Streetsblog New York City

Streetfilms contributor Nicholas Whitaker files this report from Chicago, which put on a pair of major car-free events last month called Sunday Parkways. Recently Streetfilms has also covered car-free events in New York, Portland and San Francisco, and like the Summer Streets video, this one features a guest turn from Gil Peñalosa, one of the masterminds behind Bogotá's inspirational Ciclovía.

Summer Streets may be getting most of the attention lately, but New York isn't the only US city opening its streets to public use. On a recent visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Streetfilms contributor Nick Whitaker captured two car-free events happening at once.

First, the Brady Street Festival, which has roots going back to the 1970s, was recently revived. Brady Street Festival is a car-free event featuring delicious fare from award winning Wisconsin cheese makers and organic seasonal treats, live music, crafts, beer, and a camel ride!

A short distance away is the Downer Ave Race, celebrating its 40th anniversary. Bicycle racers have chosen it frequently as one of the top races in the U.S., according to VeloNews. More than 12,000 people attend the race each year to enjoy the music, food, and fun that make this event a great neighborhood party that lasts long after the races are over.

Every year, on the Sunday closest to Bastille Day, Brooklyn bistro Bar Tabac helps put on one of the city's finest car-free events, turning two blocks of Smith Street into a neighborhood party. As restaurants take over sidewalks with café seating and shady tents, the center of the street transforms into a sandy arena for a tourney of Pétanque (bocce's French cousin). Streetfilms' Nick Whitaker caught the festivities yesterday, with the Open Planning Project's Nick Grossman guiding the way and Bar Tabac's Christophe Chambers explaining what goes into the event. Says Whitaker:

It's not just the action and attraction of the tournament that makes it special. People lounge about, eat great culinary delights, kids skateboard, friends play foosball, and listen to great music -- the kinds of things that we need to happen more to make the sometimes hectic, noisy streets of NYC more palatable. If livable streets advocates are looking for a good model of what draws people to an event, look no further.

Nick Whitaker files this first in a series of Streetfilms on transportation for Streetsblog Los Angeles. Here, we hear from LA City Council Member Wendy Greuel, Director of LA County Regional Transit Planning Rex Gephardt, and Executive Director of the Transit Coalition, Bart Reed, on how the city's burgeoning Bus Rapid Transit system can be a stepping stone to expanding future transportation choices.

Don't forget Tuesday's BRT event at the Bronx Botanical Garden, where DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan will be joined by international experts in discussing the benefits of Bus Rapid Transit throughout the boroughs.

Ethan Kent of Project for Public Spaces recently returned from a trip to Havana with a trove of pictures, cut together in this Streetfilm by Nick Whitaker. Whatever changes are in store for the country in the wake of Fidel Castro's departure from power, these images make clear that the dense, flourishing street life of the capital city is one thing worth preserving. Here's how Ethan puts it:

If children playing in the streets is an indicator of the success of a city, then Havana’s streets may be some of the most successful in the world...

It's not anything to glorify. It's not an ideal city... But at the same time, I think Havana streets are a window into some of what we've lost in New York and around the world.

Inspired by a previous Streetfilm from Portland, Oregon, filmmaker Nicholas Whitaker decided to answer the challenge and bring you, "Bike Move Too." When his girlfriend Jes Schultz was priced out of her Fort Greene Brooklyn apartment, they decided to call a few friends with bikes and move her out, futon and all, to a new apartment in Crown Heights.

And here's a Streetfilm for the snow day, too.

Streetsblog editor Aaron Naparstek and StreetFilms' Nick Whitaker hit the intersection of Atlantic, Flatbush and Fourth Avenues Thursday morning to see what a "Gridlock Alert Day" looks like at one of New York City's most congested intersections.

After about 25 interviews with drivers it became pretty clear that if City Hall truly wants to reduce traffic congestion during the holiday season, it needs to do a whole lot more than just say, "Hey, everybody it's a Gridlock Alert!" 

What might the City do instead of issuing futile alerts? Here's one idea from London that seems to be working pretty well.

We're a bit heavy on bike stuff today (especially considering that all eyes should be on the MTA right now) but following this morning's bleak news in Brooklyn, I thought it would be nice to end the day on a more life-affirming note. Here is Nick Whitaker's StreetFilm on the first annual Kids Art Bike Ride For the Lower East Side.

Hosted by the East Village Community Coalition in cooperation with Transportation Alternatives, Recycle-A-Bicycle, Bike New York, the Lower East Side Girls Club and a slew of other groups, Saturday's 30-minute bike parade rolled through the East Village and down Second Avenue.

The event was clearly a lot of fun and it also gave New Yorkers a glimpse of what a more equitable distribution of street space might look like. For me, the event also drove home just how much we've lost in ceding our city to the automobile over these past decades. It's kind of remarkable that the only conceivable way young kids can ride bikes on the streets of Manhattan is if a slew of local parents, community groups and politicians organize a special day for it.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer was on-hand for the event. Stringer has quietly emerged as the New York City elected official who speaks the most frequently -- and the most passionately -- on Livable Streets issues. You get the sense that he personally cares about this stuff. It means something to him. On Saturday, he said:

We have to create a level playing field and the way to do that is to keep cars out of Manhattan, create parks, create asthma centers, get people on bikes. Let’s create an environment where our children will live longer, be healthy, and do better in school because they will conquer the environment.

Last week, the LOOK campaign, which aims to prevent collisions between motorists and cyclists by educating the public about bicycle safety, was launched in Union Square. In an unprecedented collaboration, the NYC Bicycle Coalition, the City Departments of Transportation, Health & Police, the NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission, the Triple AAA, and the Office of the Public Advocate all endorsed the campaign.

StreetFilms Nick Whitaker covered last Tuesday's press conference at Union Square.

Paint a Parking Lot, Put Up a Paradise
A StreetFilm by Nick Whitaker
Running time: 2:45

StreetFilms has some excellent video coverage of the Dept. of Transportation's launch of its Public Plaza Initiative in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood last week. The before-and-after images are particularly compelling.

What once nothing more than a parking lot and illegal dump has become a green oasis complete with chairs, tables, umbrellas and sculptures by local artists. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan calls the space, "a new living room for the neighborhood."