Author Colin Beavan, in research for his next book, began the No Impact Project in November 2006. A newly self-proclaimed environmentalist who could no longer avoid pointing the finger at himself, Colin leaves behind his liberal complacency for a vow to make as little environmental impact as possible for one year. No more automated transportation, no more electricity, no more non-local food, no more material consumption … no problem. That is, until his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two year-old daughter are dragged into the fray. Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein's film provides a front row seat into the familial strains and strengthened bonds that result from Colin's and Michelle's struggle with this radical lifestyle change.

And here are the event details:

WHEN: Wednesday, September 16, 7:20 p.m.
WHERE: Angelika Film Center, 18 W. Houston St. (at Mercer St.), Manhattan
COST: $12.50 adults; $9 for seniors and children

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am so hoping for a Jeff Klein cameo.

This week's events make Halloween seem like a long time ago, but it was only last Friday when Clarence Eckerson, on a west coast jaunt for Streetfilms, shot this video of Critical Mass in San Francisco. Some think it was the city's biggest mass ride ever. Clarence offers a possible explanation:

With monthly rides under attack in some cities, it is interesting to see the tactic that San Francisco takes. The police department is practically hands off, and the ride is very peaceful and non-confrontational. Even drivers and spectators don't seem to mind the action.

"So," Clarence wonders, "why can't it be the same in NYC?"

Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson, Jr. just returned from Boulder, Colorado -- recent recipient of the League of American Bicyclists' Platinum award for bike-friendliness. He writes:

Boulder "gets it" big time -- bicycling is important to its residents. So is a healthy walking and green living environment. But please note: this is not a car-free utopia -- the vast majority of residents own cars. The difference here is there are many safe and convenient options available (transit, walk, bike, etc.) and its denizens can choose the way they want to go.

Inter-modal transportation is highly encouraged, there are many types of bus passes available, and the city is constantly looking to the next way to improve their streets.

Streetfilms will soon be posting videos from the visit. In the meantime, here's more from Clarence.  

Streetfilms is celebrating its first-ever foreign language translation with this video, of last year's (Park)ing Day, subtitled in Spanish. Clarence Eckerson says to expect three more Spanish subtitled vids to be posted in the coming weeks.

And speaking of (Park)ing Day, the 2008 event is just a couple of weeks away. Volunteer or reserve your spot today.

With the first US bike-share system starting up just a short Amtrak ride away in Washington, DC, you know it wouldn't take long for the Streetfilms crew to make the scene. This week, Elizabeth Press, Clarence Eckerson and Robin Urban Smith took the already-popular SmartBike DC for a spin, and talked to local citizens, advocates and Alice Kelly of the District Department of Transportation, who hints at a possible expansion of the 120 bike fleet:

"Knowing what we know now, of course, we would have launched it bigger. But when we were initially thinking about this we really weren't sure how popular it would be. The rising cost of gas and the ever-increasing green attitude of everybody is now showing us that yes, the city will support a broader program."

Conditions could hardly have been better for Saturday's Summer Streets debut, and New Yorkers responded, turning out in droves to enjoy a car-free route from Lower Manhattan to Central Park. Of course, Clarence Eckerson was on hand to capture this historic livable streets event for Streetfilms. He offers this testimonial:

We'll spare you the 200 adjectives we could list about how transformational it was, for it was beyond anything on the printed page. The general consensus was that the event succeeded beyond even the most hoped for expectations and would pass even the most pessimistic of measuring sticks. A page has been turned, clearly there is no doubt: the future will hold many more large scale street openings for pedestrians, cyclists, runners, children, dog walkers, dancers, and any other reasonable livable space use.

If you missed it this week, take heart: early forecasts for Saturday call for partly cloudy skies with a high in the mid-80s.

Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg Brooklyn was de-motorized and opened to the public this Saturday for a new event called Williamsburg Walks. Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson was there and he's already churned out a nice three-and-a-half minute video to give you a sense of the event.

If you want to check out Williamsburg Walks for yourself, you still can. Saturday's noon to 7 pm event was the first of four pedestrian-only Saturday's on Bedford Avenue, through August 9. That also happens to be the first day of the big "Summer Streets" event along Park Avenue in Manhattan (7 am to 1 pm), if you're looking to make a multi-borough day of it.

