William Thompson
Streetsblog Basics
Bill Thompson Rents Ads-by-Bicycle to Woo Borough Park Voters
Here's an ironic twist for the mayoral candidate who all but ignored bicycling and walking in his transportation platform: Bill Thompson has rented mobile advertisements-by-bike, with yellow-vested, red-helmeted riders pedaling around Borough Park with Yiddish-language advertisements for his campaign.
September 10, 2013
Thompson Puts Cars First in Transportation Platform
It looks like Bill Thompson didn't get the word about how well bike lanes and pedestrian plazas are polling.
August 16, 2013
At Forum, Mayoral Candidates Back Bus Lanes, Shy Away From Funding
At a mayoral forum on transportation this morning, the first since a February event hosted by Transport Workers Union Local 100, eight candidates offered ideas on how they would improve the city's road and transit network. For the most part, the candidates were eager to support buses, quick to get agitated about bike lanes, and short on realistic ideas for how to fund their plans.
June 19, 2013
At Transit Forum, Albanese, Allon, and Carrión Support Rational Tolls
Friday's transit forum hosted by Transit Workers Union Local 100 and a coalition of rider advocacy groups offered an opportunity for a more more detailed discussion of transit policy than this year's mayoral race has seen so far. While the candidates offered few specifics about how they would improve transit for the millions of New Yorkers who depend on trains and buses, clear differences emerged, especially on the question of how to increase funding for the debt-ridden MTA.
February 25, 2013
NYers Not Sold on Notion That Livable Streets Are Wrecking Economy
Here's a chart breaking down New York Times exit poll results from the mayoral election.
November 5, 2009
The Third Term
Mike Bloomberg defeated Bill Thompson yesterday to claim a third term as New York City mayor, but no one except the mayor's own staff is calling the five point margin a victory for the incumbent. The headlines today are all about Bloomberg's surprisingly lackluster showing. After breaking his own records for campaign spending and mounting a juggernaut political operation, the mayor could barely muster a majority of the votes.
November 4, 2009
Brooklyn Bus Stop Draws Bigger Crowd Than Thompson Anti-BRT “Rally”
With extremely low turnout expected for tomorrow's mayoral election, Bill Thompson and Mike Bloomberg canvassed the city over the weekend trying to drum up some enthusiasm for their candidacies. For Thompson, the itinerary included a stop in Bedford Stuyvesant this Saturday to protest plans for improving bus service along Nostrand Avenue.
November 2, 2009
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