Aaron Naparstek

Madison Square: Before and After.

I'm pleased to announce the launch of Streetsblog San Francisco. We opened the doors to the site yesterday and, from now on, you'll be able to find it at this RSS feed and this address:

Best Spontaneous Livable Streets Moment: Joyous New Yorkers take to the streets to celebrate Barack Obama's victory.

Worst City Agency: The NYPD. If they're in a good mood, they'll summons you for no apparent reason. If they're in a bad mood, they'll body slam you off your bike. They drive recklessly through city parks in their off-duty hours and park their vehicles in bus lanes, bike lanes -- pretty much wherever they want. If you're hit by a car while walking or biking in New York City? Don't waste their time. If you're still breathing, they're not interested. If you're dead, they'll probably just call it an "accident." Maybe they'll even blame you after taking witness testimony from no one else but the driver of the vehicle that killed you.

Biggest Setback: After being approved by an unprecedented civic coalition, the mayor and New York City Council, congestion pricing -- the one policy measure that simultaneously reduces traffic congestion while raising money for mass transit and livable streets -- died in an Albany backroom without even a vote.

We'll be back to a regular publishing schedule starting Monday, January 5. This week we'll be posting our year end awards, The Streetsies, once per day. Here's the first batch...