Clarence described the event as "quiet, safe, relaxing, and human" and says he'll be returning without a camera next time so he can actually enjoy it as well (Can you actually detach that thing from your hand, Clarence? I'll believe it when I see it). Streetfilms' also notes: "This was not a street fair in any sense of the word." The generic sausage and tube socks vendors were nowhere to be seen. Rather, this was an opening up of the street to the neighborhood. It was an event that allowed merchants, residents and visitors to enjoy other uses for their shared public space than the storage and movement of motor vehicles. And why not?

We can't set this one up any better than Mr. Eckerson himself, so without further ado:

At just about any public gathering I go these days, there's usually at least one person who will come up and give me an enthusiastic "Bike Box!", based upon our earlier, popular Streetfilm. In my heart I hoped there would one day be a sequel to Bike Box, and it all came together last week while in Portland at the World Car-free Conference. Earlier this year, Portland's Office of Transportation installed many high visibility bike boxes that are filled in lime green to help cyclists avoid right hook collisions. (Note: NYC now has a few green ones as well.)

What we were unprepared for was being stopped by random cyclists who wanted to lend their collective "Bike Box!" exclamations. So watch and see all the fun improv as it flows.

Clarence and the Streetfilms crew are also looking for homegrown bike box videos to feature in the Streetfilms sidebar. To participate, post a vid of bike boxes in your city on YouTube and tag it "streetfilms."

Bike Box!

In New York, "Summer Streets" is set to debut this August. In Portland, they just held "Sunday Parkways" for the first time. Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson, in town for the Carfree Cities conference, captured the action and picked up a few pointers for other cities planning to launch car-free events:

It was like a giant community block party with walkers, bikers, joggers, bladers, families, and pets filling the 6 mile course.

There were plenty of fun activities in four northeast parks that were linked by the circuit, which was opened to bikes and pedestrian traffic only from 8 AM to 2 PM. For cities planning their own Ciclovias, here are some things I liked about Portland's event: knowledgeable volunteers, lots of fun chalk messages on the ground, easy to follow directions, lots of music & entertainment, and a huge number of bike stations for bike repair.

If you've ever wondered how Aaron Naparstek and Clarence Eckerson whiled away the hours before the advent of Streetsblog and Streetfilms, here's your answer. They donned cheeseheads and Hummer suits while role-playing in support of a car-free Prospect Park. Clarence has been hanging on to this proto-Streetfilm for some time (it was shot in 2002), waiting for the right moment to spring it on us. With the push for a car-free Central Park and Prospect Park gaining steam as summer approaches, not to mention the launch of the Livable Streets Network two days ago, that time is now.

It may look silly, but this little demonstration -- together with a 10,000 signature petition drive and a 500-person town hall meeting -- helped win a significant expansion of car-free hours in Prospect Park. Before the campaign, cars had been allowed through the park 24 hours a day during the work week, from the end of October to the beginning of April. Afterward, cars were only allowed into the park during the morning and evening rush.

So, who says the glory days of car-free park rallies are over? A few more events like this could provide just the push advocates need to get a car-free trial for both parks this summer.

Nearly 500 people braved the mid-90s heat yesterday to take part in the inaugural Tour de Queens, and Steetfilms' Clarence Eckerson was there to document the occasion.

In addition to discovering the borough's best bike shop, viewers will see Congressman Anthony Weiner, stalwart defender of car commuters, deliver the following message of support to the crowd of cyclists:

We still have to make this city a much more bike-friendly town. For every ten dollars we spend for transportation in this city, nine dollars and 30 cents goes to moving cars around, and the other 70 cents is to help pedestrians and bike riders. We need to change that.

Clarence reports that, for a moment at least, he felt like he'd been put on equal footing with drivers. It may be a small step, but this newfound attentiveness to directional signage for cyclists sure beats bent over pedestrian safety signs, and hard-to-spot share-the-road signs.

In the second installment of his "Street Transformations" series (here's the first), Clarence Eckerson shows the progress underway at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza. The package of pedestrian and bicycle improvements you see in the video was first unveiled by DOT last spring. Says Clarence:

As one gentleman said to me while admiring the new greenery and traffic islands in Grand Army Plaza, “Wow, sometimes government does work!” It’s easy to quickly forget how things were, but we here at Streetfilms aim to not let that happen. Check out these extraordinary before/afters; especially the new separated bike lane which safely transports riders from Prospect Park.

