Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Events

Film & Talk: Breaking NYC Gridlock: What Other Cities Can Teach Us about Taming Traffic and Freeing Our Streets

Transportation Alternatives' Dani Simons will moderate a showing of the film Contested Streets.

Through interviews with leading historians, urban planners, and government officials, this 57-minute film explores the history and culture of New York City streets from pre-automobile times to the present. Contested Streets shows how the city with the best mass transit in the United States has slowly relinquished a richly used public space to cars and trucks. New York is compared to London, Paris and Copenhagen, where curtailing automobile use in recent years has improved air quality, mitigated noise pollution and enriched commercial, recreational and community interaction. Congestion pricing, bus rapid transit and pedestrian and bike infrastructure schemes are examined in depth.

Dani Simons is the Deputy Director of Development and Communications at Transportation Alternatives. For the past decade, she has worked on urban environmental issues at the city, state and national levels and coordinated a myriad of special events that bring community and media attention to the relationships between social equity, transportation and public space. She has a Master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and is a daily bike commuter.

Sponsored by:

    • Friends in Unity with Nature
    • NYC Peak Oil Meetup
    • Neighborhood Energy Network

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Community Boards Push Mamdani’s DOT to Use ‘Sammy’s Law’ To Lower Speed Limits

As City Hall and the Council bicker over lower speed limits, community boards are demanding action.

March 9, 2026

Urban Truth Collective: Straight Talk About The Joy Of Cities In An Age Of Disinformation

The Three Tenors of Urbanism explain their latest effort: The Urban Truth Collective.

March 9, 2026

Monday’s Headlines: Daylighting Dead-End Edition

Mayor Mamdani declined to stick up for universal daylighting when pressed about the issue on Friday. Plus more news.

March 9, 2026

Mamdani ‘Fully Confident’ in DOT Commissioner Despite Daylighting U-Turn

Mamdani declined to to follow through on his campaign pledge to "push back" on DOT's anti-daylighting position.

March 6, 2026

HungryPanda Pressured Delivery Workers in Dangerous Blizzard, Workers Say

A delivery worker with HungryPanda recounted a harrowing experience of working during last month's historic blizzard.

March 6, 2026

Make Biking Great Again: Conservatives Should Embrace The Right Wing Values Of Cycling

Cycling remains aligned in the national mind with progressive causes — but conservatives can find plenty to love about bikes.

March 6, 2026
See all posts