New York City’s New Bike Czar

11:35 AM EDT on July 13, 2006

Crain's Insider reports: "Biking advocates are cheering the city Department of Transportation's hiring of Josh Benson as bicycle program director. He steps into a tense situation."

Update: We have a little bit more background on Benson. He served as the DOT Bike Program's Deputy Director in the early 2000's. Word has it, he left DOT to attend grad school. Even less reliable word has it, he got a master's degree in planning at Columbia and spent some time working the New York City Housing Authority before being invited back to DOT to take over as Director. As always, we are trying to confirm this information and have a call in to DOT's press office ~~that is not being returned~~. If you know any more about Benson or have any educated analysis on what is now happening with DOT's Bike Program, feel free to drop a line to StreetsBlog.

Aaron Naparstek

@naparstek.bsky.social

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.

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