Aaron Naparstek

As part of today's big announcement on bike safety improvements, the City is committing to undertaking the following actions. From the City's press release:

One of the most interesting developments to emerge from today's big announcement on bike safety is the idea that bicycling is now being treated by city government as a public health issue. This is from the City's press release:

The press conference is underway right now in at Tavern on the Green in Central Park. Here are verbatim portions of the City's press release and a response from Transportation Alternatives. Stay tuned for more news and analysis:

Economist Charles Komanoff points Streetsblog to a news brief from London where Mayor Ken Livingstone insists that the U.S. Embassy owes a whopping $1.6 million in unpaid congestion charging fees:

It is unusual for the New York Times to print a letter to the editor in response to another reader's letter, but yesterday the Times did just that. And so continues the super-slow motion debate on the Department of Transportation's bicycling policies. We're looking forward to next week's installment...

The Bloomberg Vista (Sunday Times Mag) The Hole in the City’s Heart (NYT) A transit worker on 9/11 (AMNY) US Embassy in London Owes $1.6M in Unpaid Congestion Charging Fees (NYT) Diplomatic Scofflaws and the Culture of Corruption (Wash Post) Sleazy countries are best at breaking New York City’s parking rules (Economist) Weeping Woman Hit … Continued

Hell's Kitchen Miracle TicketA Clarence Eckerson Street FilmRunning time: 1:13 - 3.59 MB, QuickTime

With nothing much happening in the American League East this Fall, we've been turning our attention to Boston's burgeoning Livable Street movement instead. Last year a fellow named Jeff Rosenblum founded an organization called the Livable Streets Alliance that is setting out to do work similar to that of New York City's Transportation Alternatives. Jeff's group appears to be doing a good job of moving the issues up on Boston's civic agenda. Last week's Boston Globe ran a story on a City Counci member's efforts to transform a congested street in Little Italy into a pedestrian piazza and an op/ed arguing:

Chinatown businessman Jan Lee was cuffed and detained for photographing police officers' illegally parked cars in front of his shop.