important Manhattan Transportation Forum on Thursday
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is holding a day-long forum on Manhattan's transportation future. Enrique Peñalosa, former Mayor of Bogota, Colombia, will be the keynote speaker. This should be a great event. Peñalosa is the inspiring and visionary politician who transformed his city of 7 million into a model for sustainable urban transportation.
October 10, 2006
The Queensboro Meat Grinder
Classic Scene near Queensboro Bridge on Second Avenue (note red light!) Every morning I walk past scenes like this near the Queensboro Bridge (QBB) on Second Avenue. Traffic blocks up on Second Avenue north of the two major crosstown exit routes at 60th and 57th Streets all the way to 70th Street and beyond. The … Continued
September 26, 2006
Bloomberg Sustainability Announcement
As we reported this morning, Mayor Bloomberg is in California with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to make a major policy announcement on a major, long-term, environmental sustainability initiative. The key components of the Mayor's plan include:
September 21, 2006
Breaking: Bloomberg to Announce Big Sustainability Plan Today
In California With Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
September 21, 2006
Streetsblog Interview: Ryan Russo
Ryan Russo is the New York City Department of Transportation's Director for Street Management and Safety, a newly-created job that he started in July. Previously, Russo worked as DOT's Downtown Brooklyn Transportation Coordinator where he was instrumental in designing and developing a number of improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and more livable streets (PDF file) over the last three years. Streetsblog caught up with Russo on Tuesday, a few hours after the City's big bike safety announcement:
September 14, 2006
Rally for a Livable Houston Street
(Photo by Will Sherman of Transportation Alternatives)
August 31, 2006
Rally for Houston Street Buffered Bike Lanes
If you've seen those eerie white "ghost bikes" on Houston Street, you may know that three cyclists have been killed on "the Boulevard of Death" during the past two years: Derek Lake, Brandie Bailey and Andrew Morgan. In the wake of this loss of life, members of Community Board 2's Traffic & Transportation Committee are holding a rally on Wednesday to ask the DOT to install buffered bike lanes as part of the street's reconstruction, which is taking space away from pedestrian islands to create left-turn bays for cars.
August 25, 2006
Streetfilm: The Transformation of Willoughby Street
This spring, the DOT transformed the corner of Willoughby and Adams Streets in downtown Brooklyn from a dull gray, little-used automobile pass-through (above) into a pedestrian space complete with chairs, benches, plants, tables and sun umbrellas. But would the people come? Filmmaker Clarence Eckerson took his video camera to the corner to find out. The result is a 1-minute, 26-second Streetfilm on the Willoughby Street transformation. He quotes Streetsblog's own Ethan Kent:
August 24, 2006