Schools

As seen on this weekend's Uptown Treasures tour: At the American Academy of Arts and Letters in Washington Heights, K-5 students from Hamilton Heights Academy and P.S. 28 (along with at least one parent or guardian) added a livable streets flavor to the "If I Were President" display.

Proposed Dyckman Street redesign, presented by citizens to the CB12 Transpo Committee last February

Youth advocate Oswald Bowman kicks things off at yesterday's rally for a car-free Prospect Park.

Today is the first day of class for New York City public school students, while other districts across the country have been in session for weeks. The Times reports that some are grappling with how to get kids to and from school in the face of $4-per-gallon gasoline.

With fall approaching, colleges across the US are encouraging students to come to campus without their cars. In Atlanta, Emory University is selling $250,000 worth of bikes, at a discount, to students and faculty. CNN reports that bike-share programs have started or will soon launch at Duke, the University of Washington, and at least two public universities in Illinois.

August is here, and while New Yorkers are enduring another summer of rush-hour traffic whipping through the city's flagship parks, some excellent advocacy is bolstering the case for going car-free. Look at the work being done by the Prospect Park Youth Advocates, high school students who are spending their summer vacations gathering data and putting together petitions. Here's youth advocate Michael Cheng describing a recent foray to the Prospect Park loop drive:

On their way to class, Brooks High students brave the shoulder along route 72.

The fence at Washington Square Park: a sign of latent demand for bike-share?