Noah Kazis

Finding the best bike route through New York City streets? There's an app for that. And with new data published online by NYCDOT yesterday, there may soon be more digital tools that enhance the experience of biking here.

A few weeks ago, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë announced a plan to transform his city's waterfront, closing 1.2 miles of expressway on the left bank of the Seine and slowing the highway along the right bank to the speed of a city boulevard. For an added bit of historical irony, the city's waterfront expressway is named for Georges Pompidou, the president responsible for scarring the nation's cities with highways -- the French Robert Moses, if you will.

As the new deputy mayor for operations, Stephen Goldsmith will soon be responsible for a portfolio of about a dozen city agencies, including NYCDOT, the NYPD, and the Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability. To a certain extent, the livable streets agenda will go through him. While Goldsmith may not have a direct role in shaping the specifics of New York City transportation policy, by steering the Bloomberg administration's broad goals and political objectives, he's going to influence what the city will and won't do for livable streets over the next four years.

Reforming New York City parking policy is a critical component of reducing automobile use and building better public spaces. It's becoming increasingly clear that rethinking how we store cars can help address New York City's housing crisis as well. Requiring parking not only creates traffic, it also prevents housing from being built and drives up prices.

New York City's streets are safer than ever for cyclists, according to new information gathered by Transportation Alternatives. Injury and fatality data from the state's Department of Motor Vehicles show a continued decline in the number of cyclist injuries in 2009, a particularly encouraging trend considering how many more cyclists are on the road every year. 

Road pricing isn't going to happen unless drivers want it to, writes Bruce Schaller, one of the architects of New York's congestion pricing push. That's the central conclusion of a new paper Schaller penned for the journal Transport Policy [PDF]. 

Last week the Department of City Planning announced an initiative to promote car-sharing in New York City. The new zoning amendments remove some of the uncertainty for car-share companies by spelling out where shared cars can be stored. At a hearing on the proposed changes last Monday, one member of the planning commission suggested an additional step with big implications for livable streets -- tying car-share to reduced parking requirements -- but the planning department has declined to draft rules that go that far.

Last night's meeting of Manhattan Community Board 6's transportation committee was a reminder of how opaque and undemocratic New York City's public review process can be, at its worst. Between a mismanaged meeting that descended into chaos and a parade of NIMBYs who ensured that neither plans for First and Second Avenues nor for 34th Street could be discussed on the merits, it's hard to see how last night's proceedings contributed to an informed discourse about New York City's transportation needs. 

In an unusual turn of events, two Brooklyn politicians and one community board are pushing for less off-street parking at the New Domino development proposed for the Williamsburg waterfront. City Council Member Steve Levin and Borough President Marty Markowitz have recently bolstered a resolution from CB 1 calling for hundreds of fewer parking spaces. 

In yesterday's story about Intro 120, the City Council bill to make some of NYPD's traffic safety data available to the public, we noted that former Chief of Transportation Michael Scagnelli submitted written testimony in favor of the bill, countering resistance from his successor and other police officials.