Aaron Naparstek

The following was contributed by Samuel I. Schwartz, AKA Gridlock Sam.

As Transportation Alternatives recently noted in an essay for Streetsblog, more than a year after the death of Eric Ng, the alphabet soup of government agencies responsible for the Hudson River Greenway, have done almost nothing to fix glaring safety  problems along New York City's most important bike route.

Hardworking technologist Nick Grossman took a break from the big Streetsblog redesign project to upgrade our calendar. Click the red "EVENTS CALENDAR" link at right to see what they've done. If you were having trouble with the calendar before, I think you'll find the layout is much easier to read. We've also created an RSS feed for events if you prefer to have events delivered directly to your news reader.

The Rockefeller Foundation has opened up the nomination process for the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal. The deadline to submit a nomination is February 1.

The following obituary was contributed by Ben Hamilton-Baillie, an urban designer based in Bristol, England. 

Abby King of Transportation Alternatives spotted another one of those fancy new bike shelters that are popping up in select locations throughout the city. This one is next to the Barnes & Noble in Union Square.

With its report released the day before, there wasn't a lot of news to be found at yesterday's meeting of the Congestion Mitigation Commission. There was, however, some good political theater and, with the deadline to produce a recommendation approaching, influential commissioners began staking out their positions.

Now for something completely different: Clarence Eckerson snapped these photos of a double bike lane on both sides of Second Avenue between 1st and 2nd Streets. The new street design also includes a rather massive bike box.

New Mobility Agenda's Eric Britton sends along sad news that Hans Monderman, the Dutch traffic engineer renowned for his innovative "shared space" plans emphasizing human interaction and negotiation over blind obedience to mechanical traffic control devices, died yesterday. He was a rare and radical traffic engineer who believed that the art and science of his profession could be used not just to facilitate the movement of motor vehicles but to build community and enhance human relationships. Britton writes:

The Grand Army Plaza Coalition, which recently won a grant from the Design Trust for Public Spaces, has launched an Ideas Competition for its Reinventing Grand Army Plaza project. If you want to participate, answer the following questions in full sentences, and email your responses by the end of the week to survey@reinventingGAP.org.