Michael Bloomberg
Streetsblog Basics
NYPD Denies Role in Another Pedestrian Death. Kelly, Bloomberg Silent
In what has become an all-too-familiar scene, NYPD is denying reports that a police chase led to the death of a pedestrian after an incident of petty theft on Manhattan's Upper West Side.
February 1, 2010
With Pedestrian Deaths Up, Mayor, DOT, and NYPD Pledge Safer Streets
Pledging that "even one traffic fatality is one too many," Mayor Bloomberg joined DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and NYPD transportation chief James Tuller today to release new information on traffic deaths in New York City. In 2009, 256 people died as a result of traffic-related injuries on city streets, a 12 percent drop from 2008 and a low figure by historical standards, but a high toll that officials vowed to drive down further.
January 27, 2010
Police Academy 2: Starring a 3,000-Car Garage
Last week brought another prime example of Bloomberg administration schizophrenia on urban sustainability. After his flight back from the Copenhagen climate summit, the mayor's first stop was a former auto pound in College Point, Queens, where he met up with NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly to break ground on the city's new $750 million police academy.
December 21, 2009
Jan Gehl on Sustainable Transport in Copenhagen and NYC
While in Copenhagen to film the Danish capital's world-beating bike infrastructure, Streetfilms' Elizabeth Press caught up with urban planner extraordinaire Jan Gehl for a brief, canal-side chat. In this clip, Gehl explains how cycling and transit fit within the city's sustainability agenda, and why "unnecessary transportation" threatens the global climate.
December 15, 2009
Quote of the Day
The Daily News captured this off-the-cuff comment from Mayor Bloomberg on Albany's sudden failure to deliver more than $350 million to New York's transit system:
December 9, 2009
DOT Wipes 14 Blocks of Bike Lane Off Bedford Avenue
As reported by Gothamist, DOT is removing a 14-block stretch of the Bedford Avenue bike lane between Flushing Avenue and Division Street in Hasidic Williamsburg. Workers were seen erasing the lane this morning, taking away a safer cycling connection to central Williamsburg that had been in place since 2007. The northbound bike lane now ends abruptly at Flushing, with space that once belonged to bikes already converted to left-turn lanes and the like:
December 1, 2009
Unlicensed Drivers, Coddled By the Law, Kill Three More New Yorkers
In handing down a prison term of 20-to-life for Auvryn Scarlett, the garbage hauler who had stopped taking his epilepsy medication before suffering a seizure behind the wheel and killing two pedestrians last year, Justice Richard Carruthers described the convicted as "a time bomb ready to explode at any moment on the streets of New York." The same could be said of the countless number of motorists roaming the city at any given moment though their licenses have been suspended or revoked due to a history of recklessness. Two such drivers killed three people in separate crashes over the Thanksgiving holiday.
November 30, 2009
How Bill de Blasio and John Liu Can Stand Up for Transit Riders
Contrary to popular belief, the mayor isn't the only elected official with a say in New York City transportation policy. So in this installment of Streetsblog's series on Michael Bloomberg's third term, we're switching things up a bit. We asked New York's most experienced transit advocate, Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign, how Comptroller-elect John Liu and Public Advocate-elect Bill de Blasio can put their clout to use for New Yorkers who depend on buses and trains. Here's what he told us.
November 23, 2009
In Third Term, Bloomberg Must Align All Agencies With PlaNYC
We continue our series on the next four years of New York City transportation and planning policy with today's essay by Ron Shiffman. Co-founder of the Pratt Center for Community Development and a professor at the Pratt Institute's Graduate Center for Planning, Shiffman served on the City Planning Commission from 1990 to 1996. Read previous installments in this series here, here, and here.
November 19, 2009
High Hopes — And Higher Standards — for Bloomberg 3.0
Our series on the next four years of NYC transportation policy continues with today's essay from Joan Byron, Director of the Pratt Center for Community Development's Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative. The Rudin Center for Transportation Policy recognized Byron's work at the Pratt Center with the 2009 Civic Leadership Award. Read previous entries in this series here and here.
November 17, 2009