streetsblog-nyc-logo-alt

streetsblog-nyc-logo-dark

lede_post_card_default

lede_post_card_stacked

lede_post_card_featured_post

lede_post_card_featured_post_3:2

lede_post_card_featured_post_1:1

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero_3:2

lede_post_card_featured_posts_hero_1:1

lede_post_card_featured_posts_sidebar

lede_post_card_highlighted_post

lede_post_card_horizontal_a

lede_post_card_horizontal_c

lede_post_card_related_post

lede_post_card_square

lede_article_featured_16x9

lede_article_featured_16x9_full_width

lede_article_featured_3x2

lede_article_featured_3x2_full_width

lede_article_featured_1x1

lede_article_featured_1x1_full_width

lede_article_featured_flexible

lede_article_featured_flexible_full_width

lede_article_content

lede_article_content_wide_width

lede_article_content_full_width

lede_byline_avatar_post_card

lede_byline_avatar_highlight

lede_profile_coral_avatar

lede_logo

lede_logo_banner

lede_logo_footer_banner

lede_logo_simple_header

lede_sponsorship_logo

lede_sponsorship_logo_river_card

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card_logo

lede_sponsorship_homepage_card

lede_leaderboard

Awesome Categories

Streetsblog Basics

Streetsblog Network

Top Categories

Covering the fight for sustainable cities

streetsblog-nyc-logo

Streetsblog New York City

Donate to Streetsblog

SB NYC Initials 16-9 crop

Support Streetsblog

'Jaywalking'

Accessibility

Aggressive Driving

Air Quality

Athletes and Celebrities

Auto Insurance

Bad News 2026

Bestocracy

Bicycle Infrastructure

Bicycle Parking

Bicycle Safety

Bicycling

Bike Boulevards

Bike Boxes

Bike Lanes

Bike Mayor

Bike Sharing

Bike Theft

Bike/Ped

Black Lives Matter

Bollards

Boondoggles

Bridge Tolls

Bus Bulbs

bus lanes

Bus Rapid Transit

Buses

Business Improvement Districts

Campaign Contributions

Car Culture

Car Dependence

Car Sales

Car-Free Parks

Car-Free Streets

Car-Sharing

Carbon Tax

Cargo bikes

Cars

Casinos

Issues & Campaigns

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek&#8217;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. He was also one of the original cast members of the &#8220;War on Cars&#8221; podcast. You can find more of his work <a href="http://www.naparstek.com">on his website</a>.

aaron naparstek headshot

Aaron Naparstek

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

Safe Routes to Schools Study Complete

Dutch Wheelchair

Curbside Space Wars

Ken Coughlin is a member of Community Board 7 in Manhattan. For <a href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2018/04/20/central-park-goes-car-free-forever-on-june-27" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than two decades</a>, no one <a href="https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2018/06/27/say-goodbye-to-cars-in-central-park" target="_blank" rel="noopener">worked harder</a> to get rid of cars in Central Park.

ken coughlin

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.

Quality of Life

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

Safe Routes to Schools Study Complete

Dutch Wheelchair

Curbside Space Wars

Sacrificing Central Park to Appease the Traffic Gods

Eyes on the Street: Occupied Territory

Speak Up to Keep the Willoughby Street Pedestrian Plaza

The Traffic is the Mitigation

A Streetsblog Reader Wins Traffic Calming Improvements

Straphangers’ Russianoff Will be Named to Spitzer Team