‘I Hate Traffic’: A Conversation With ‘Gridlock’ Sam Schwartz

The Five Borough Bike Club’s monthly general meeting will feature a talk and discussion with “Gridlock” Sam Schwartz.

Sam had a distinguished career in New York City government for close to twenty years. He began his career as a junior engineer in Mayor John Lindsay’s Traffic Department. He served as Traffic Commissioner under Mayor Ed Koch and subsequently became Chief Engineer/First Deputy Commissioner of the city’s Transportation Department in that administration. He now works as a writer and consultant.

Sam holds a graduate civil engineering degree from The University of Pennsylvania. He is also a graduate of Brooklyn College and is the recipient of numerous honors for his work on urban infrastructure for integrating traffic and transit systems. Sam’s traffic advisories are featured as a regular column in The NY Daily News. He is also a cyclist.

From his unique perspective, Sam will discuss our regions’ transportation and traffic systems – the history (including his involvement in the creation of the first NYC bike lanes), the engineering, and the politics (including his thoughts on decongesting traffic in NYC).

It is not always that the 5BBC gets a witness to history and practitioner to come to chat to what will be surely a most educational meeting. The 5BBC wishes to extend its thanks to Mr. Schwartz’s assistant editor, Joshua Knoller, for his help in setting up this program.

Seasonal refreshments will be served.