Aaron Naparstek

Mayor Bloomberg delivered his State of the City address at Brooklyn Tech yesterday afternoon. Anyone hoping to hear policy proposals on traffic, transportation, livable streets, climate change and long-term sustainability issues was likely disappointed.

From Wired Magazine co-founder Kevin Kelly’s web site Throughout Mexico “topes” or speed bumps, are ubiquitous. These can be metal pods arrayed across the road, or asphalt humps, or even significant concrete wedges. You really do have to slow down, and almost stop to crawl over them. There is usually a sign warning they are … Continued

Here is an interesting bike infrastructure story out of Copenhagen, Denmark. 30,000 Cyclists Get the Green Wave:

Kevin Walsh at Forgotten NY has a new photo essay on his neighborhood, Flushing, Queens. It's not the typical Forgotten NY catalogue of historical obsurities. Rather, in this post, Walsh illustrates what he sees as the destruction of one of New York City's great old neighborhood by developers run amok. Even if you see new development and increasing urban density as a good and necessary thing, as many urbanists and environmentalists do, these Flushing photos make you wonder if this is really the only way that it can be done.

Mayor Bloomberg's Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability is running a series of meetings with community groups. Though the meeting times are posted publicly on the PLANYC 2030 web site, no locations are listed and word has it these borough-wide "Community Leader" meetings are going to be pretty strictly invitation-only.  

Chris Smith has an outstanding story in this week's New York Magazine pointing out that New York City has fallen behind other world cities in addressing climate change and challenging the Bloomberg Administration to do more. An excerpt:

Streetsblog contributor Charles Komanoff had an excellent letter in the New York Times on Sunday in response to the article about Sara Robbins, the Brooklyn Heights woman tragically, horrifyingly killed by a private sanitation truck last month:

Who is the big bad graffito -- all of those automobile tailpipes or the guy scrubbing soot off the wall of this tunnel in Sao Paulo? A Streetsblog tipster sends along news about a cool new urban art form:

Chrysler’s chief economist Challenges Climate Change (BBC) Urban growth and cars: Chicken-and-egg issue (IHT) Rep. Weiner Calls for Truck Toll & Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel (Sun) Central Brooklyn’s Staggering Asthma Rates (Bklyn Record) New UN Secretary General Already Parking Illegally (Gothamist) Driver Runs Red Light: Not News. Cyclist Civility: News (NYT) MTA Tests Real-Time Info on … Continued