On a broiling hot day, the McBrooklyn blog spotted a half dozen people standing motionless at the corner of Smith St. and 2nd Pl. in front of a small news stand. Was it performance art? A zombie invasion? A protest over out-of-scale development? Click here to find the solution to the mystery.

Smith Street Zombie Invasion?

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<p>Before joining Streetsblog in late 2025, J.K. Trotter covered media and politics at Gawker and edited investigations at Business Insider. He studied philosophy at St. John’s College and lives in Queens.</p>


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<p>Max White worked at The Post and Courier, South Carolina&#8217;s biggest newspaper, for two years before moving to New York. He loves urbanism, sports and movies. He joins Streetsblog as a winter associate in the Class of 2026.</p>


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<div class="p-rich_text_section">Nolan Hicks is a longtime reporter in New York City, who focuses on investigative stories. He spent six years at The New York Post where his stories prompted the MTA to redesign parts of the Second Avenue Subway&#8217;s East Harlem extension and helped uncover the LIRR overtime scandal. As a contributor to Curbed/New York Magazine, he dove into Amtrak&#8217;s failing power grid, NJ Transit&#8217;s reliability crisis and why it costs the MTA $100 million to put elevators into stations. He has also worked at the New York Daily News, Austin American-Statesman and San Antonio Express-News.  He joined Streetsblog in January 2025.</div>
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Nolan Hicks

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<p>Mike Racioppo is the district manager of Brooklyn Community Board 6 and a commissioner on the Charter Revision Commission.</p>


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<p>Annie Weinstock is the Director of Programs at People-Oriented Cities, an NYC-based nonprofit devoted to ensuring the technical quality of transportation projects in NYC and worldwide.</p>


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<p>David was Streetsblog&#8217;s do-it-all New York City beat reporter from 2015 to 2019. He returned as an editor in 2023 after a three-year stint at the New York Post.</p>


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A woman holds two photos of Sammy Cohen Eckstein, whom a driver killed on Prospect Park West in 2013.

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<p>Before joining Streetsblog, Sophia Lebowitz was a filmmaker and journalist covering transportation and culture in New York City.</p>


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<p>Dan Suraci, AICP, is a professor of Environmental Management at Kean University, and the Principal of Urban Cycling Solutions, a NYC-based consultancy focused on active transportation, complete streets and micromobility. Suraci was the principal investigator of the New York Cycling Census, &#8220;Extending Transit: Completing New York’s First and Last Mile,&#8221; and &#8220;APTA’s National Guide to Bicycle Integration with Transit.&#8221; His work includes consolation on numerous active transportation policy documents including MTA’s Extending Transit’s Reach Plan, NYMTC’s Moving Forward 2055 Active Transportation Chapter, NYS DOT’s Statewide Active Transportation Plan, NYC’s ongoing Greenway Expansion Plan, and many other regional active transportation initiatives.</p>


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<p>Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek&#8217;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 &#8220;War on Cars&#8221; podcast. You can find more of his work <a href="http://www.naparstek.com">on his website</a>.</p>


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<p>Matthew Sage is part of the Streetsblog Summer Specialist class of 2025. He&#8217;s a senior at Tufts University, an esteemed center of learning in Massachusetts, where he studies political science. He will help plot a path forward for our nation.</p>


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