When I started writing at Streetsblog a little more than two years ago, New York City felt like it might be on the brink of a new era of green transportation policy. Progressive change was already afoot at NYCDOT, and our elected representatives in City Hall and Albany appeared poised, just maybe, to enact a congestion pricing bill. A virtuous circle of better transit, safer streets for walking and biking, and high-impact incentives to curb traffic seemed right around the corner.
Livable streets advocates have had some big reasons to celebrate since then, but the demise of congestion pricing was a setback that showed just how far we have to go. The process of changing the way our streets are designed, managed, and policed will take a lot of time and effort. Since Aaron Naparstek founded Streetsblog nearly four years ago, we've helped focus attention and frame the public debate on these issues. Now we need your help to create momentum for the important reforms that are still ahead of us.
New Yorkers are still constantly endangered by reckless driving that goes largely unchallenged by police and prosecutors. Our economic development officials often seem intent on turning city neighborhoods into suburban-style traffic magnets. The future of the city is prescribed by zoning rules that guarantee more parking, more car ownership, and more driving. And while our transit system faces catastrophe, we still have scores of legislators who appear reluctant to act in the best interests of their car-free constituents unless prodded with something sharp and hot.
Which means there’s plenty of work left to do, a whole lot of stories to unearth, and many politicians and bureaucrats to hold accountable. This is what Streetsblog thrives on and what we strive to deliver for our audience. Today we’re asking for your support to help make it happen.
If you value our coverage of livable streets and sustainable transport -- if you feel like you have a stake in Streetsblog -- I hope you’ll use our new secure donation feature to make a contribution today. As Streetsblog looks to deepen and expand our coverage, we will be relying on our readers to help firmly establish our footing as a news organization that will last for years.
Since our inception, Mark Gorton has generously funded Streetsblog and steadfastly supported the decisions of our editors and writers. Don’t be alarmed -- Mark will continue to publish Streetsblog and furnish us with a baseline of financial support. But to provide more in-depth coverage and become an enduring, self-sustaining news outlet, we need to broaden and diversify the way we fund Streetsblog. We need support from our readers too.
As Streetsblog’s staff has grown, we’ve been able to amp up our original reporting, delivering news and commentary that helps shape the mainstream media narrative. On issues like our ongoing transit funding crisis, last year’s passage of the bicycle access bill, and neighborhood battles over evolving street designs, Streetsblog's reporting and commentary have seeped into major press outlets and provided a unique counterweight to media coverage biased in favor of the status quo on our streets. By enabling our reporters and freelancers to provide deeper coverage of a wider variety of issues, your contribution will help support more comprehensive and effective Streetsblog coverage in the future.
Going forward, we intend to deliver the same kind of high-impact reporting that helped create momentum for progressive change at NYCDOT. We plan to take a closer look at NYPD traffic enforcement and highlight what needs to change to keep streets safer. We’ll be ramping up our coverage of how law enforcement investigates crashes that kill pedestrians and cyclists. We’ll stay on top of agencies like NYCEDC and the Department of City Planning that exercise huge influence over the built environment. And we’ll continue to hold politicians’ feet to the fire when they fail to represent the best interests of their transit-riding, car-free constituents.
We’ll keep on covering the neighborhood-scale, street-level changes to New York City that have always been Streetsblog’s bread and butter. And we want to do it bigger and better. All over New York there are untold livable streets stories -- schools that are unsafe to walk to, streets where bicyclists are endangered and bus riders delayed, neighborhoods that are ready to reclaim space from cars. We want to tell more of these stories.
Your contribution will support this work. Streetsblog already benefits from a smart, committed readership that contributes high-quality user-submitted content and generates stimulating ideas and discourse in our comments section. To deliver more as a news organization, we’re asking for more from you, our readership. We ask for your donation today.
