On Sunday, the Street Memorial Project held its 4th annual ride/walk to honors cyclists and pedestrians that have been killed on New York City's streets. There were three feeder rides and a walk in chinatown. Last year I made a video on the ride. After realizing that a pedestrian is killed on average every other day in NYC, I was drawn to the walk this year.
How's this for understanding modal harmony?
Livable Streets Education has been working in New York City schools, encouraging students to explore and question the environments around their school and in their neighborhoods, and to voice the changes they want to see on their streets. We recently asked first graders at P.S. 87 to give advice to pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers and to illustrate their words of wisdom. As we posted before with kindergarteners, here are their wonderful responses via montage.
If you would like to get your school involved, please visit the Livable Streets Education website or contact Kim Wiley-Schwartz at 212-796-4211 or kwileyschwartz@openplans.org for more information.
Add Boulder, Colorado to the League of American Bicyclists' cities to achieve Platinum Bike Status. This Fall, they were bestowed the nation's highest rank for U.S. cities and joined Portland, Oregon and Davis, California as the only three cities to have that honor.
I spent five days on a bike in Boulder in October and can testify it is close to bicycling nirvana. The resulting Streetfilm is only a taste of what is going on in the bike culture universe. You'll get to sample what its like to ride some of their amazing bike amenities including its wonderful greenway system with its emphasis on continuity and an uninterrupted commute.
Having produced Streetfilms on all three Platinum bike cities, one thing that is beginning to emerge as a sure tell tale sign you got a healthy biking city: the numbers of youngsters riding bicycles. Boulder has numerous programs to encourage kids to walk and bike and we were lucky enough to include two of them here. Don't miss our Boulder Streetfilms series as well as our long-form pieces on Davis and Portland.
With all the hullabaloo over the new Grand Street bike lane, we thought we'd resurrect a Streetfilm (actually before they were even called Streetfilms!) from back in June 2005 with TOPP founder Mark Gorton talking about the then incredible width of Grand Street and the inequity of street space devoted to its users. We [...]
Got a minute to spare?
Livable Streets Education has been working in New York City schools, encouraging students to explore and question the environments around their school and in their neighborhoods, and to voice the changes they want to see on their streets. We recently asked Kindergartners at P.S. 87 what they would do if there [...]
Every time we manage to snag an interview with Jan Gehl, it ends up being one of the coldest days of the Fall. But that didn't stop the Danish livable streets maestro from grabbing a table in New York City's new wonderful public space, Madison Square, to chat with Streetsblog's Editor-in-chief Aaron Naparstek.
It was [...]
See how one community organized to create a plan for safer, healthier and more livable streets and public spaces.
I don't know if there is an official stat chart on bike co-ops/collectives in the United States, but certainly Los Angeles boasts more in one city then any I am immediately aware of.
So fresh from the oven we cooked up this dish of a Streetfilm from our West Coast swing. We were able to [...]
In an effort to improve pedestrian safety and traffic flow, the City of Los Angeles recently installed ten diagonal crosswalks/pedestrian scrambles/Barnes dances (just pick one, they all mean the same) around the metro area. We were able to check one out with Glenn Ogura of LADOT near the USC campus to learn a little [...]
On my recent West Coast Streetfilms swing, I got to jump into the San Francisco Critical Mass dressed as a "bee" (ironically my childhood nickname!) Although we don't often cover alot of critical mass here on our pages, I thought this one would be apropos since it promised to have up to [...]
Streetfilms contributor Nicholas Whitaker went to Chicago to see how thousands of Chicago residents learned what happens when streets turn into parks for Sunday Parkways on Oct 5th and 26th.
By closing down over three miles of parkways to cars for four hours, the event allowed people of all ages and walks of life to step [...]
In the greater Boston area, a secure bike parking facility for bikes has been erected at the end of the T's Red Line in Cambridge. It boasts one incredible amenity: it's completely free!
Alewife station is perfectly situated at the edge of the burbs and perpendicular to The Minuteman Bikeway, one of the most popular rail [...]
A Bronx elementary school implements a bike safety curriculum and celebrates its culmination with a good old-fashioned bike rodeo.
Since taking over as New York City's Commissioner of the Department of Transportation in mid-2007, Janette Sadik-Khan has taken on the challenge of making NYC streets more bike & pedestrian friendly while emphasizing livable streets and re-orienting them to accommodate all modes. She and her staff have done it quickly with innovative concepts, thinking outside [...]
An extremely frosty morning couldn't keep over 4,000 riders from taking in the Bronx alfresco in the 14th Annual version of the original classic. Despite being under the weather I was able to file a short report. As usual, it is one of the best things to look forward to yearly in NYC, [...]
Welcome to an innovative way of thinking about transit: ask your passengers to design routes, let them name them, and decide the frequency in which they operate. That's what Boulder, Colorado does and they sure seem to have discovered the right way to make bus riding fun and enticing!
Boulder boasts seven high-frequency bus lines [...]
A group of concerned Moms rally to get the word out, “No More Cars in Central Park!”
How's this for customer service? The Pueblo Bank & Trust in Boulder, Colorado has been providing bicycle customers a bike drive-thru window for some time now, complete with a bike rack and H2O for thirsty travelers!
Although this is the first bank I've heard about, in Portland, Oregon there are a number of cafes and [...]
Wiki and free-culture enthusiasts travel around the five boroughs to snap photos for use in Streetswiki and Wikipedia articles.
Boulder, Colorado recently achieved the creme de la creme - Platinum bike status from the League of American Bicyclists so Streetfilms decided to pay the city a visit to get the scoop. Among the many bicycle amenities the city can boast, none spoke to us more than the contra-flow bicycle lane that runs three city [...]
The Department of Transportation along with Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Google and Transportation Alternatives have been sponsoring a CITYRACKS design competition. Yesterday, the designs of the ten finalists hit the streets and were put on display at the museum. The winner will be announced on October 24th. Make sure to check out the nearest public [...]
Le Mobilien is Paris' version of what we know as a bus rapid transit system or a surface mass transport network. Paris has been doing “bus rapid transit” for decades, and after years of on-street operation and continuous fine-tuning they have now developed a system which they call the “Mobilien” - French for MOBI-lity plus [...]
Recently, we were very lucky to have Streetsblog's Editor-in-chief, Aaron Naparstek in the "Streetfilms Headquarters" to chat with Gary Toth the Senior Director of Transportation Initiatives with the Project for Public Spaces.
For thirty-four years, Mr. Toth worked for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), and become known for his collaboration and facilitation skills, [...]
