Streetsblog New York City

Via Mobilizing the Region, here's some more mayoral bike news, this time from across the Hudson. Newark's Brick City Bike Collective launched earlier this summer, bringing a new voice for safe streets to a city that sorely needs it. After just those first few months, they managed to woo Mayor Cory Booker to come along for their first organized ride. The Tri-State Transportation Campaign's Kyle Wiswall reports:

Since the middle of the last century, Newark has been an autocentric place that is hostile to cyclists. Wide roads like McCarter Highway bisect communities and encourage speeding, while broken glass and potholes increase the chances of a crash.  The Collective is working get more Newarkers out on bikes, make drivers more aware of bikers and encourage city planners to implement bike-friendly policies and infrastructure. So far, the group has 60 members.

At its inaugural ride, the Collective traveled up Beaver Street through Branch Brook Park, ending at Independence Park in the Ironbound.  Members got the unique opportunity to chat with their Mayor in an informal setting.

“Enjoying Newark on two wheels is a vision I share with many others, and Newark has the potential to be a truly green, bike-able city,” BCBC member Elizabeth Reynoso told TSTC staffer Zoe Baldwin during the ride. “The Brick City Bike Collective taps into that, giving riders a voice and building a community that will encourage more and more people to get around the city by bike."

BCBC is putting on monthly rides and bike repair nights. They also have an event that sounds really cool planned for Sunday, August 23: A "biking audit" where participants will document the state of the streets so they can tell the city what to fix. Given their high-placed contacts, we expect to hear more from them soon.

Finally, we get to see just how much former executive director Jon Orcutt was tamping down the high-powered talent at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. The latest issue of Mobilizing the Region is jam-packed with good articles. Here are some highlights (and, yes, I'm kidding about Orcutt but serious about this week's MTR being really good):

NYC: Rationing Won't Do the Trick

Assemblymembers have proposed several spurious "alternatives" to congestion pricing, none of which have proven effective in reducing congestion and none of which would provide revenues for increasing transit capacity.

Assemblymember Richard Brodsky has argued for a car rationing scheme which would restrict car access to parts of Manhattan by license plate. As reported in MTR #558, a similar scheme in Mexico City increased used-car purchases, gasoline consumption, and driving, and decreased transit use.

Further investigation reveals, unsurprisingly, that Mexico City's policy has done nothing to improve air quality. A University of Michigan study found no evidence that the policy reduced emissions of five different pollutants-in fact, the policy increased emissions on weekdays....

...The only effective way to enforce a rationing scheme would be through the installation of license-plate cameras, which Brodsky is on the record as opposing.

Greenhouse Gases: Getting to the Goal in New Jersey

When Governor Jon Corzine announced an executive order in February requiring New Jersey to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020, environmentalists applauded. However, while the NJDEP is busy creating a plan to execute the order, the NJ Turnpike Authority is fast pursuing an agenda thatwould undermine the plan's goals.

Newark: Linking Redevelopment and Pedestrian Safety

Newark's push to encourage growth goes beyond the addition of new housing: the city and state are also embarking on an aggressive complimentary plan to improve its run-down and unsafe streets. TSTC, along with the Regional Plan Association and others, has long said that improving pedestrian safety and streetscapes can help attract development and assist in revitalization efforts.