A DECEMBER TO REMEMBER: Yes, It’s the Start of Our Annual Donation Drive

We can’t do it without you.

The first day of December means different things to different people — a birthday, perhaps, or the beginning of the “Eric Adams first year in office” story cycle — but for us at Streetsblog, it’s always been the kickoff to our annual monthlong donation drive.

Look, we’re a bit uncomfortable going to you, dear reader, with our hat in hand asking for a few bucks, pesos, Euros or shekels to keep the lights on for another year. But then again, we have a lot to show for our efforts in 2022, thanks to all the support you gave us this time last year (hint!).

Who could forget these highlights:

• Newcomer Kevin Duggan made the transition from amNY to Streetsblog with aplomb
  • He broke how the MTA would finally restore subway restrooms.
  • He revealed that the city will finally do a traffic study of congested DUMBO.
  • He covered how Elon Musk banned the Placard Abuse account from Twitter.
  • And he’s been constantly jabbing the Department of Transportation over expanding Summer Streets, making sure cyclists are safe during Greenway construction work, and improving existing plans for 10th Avenue.
• Julianne Cuba has been way out front with her coverage of:
  • How speed cameras are making streets safer (yet how many members of the City Council quietly tried to derail them).
  • How the city should prevent fires by helping e-bike users rather than simply banning them
  • And how then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sister undermined street safety on the Upper East Side, leading to the death of a cyclist.
• Dave Colon has literally been all over congestion pricing this year, which has meant:
  • A deep dive into the numbers, going all the way to a Jersey swamp to talk to Secretary Pete, and constantly looking at whether riders are coming back to the subway.
  • He also broke the news about the one-day, what-the-hell-just-happened closure of the Willoughby Avenue open street.
  • And he did an explainer about the Interboro Express that holds up to this day!
• Not only did investigative reporter Jesse Coburn win an award last year for his coverage of how poorly the NYPD responds to 311 complaints about reckless driving and parking, he also investigated:
  • How a Brooklyn man was harassed after he made 311 service requests about illegal parking
  • How city schoolkids are endangered every day because the Departments of Transportation and Education do so little to make roadways safe around schools — an award-winning investigation.
  • How the DOT has been hobbled by staff shortages.
  • How the oh-so-controversial bike lane on Skillman Avenue in Queens ended up being a boost for business.
  • And how an obscure City Hall office has been conspiring with safe streets opponents to block much-needed improvement projects as well as the expansion of Citi Bike.
• And even editor Gersh Kuntzman showed some tricks in his well-worn bag.
  • He’s been all over the city’s struggle to create a permanent open restaurant program.
  • He’s staying on the DOT for its delays on making the Queensboro Bridge safe for pedestrians.
  • He keeps riding the story of how a Queens Council member has delayed Citi Bike expansion.
  • And he even found a speed hump that it took DOT 12 years to install!
  • He’s also the leader of our extensive carnage coverage and offered up a nifty analysis of Gov. Hochul’s re-election.
  • And don’t forget, it was his and Julianne Cuba’s coverage of reckless driving that Hochul called out for praise when she signed the expansion of speed cameras into a 24-7 program. That’s a win.

Meanwhile, over at Streetfilms, our sister organization, Clarence Eckerson Jr. was busy busy busy with these 2021 classics:

• His “Paris vs NYC” biking video was an international hit.
• He looked at how other cities ensure that kids are safe around schools, which is something we don’t do here, as we reported in the aforementioned Jesse Coburn story.
• And he took you to Jersey City and Hoboken to see what those cities are doing right while we dawdle and get no closer to the zero of Vision Zero.

Plus so many more.

Your money also supported our band of freelancers, which this year meant having Christopher Robbins expose Uber’s backdoor challenge to congestion pricing and dig deep (really deep) into New York’s trash problem — which led directly to changes proposed by Mayor Adams. Could your donation fund more Robbins classics? Could it help our busy (and growing) newsroom do more? Why, yes — yes it could.

It was a busy, satisfying year providing coverage of issues that simply don’t get the attention they deserve from the mainstream (and better funded) press.

So whaddya say? With your help, we’ll do even better next year. So please bear with us this December, when all our stories will have the “Click here to donate” logo. Sure, it’s distracting, but that just means we need your help. Thanks in advance!

And…