Noah Kazis

With the stroke of a pen, Governor David Paterson could make New York's streets safer for walking and biking. Hayley and Diego's Law, which creates a new charge for law enforcement to bring against drivers who carelessly injure pedestrians and cyclists, needs only his signature to become law. At a rally at City Hall today, elected officials and Transportation Alternatives joined the families of children killed by reckless drivers to urge the governor to sign the legislation.

From Transit Stops to Free Parking: NYPD Won’t Ticket Motorists for Parking in Old Bus Stops (WNYC) City Shuts Down Private Bus Operator Trying to Recreate Discontinued MTA Service (News) Crain’s “25 Big Ideas” for New York Include Light Rail, BRT, End to Cheap On-Street Parking Bronx Community Boards Split Over City’s Car-Sharing Initiative (YourNabe) … Continued

The cables holding up the Manhattan Bridge need to be replaced, one of the final stages in a massive rehabilitation that began all the way back in 1982. The cable project will run through 2013, and for cyclists and pedestrians, the major challenges will come at the end of this year, when construction starts above the bikeway. The current plans from NYCDOT's bridge division could put cyclists in danger when they reach the Manhattan end of the bridge, unless some additional precautions are taken. 

New York's public transportation keeps children alive. New York City traffic kills them. Those are the fundamental facts that explain injury fatality rates among the city's children, according to the Department of Health.

US Spends Billions on Oil Subsidies; Americans Paying Lowest Gas Taxes in History (NYT, USA Today) Daily News Sees Private Vans as Transit System of the Future Nice New York Mag Feature on “The Glaring Intelligence” of BRT Deadly Drunk Driving Mars July 4 Weekend (Post) With Criminal Charges Looming, Dems Looking to Dump Espada … Continued

A couple weeks ago, we showed how the bus bulbs on Lower Broadway were being integrated with the sidewalk next to them. For drainage reasons, a small gap and a large fence had separated the two pedestrian spaces, but DOT capped the gap with a small grate and replaced the fence with benches. That work's now largely complete and Streetsblog reader Dave "Paco" Abraham sent along these pics of Soho pedestrians taking advantage of their new public space. There's a lot more breathing room on a stretch of sidewalk that's often packed and it looks like people appreciate it. 

Is the United States exceptional? It's a question that's bedeviled activists and historians alike since the country was born 234 years ago this Sunday. It's also a question that's been bugging Barbara McCann, the executive director of the Complete Streets Coalition. She's been at Velo-City, a bike conference held in cycling mecca Copenhagen this year. Writes McCann on her organization's blog:

Earlier this week, DNAinfo reported that NYCDOT may nix the pedestrian plaza in the agency's ambitious proposal for a 34th Street busway. But support for more pedestrian space between Fifth and Sixth Avenues remains strong in certain quarters. The head of the 34th Street Partnership, a group representing local businesses, supports the principle of adding pedestrian space on 34th. After all, most people using the street are on foot. 

The Bicycle Access to Garages Law is in effect, but just because you can park your bike in a garage, doesn't mean you want to. At many garages, the prices are absurdly high. At 62nd and Columbus, a month of bike parking costs $175. One garage at Bowery and Canal charges $211.19 for a month and asks cyclists to pay the same daily rates as car owners.

It's amazing how much a strong transit system can reshape the city around it. And not just through the physical changes that transit brings, but the mental ones too. A transit system can reshape the way we imagine or understand our surroundings. In some cities, for example, you identify your location with the nearest subway stop, not a neighborhood. "I work near Metro Center" is a pretty common statement in Washington D.C. When you spend enough time on transit, individual stations start to take on meaning, shared or personal.