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<p>A man who needs no introduction, Sam Schwartz coined the term &#8220;gridlock&#8221; during his days as head of the city&#8217;s Department of Traffic, a precursor to the current Department of Transportation. In a career that spans decades, &#8220;Gridlock&#8221; Sam has been a city transportation official, a traffic consultant and a Daily News columnist.</p>


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Sam Schwartz

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Safety on Transit

‘Gridlock Sam’: MTA Has a Cheap, Cop-Free Way to Make Platforms Safer

<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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David Meyer

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Congestion Pricing

Midtown Traffic Slower Than Ever After Hochul’s Congestion Pricing Betrayal

<p>Charles Komanoff is a national expert on congestion pricing and traffic modeling, and is the former head of Transportation Alternatives. He is a longtime Streetsblog contributor. Reach him at <a href="mailto:komanoff@gmail.com">komanoff@gmail.com</a>.</p>


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Charles Komanoff

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Komanoff: William (Vickrey), It Was Really Nothing

<p>Dave Colon is a reporter from Long Beach, a barrier island off of the coast of Long Island that you can bike to from the city. It’s a real nice ride.  He’s previously been the editor of Brokelyn, a reporter at Gothamist, a freelance reporter and delivered freshly baked bread by bike.</p>


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Dave Colon

sam schwartz with fake plates and fixed

MTA Ditches License Plate-Based Congestion Pricing Disability Exemption

<p>Kevin Duggan joined Streetsblog in October, 2022, after covering transportation for amNY. Duggan has been reporting on New York since 2018, starting at Vince DiMiceli’s Brooklyn Paper, where he covered southern Brooklyn neighborhoods and, later, Brownstone Brooklyn. He is on Bluesky at <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/kevinduggan.bsky.social">@kevinduggan.bsky.social</a> and his email address is <a href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/about/staff-board/kevin@streetsblog.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">kevin@streetsblog.org</a>.</p>


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Kevin Duggan

"Gridlock" Sam Schwartz

Wider BQE Could Be ‘Intrusion’ on Brooklyn Bridge Park, Ex-Transportation Leaders Warn

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‘Gridlock’ Sam: Give Truckers Credits So Congestion Toll Doesn’t Add to Bronx Pollution

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Lawsuits

Here’s Everything Wrong With the Judge’s Order to Rip Up the 31st Street Protected Bike Lane

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MTA Still Won’t Embrace Open Gangway Subway Cars

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Penn Station

How Much Will New Yorkers Pay For Trump’s Penn Station Redevelopment Scheme?

<p>Tabloid legend Gersh Kuntzman has been with New York newspapers since 1989, including stints at the New York Daily News, the Post, the Brooklyn Paper and even a cup of coffee with the Times. He&#8217;s also the writer and producer of &#8220;Murder at the Food Coop,&#8221; which was a hit at the NYC Fringe Festival in 2016, and “SUV: The Musical” in 2007. He also writes the Cycle of Rage column, which is <a href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/category/special-features/cycle-of-rage">archived here</a>.</p>


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Gersh Kuntzman

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Today's Headlines

Tuesday’s Headlines: Clearing the Air Edition

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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

A Street View photograph of the BP Gas Station in South Williamsburg

Screenshot 2025-12-08 at 5.45.42 PM

Traffic Enforcement

NYPD Finds Mysterious Corpse in Car With Illegal Tints Parked at a Hydrant Near Stationhouse

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NYPD

Who Rides on the Sidewalk? To NYPD, Just Blacks and Hispanics

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<p>Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York&#8217;s dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.</p>


Brad Aaron

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The MTA May Finally Be Ready To Embrace Variable Price Tolling