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Contested Seats

A correspondent reports:

A correspondent reports:

Last Thursday it was standing-room-only at the City Council screening of Contested Streets: Breaking NYC Gridlock. Over one hundred people packed the 75-seat hearing room at the invitation of Councilmember John Liu and other members of the City Council transportation committee. The new documentary film, co-produced by Transportation Alternatives and Mark Gorton, is proving popular with city leaders interested in how New York can follow the example of London, Paris and other big cities that are successfully taming traffic. The film features footage of London’s congestion charge zone, Paris’s new Bus Rapid Transit system, and Copenhagen’s network of bike and pedestrian streets.

It is somewhat remarkable to see a powerful outer-borough Councilmember like John Liu on-board with the Livable Streets agenda. You’ve got to ask yourself: Who is New York City government is against this stuff anyway? Who is defending and maintaing the status quo of maximum traffic gridlock on New York City’s streets? Perhaps today’s previous post helps answer that question.

Photo of Aaron Naparstek
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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