How'd we get here? Check out: Grand Army Traffic Survey, Reclaiming Grand Army, Minding the GAP.

What's next for this iconic public space? Some ideas are sure to surface from the Re-inventing Grand Army Plaza competition, which is set to review proposals this month.

Over 2,000 cyclists enjoyed a picture perfect Tour de Brooklyn on Saturday. Of course, Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson was in the thick of it:

This year’s event was moved a week early to coincide with the anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge’s 125th birthday. Among the highlights of the jaunt was a ride thru the Evergreen Cemetery and a very rare visit behind the gates of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

If you haven’t seen, we also have the 2006 & 2007 TdBk campaigns up on the site as well as monster coverage of many Bike Month events here and here. Happy Riding!

After taking an evening ride down Broadway in Williamsburg last week, Clarence Eckerson sent us a batch of pictures showing the street's nifty new road treatments. Between Kent Avenue and Bedford Avenue, Broadway now sports bike lanes, bike boxes, and pedestrian refuges with space for plantings. The changes have significantly narrowed the car travel lanes, Clarence reports. More pics after the jump.

Last time we checked in on the Columbia Street section of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway, construction was in full swing. Now, along much of the path in Carroll Gardens and Red Hook, the orange barrels are gone and new plantings are taking root. Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson snapped these shots last week, noting that about 40 new trees have been planted on Columbia between Atlantic Avenue and Degraw Street. The paths and plantings have completely changed the feel of the street, he tells us.

This section of the greenway is a "temporary" path that may be widened in the future. The current right-of-way varies between 13 and 20 feet and may expand to 30 feet, pending negotiations with the Port Authority, says Milton Puryear of the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. We have a request in to DOT to find out when this phase of construction is slated to wrap up officially. For now, enjoy more of Clarence's pics.

The view south from Atlantic Avenue. The white stripe demarcates a parking lane.

New street trees have been planted on the other side of Columbia, too.

Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson recently made the journey to Melbourne, Australia, where he found a "new world city" redesigned for people-oriented development and mobility. Writes Clarence:

Melbourne is simply wonderful. You can get lost in the nooks and crannies that permeate the city. As you walk you feel like free-flowing air with no impediments to your enjoyment. For a city with nearly 4 million people, the streets feel much like the hustle and bustle of New York City but without omnipresent danger and stress cars cause.

There is an invaluable lesson here. In the early 90s, Melbourne was hardly a haven for pedestrian life until Jan Gehl was invited there to undertake a study and publish recommendations on street improvements and public space. Ten years after the survey’s findings, Melbourne was a remarkably different place thanks to sidewalk widenings, copious tree plantings, a burgeoning cafe culture, and various types of car restrictions on some streets. Public space and art abound. And all of this is an economic boom for business.

In the film we hear from some of the prime movers in the Melbourne livable streets universe, who explain what has come about during a decade dedicated to improving the public realm. 

Here's some levity for a dreary Monday -- and an appropriate way to kick off bike month. Following up on a video from 2003, Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson recently took to the streets with bike mechanic Hal Ruzal of Bicycle Habitat, checking up on how effective city cyclists are in securing their rigs. Writes Clarence:

As with most sequels you need a new wrinkle. This time we thought we’d give Hal some company and invited former Recycle a Bicycle mechanic Kerri Martin (and founder of The Bike Church in Asbury Park, NJ) to weigh in with her expertise. Once again, bikes on the streets of SoHo provide lots of fodder for laughs and lessons to learn.

During an epic bike tour of the city yesterday that stretched from the Bronx to Brooklyn, StreetFilms' Clarence Eckerson, Jr. took these shots of the future site of Brooklyn Bridge Park. The Brooklyn Greenway, which received a vote of confidence from Community Board 1 on Tuesday, will run through the park along the edge of the pier. The demolished structures on the right were still standing when Clarence shot this video last year, documenting a tour of the Greenway's path.

Says Clarence: "Made me realize with all the sadness of congestion pricing failing, there IS plenty of great stuff going on in the city."

A tighter shot comes after the jump.