Aaron Naparstek

Here's the view from 45th Street looking south at about 1 pm today, about 30 minutes after the city Dept. of Transportation closed Broadway to motor vehicle traffic in Midtown. It's obviously way too soon to judge how this experiment is working but today, at least, car-free Broadway appears to be a huge hit. 

SoHo bike crank Sean Sweeney claims that a cyclist punched him in the face. He’s got a black eye to prove it. We haven’t received the SoHo Alliance press release yet but you can read about it in the Downtown Express. State Assembly transportation chair David Gantt is blocking a common sense bill to ban … Continued

For those who are not tuning in to the American Idol season finale tonight (Kris is going to win, watch), here are two shows worth looking out for:

As you may have noticed, we've got a new reporter here at Streetsblog, Elana Schor. Elana will be covering this year's big federal transportation story down in Washington D.C. with an eye towards helping transit advocates and livable streets activists gain a better understanding of what has typically been a very inside-the-Beltway, highway-oriented process. If you have tips, comments or questions for Elana, email her: elana [at] streetsblog [dot] org.

I'll add a few more impressions to Bobby Cuza's report on yesterday's ABNY breakfast with federal transportation secretary Ray LaHood.

Behind the scenes, we're hearing a lot of sustainable transportation advocates sounding alarms over California Senator Barbara Boxer these days. As chair of the Senate's Environment and Public Works committee, Boxer is going to play a critical role in this year's federal transportation funding effort. Environmentalists want to see transportation policies and funding formulas that encourage reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But the highway lobby, AASHTO and the EPW committee's ranking Republican and vocal climate change denier, Senator James Inhofe, don't want anything get in the way of their pork-tastic federal highway projects. Environmentalists have come away from meetings and conversations with Boxer and her staff with the sinking sensation that she's going to cave to Inhofe and friends when it comes time to write the transportation bill.

I'll be talking with author and media theorist Douglas Rushkoff on his new WFMU radio show, The Media Squat, tonight at 7:00 pm. We'll be focusing on what grassroots, locally-oriented livable streets activists can do -- and are doing -- to take control of the planning and design of their communities and reclaim their cities and lives from automotive tyranny.