Aaron Naparstek

A chart illustrating the number who commute by auto to the Central Business District from Bruce Schaller's study for the Manhattan Institute, Battling Traffic: What New Yorkers Think About Road Pricing.

Monday night was the first meeting of the Ninth Avenue Renaissance project. About 130 neighborhood stakeholders filled the gym at the Holy Cross School in Midtown to begin a process to transform Ninth Avenue from a dysfunctional, traffic-choked, polluted highway into, what organizer Christine Berthet says should be "a neighborhood Main Street" for Hell's Kitchen and Clinton.

The New York Times has a story today about efforts underway to develop a creative new playground near the South Street Seaport. The city has been working with David Rockwell interior designer for Nobu and the Mohegan Sun Casino, on a playground that eschews traditional playground aparati in favor of foam blocks, water, cardboard tubes, burlap bags, ramps, climbing nets and, most interesting, "play workers" to attend to the facility and guide kids through it. Gothamist, as always, provides a nice synposis. 

Iraq vs. Global Warming vs. Britney Spears: Lord Help Us (Compass) 2006 was the warmest year in 112 years of record-keeping (Science Daily) In Cities Is the Preservation of the Word (Grist) An urban denizen beseeches nature writers to focus on cities for a change Schwarzenegger Orders Cuts in Emissions (NYT) Dell Says Plant a … Continued

Just when it seemed like congestion pricing proponent Carolyn Curiel and Portland native David Shipley were helping to steer the the New York Times in a greener more urban environmentally aware direction, the Times launches Wheels, their new Auto Blog. Its mission: Cover the Detroit Auto Show and help drivers and auto enthusiasts know new cars to watch for and which new concept car that is turning heads.

Car Boom Puts Europe on Road to a Smoggy Future (NYT) How Vienna Got Cars Out of the City Center (NYT Letter) Congestion Pricing Works for Electricity, Why Not Traffic? (NYT) Columbus Park or Gov’t Employee Parking Lot? (Bklyn Papers) Stylish yet safe shirts for cyclists (AMNY) All the Technology Needed for 100 mpg, Batteries … Continued

Yesterday, scores of cyclists took to the streets in a memorial ride for the 14 bikers and 134 pedestrians known to have been killed by motor vehicles on the streets of New York City in 2006 (photo, right). I didn't get to go on the ride but I heard from some who did that it was a moving and affirming event. All of the city's major dailies covered it -- headlines below.

Unlike the Mayors of Chicago, London, Paris and a growing number of other world cities, it is exceedingly rare to hear New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg say anything at all in public about bicycling. So, we thought that this was an interesting big of reporting in The Villager last week:

As soon as Mayor Bloomberg finally decides to deal with New York City's shameful and destructive government employee parking abuse situation, all he has to do is steal the simple new parking policy being instituted by Aetna Inc., a major employer in Hartford, Connecticut. The Hartford Courant reports: