We try not to hound our readers with frequent requests for donations because we'd rather keep our focus on hounding our readers with a steady stream of news and information to help them make sense of the city and empower them in the fight for livable streets.
But every year at this time, we do take a moment to take stock of our achievements over the previous 12 months, and to kindly beg for contributions so we can keep the lights on — both in our office and on the hallways of our government.
First, a reminder: Your contributions directly fund our reporting, which, thanks to your previous good will, now includes an investigative desk and an engagement desk. Those roles allow us to go deeper into our journalism and also to reach new audiences for the message that car dependency is a yoke on equity and independence.
So thank you for that.
And what a year Streetsblog had in 2024. Beyond the basics of holding government accountable for making our streets safer, improving transit and reducing car use, we led the city's coverage of key issues and topics this year, including:
- The approval of, the lawsuits against, the pause of, the lawsuits in support of, and the final restoration of congestion pricing. Literally no outlet in town covered this roller coaster ride better than Streetsblog reporter Dave Colon. Check out all our coverage here (but you better put aside some time).
- Our investigative reporter Jesse Coburn won a Polk Award — one of journalism's highest honors — for his eight-month dive into the world of rogue car dealers who flooded New York City will illegally sold temporary license plates, many of which were used in crimes. The series was cited by lawmakers as the impetus for legislative action to close this pernicious loophole.
- Streetsblog provided full team coverage of Mayor Adams's most-significant policy initiative, the City of Yes for Housing Opportunities — the city's first effort to transform the zoning code to create more housing and partially undo the deleterious effects of a Robert Moses-era zoning change that led in part to our current housing crisis. New reporter Sophia Lebowitz led the award-nominated coverage.
- No one fought harder to protect the pandemic-era outdoor dining program than Streetsblog reporter Kevin Duggan. But he did it through painstaking analysis and coverage of how successful the initiative had been and how turning it into a seasonal program would undermine that success. It behooves us all to recall his coverage here. (In honor of our coverage, donors KC Rice and Peter Frishauf have already put up a $20,000 matching grant to our parent company, Open Plans, to continue its work improving outdoor dining. So if that's your specific issue, click here. Every dollar you give will be matched, doubling your impact to keep our streets lively places instead of just places for cars).
- The city waged a year-long attack on people who report illegal truck idling — and Deputy Editor David Meyer was there every step of the way. It's worth going back and reviewing how he helped ensure that the city didn't eliminate the citizen reporting program all together.
- New Engagement Editor Emily Lipstein joined Streetsblog on the very day when Gov. Hochul canceled congestion pricing — and since then has been cranking out videos, Twitter threads, Thread threads and TikTok explainers to broaden the reach of the livable streets message. Click here for her recent City of Yes explainer. And check out her video on Mayor Adams's slow buses on Fordham Road.
- And, of course, I continued to use your donations to fight scofflaws, hold hypocritical lawmakers accountable, and expose all the latest scams.
So can we ask for some support? If so, click below. We'll honor all our donors with a little shout out in our next headlines post. Thanks again.
