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AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of &#8220;Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage&#8221; (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web&#8217;s first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University&#8217;s Graduate School of Design. He has a master&#8217;s degree from Columbia University&#8217;s Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor&#8217;s degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

Aaron Naparstek

Bicycling

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Car-Free Parks

File Under: No Wonder New York City is Falling Behind London

Lifelong New York City resident, except for a year in Copenhagen during college. Both experiences have taught me a lot about good (and bad) urban design. I grew up in Staten Island and also lived in Astoria Queens for 5 years. Now I live in Manhattan where I founded Upper Green Side (www.uppergreenside.org), a local environmental group on the Upper East &amp; West Sides of Manhattan.

Glenn McAnanama

Car Culture

Safe Routes to Schools Study Complete

Dutch Wheelchair

Air Quality

Curbside Space Wars

Ken Coughlin is a member of Community Board 7 in Manhattan.

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Ken Coughlin

Sacrificing Central Park to Appease the Traffic Gods

Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund&#8217;s annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master&#8217;s degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York&#8217;s pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.

Aaron Donovan

Eyes on the Street: Occupied Territory

Speak Up to Keep the Willoughby Street Pedestrian Plaza

Quality of Life