Livable Streets
Top Categories
Streetsblog Interview: Stefan Schaefer
This afternoon we met up with Stefan Schaefer, director, producer and editor of the new documentary film, "Contested Streets."
June 28, 2006
New Film Fires up Faithful in Manhattan Debut
Like Al Gore, the idea of making New York safer for walkers and bicyclists commands more popular support than government action would suggest. Also like the former veep, the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign is using film to rally support. (The campaign has never struggled, though, to keep its weight under control.)
June 28, 2006
Untangling Traffic: Bloomberg’s Forgotten Promise
On July 11, 2001, Republican mayoral candidate Michael Bloomberg issued a policy paper on traffic and transportation. The paper was called "Untangling Traffic" and it's opening sentence exclaimed, "Traffic is a mess!"
June 19, 2006
Why Only One Museum Mile?
Some images and reflections from last night's Museum Mile Festival:
June 14, 2006
Pedestrian-Only Fifth Avenue: Tonight, a Three Hour Test
Tonight is the Museum Mile Festival. From 6:00 to 9:00 pm, twenty-three blocks of Fifth Avenue from 82nd Street to 105th Streets will be closed to traffic for the event billed as "New York's Biggest Block Party." Admission to the museums is free and there are all kinds of events, workshops and street performances.
June 13, 2006
555 Hudson Street
Jane Jacobs lived at 555 Hudson Street when she wrote "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." I happened to be in the neighborhood yesterday afternoon and I saw this bouquet of flowers and card on the front door. The card reads, "Jane Jacobs, 1916-2006. From this house, in 1961, a housewife changed the world."
April 27, 2006
Billyburg bike bandits strike again
On Sunday, the New York Times City section ran a story called "The Bicycle Thief: It's Not Who You Think." It went like this: On Wednesday, 28-year-old graphic designer Miao Wang rode her bicycle 12 blocks from her apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to the Bedford Avenue L subway station. She locked up, boarded her train and went to work. That evening, she emerged from subway to find that her black Diamondback bicycle was gone.
November 10, 2005
Making NYC’s Streets Safe for Hydrants & Pay Phones
Bollards are hardened steel, concrete or stone posts buried into the pavement of city streets and sidewalks. In Northern European cities you see bollards all over the place. They are used to make sure that if a motor vehicle accidentally jumps up on to a sidewalk, pedestrians are protected. Bollards are a kind of urban preventative medicine. They stop crashes before they happen.
October 14, 2005