At St. George, EDC Wants Suburban-Style Parking for Its “Vibrant Downtown”
St. George Staten Island could become the region's next great downtown. That's the plan over at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which is about to redevelop two waterfront sites immediately adjacent to the ferry terminal.
August 12, 2011
Q-Poll: NYC Residents Want More Funds For MTA By Nearly 2-1 Margin
The idea of increasing state funding for the MTA is popular in New York City, according to a new Quinnipiac poll released yesterday. Looking at the MTA service region -- NYC plus its suburbs -- more people want to see additional funding going to transit. Statewide, support for increased MTA funding is slightly lower than opposition, but that may not matter much: In recent legislative battles over transit funding, upstate representatives have deferred to representatives from the NYC region.
August 12, 2011
Saturday: Tish James Gets the Word Out on Bike-Ped Unity
Brooklyn Council Member Letitia James wants cyclists and pedestrians to get along. This Saturday, she's hosting what she hopes will be the first annual "Building Bridges Bike Day" at Grand Army Plaza.
August 11, 2011
Hudson Square BID Puts Pedestrians First Near Entrance to Holland Tunnel
Every afternoon, all four lanes of Varick Street are packed solid with traffic heading to the Holland Tunnel. Drivers block crosswalks and cross-streets as they press forward, hoping the traffic would continue to move ahead and guessing wrong. On Friday afternoons, you can hear the honking from Streetsblog HQ, ten blocks over and twelve stories up.
August 11, 2011
Protected Bike Lanes Coming to East Harlem, Tweets Mark-Viverito
Could complete streets finally be coming to East Harlem?
August 10, 2011
Cutting “Waste and Inefficiency” Won’t Eliminate the MTA’s Budget Problems
Last week, the city's Independent Budget Office released a report on the MTA's revenue structure [PDF] which has been getting a bit of play. At Second Avenue Sagas, Ben Kabak focused on the report's main thesis: that the volatility of dedicated taxes and fees threatens the financial stability of the transit agency. Steven Higashide of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign picked out a graph showing that the recently enacted payroll mobility tax already makes up 30 percent of all dedicated revenues, or around one-eighth of all operating revenue.
August 10, 2011
Study: Vancouver Merchants Badly Misjudge Effect of Protected Bike Lanes
Few groups speak more loudly in debates over the reallocation of street space than local businesses. In New York, there are merchants who vocally favor a better environment for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit, but all it takes are a few firm believers in easy car access to dictate the terms of the public debate. Case in point: In 2009, merchants in Greenwich Village and along Grand Street were able to get mayoral candidate Bill Thompson on the record against bike lanes.
August 10, 2011