Op/Ed
Streetsblog Basics
Mayor Bloomberg at the Crossroads: Who Will Run DOT?
With DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall set to depart city government in three weeks, sources say that Mayor Michael Bloomberg is close to announcing her replacement. The Mayor's choice will have a profound impact on day-to-day neighborhood life as well as the City of New York's long-term future. Though the DOT commissioner job search has barely been covered by the local press, this may very well be one of the most important decisions of the last 1,000 days of the Bloomberg Administration.
March 20, 2007
The Iris Weinshall Legacy: Queens Boulevard
"What became clear to me in this discussion was that the engineers were thinking from the motorists' viewpoint." -- Iris Weinshall, New York Newsday, April 29, 2001
March 2, 2007
Parochial Thinking Amid Ominous Signs
The Committee to Keep NYC "Congestion Tax Free." Front row, left to right: John Corlett, Automobile Club of New York; Ray Irrera, Queens Chamber of Commerce;
Council Member David Weprin; Lobbyist
Walter McCaffrey; Joe Conley of Queens Community Board 2.
December 12, 2006
Sacrificing Central Park to Appease the Traffic Gods
The Dept. of Transportation's 2005 study showed there is no need to eliminate car-free hours during the holidays. So why did they do it this year?
November 22, 2006
A CRISPier Way to Build NYC’s 200+ Miles of New Bike Lanes?
See the world's first music video about shared-lane bike markings by Streetfilms Clarence Eckerson.
November 21, 2006
If a 26.2-mile, Half-Day Street Closure Generates $188M…
Why not Close New York City's Streets to Traffic More Often?
November 7, 2006
Urban Density and a Pocketbook Plea for Congestion Pricing
Of the ten largest cities in the United States, New York has far and away the greatest population density: 26,402.9 people per square mile, more than double the second densest big city, Chicago. The chart at right shows how the largest metropolitan areas stack up in terms of core population, overall population and core population density. This fact alone should force New York City authorities to think differently than the rest of the country on all sorts of matters of public policy. New York is a quantitatively different animal than the other big American metropolitan regions in terms of percentage of people that live in the core, density and size of the core and size of the metropolitan area.
September 26, 2006
Mayor Bloomberg Says NYC Traffic Congestion is Good.
Mayor Bloomberg offered a depressing-yet-enlightening dose of complacency about the city's traffic crunch this morning. Speaking at Museum of the City of New York's construction kickoff, Bloomberg explained that he'd arrived late because he'd been "huddled with Con Ed" to monitor power usage during the heatwave. After carping a bit about residents turning up their air conditioners at night, he turned to traffic. Normally he blames traffic for his tardiness, he noted, adding:
August 2, 2006