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DOT to Neighborhood: Your School’s in the Way of Our Highway
There is a palpable schizophrenia in the Bloomberg Administration these days when it comes to Livable Streets issues. On the one hand, the Administration is developing some 200 miles of new bike lanes, initiating a long-term sustainability project and, for the first time, talking openly about reducing automobile use. On the other hand, very little seems to have changed in the day-to-day operations of the government agencies responsible for our streets and public spaces. They continue to plan for cars and traffic at the expense of people and places.
November 9, 2006
Reverse Engineering Pedestrian Safety in Boerum Hill
They are putting up a traffic light on my corner this week. It's one of the last intersections in Boerum Hill with four-way stop signs, at Bond and Wyckoff Streets, and I can't imagine who thought this was a good idea.
November 7, 2006
Cyclists and Pedestrians: Fighting Over the Scraps
Cyclists and pedestrians somehow managing to get along with each other in Copenhagen.
November 6, 2006
DOT Culture: Stifling Innovation on NYC’s Streets?
Upon re-reading this morning's Times article on the new pedestrian countdown timers, I think it's worth taking a closer look at this statement DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall made at yesterday's pedestrian countdown press conference. As reported:
November 3, 2006
NYC Gets its First Pedestrian Countdown Timer
Yesterday, the Department of Transportation installed New York City's very first pedestrian countdown timer at the intersection of Coney Island Avenue and Kings Highway in Brooklyn. Gothamist, as usual, does a nice treatment of the story and roundup of the coverage.
November 3, 2006
New Bike Markings For Brooklyn’s Fifth Ave. This Month
Word has come down that DOT is now aiming to install its new Class III Shared Lane bicycle stencils on Brooklyn's Fifth Avenue before the end of November. The markings are an interesting innovation for New York City in that they direct motorists and cyclists to share the middle of the road as equals. Drivers aren't supposed to blast their horns at cyclists riding in the travel lane and cyclists aren't supposed to try to slip in and out of the door-zone between moving traffic and parked cars. The City, in other words, is telling cyclists: Go ahead and take the travel lane on this street. It is yours. What do you think?
November 3, 2006
T.O.D. in Brooklyn: Turning Parking Lots into Housing
Some reading ahead of tomorrow's big Transit-Oriented Development forum at NYU...
October 31, 2006
Foreign Correspondent: Bogotá’s Lack of “Vibrancy”
Before Enrique Peñalosa took over as Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, this thriving downtown plaza was a decrepit, crime-ridden, traffic-congested slum. Peñalosa cleared out the old shacks, banned private motor vehicles, launched the Transmilenio bus service, created the plaza, and returned this public space to his city's people. Granted, the neighborhood pictured above clearly lacks the First World "vibrancy" that we boast of here in New York City, but it seems pleasant enough, no?
October 27, 2006