Streetsblog New York City

This November ‘toon from Ward Sutton, who skewers conventional editorial cartooning for The Onion, hits all the notes — the myth of cyclist privilege, the disparity between the amount of space allotted to cars vs. other modes, and the waste and helplessness that comes with sitting in traffic. The coup de grâce of Sutton’s “Kelly” panels has got to be the cartoonist “self-portrait,” breaking the fourth wall with a pithy bon mot. Also note the Statue of Liberty, crying as cyclists whiz by.

Take that, Bill Bramhall.

This XtraNormal animation from the folks at StrongTowns expertly picks apart the logic underpinning car-centric street design and planning. I saw it and felt compelled to revive our weekly cartoon feature after an extended hiatus. It clocks in at more than eight minutes, which allows the sense of dread to creep up on you gradually. There’s also a shorter version if you have a YouTube-era attention span.

Sometimes it takes an outsider's perspective to see things clearly. So what would an extra-terrestrial think of humankind's dependence on fossil fuels? In light of the devastation being unleashed off the shores of the Gulf states, cartoonist and recent Pulitzer recipient Mark Fiore files this brilliant summation of the absurdly self-destructive lengths we earthlings go to for our "lizard squeezins."

This project takes the spirit of intersection repair to new heights. You're looking at the Elevado Costa e Silva, a two-mile stretch of 1970s-vintage elevated highway in the middle of gridlocked Sao Paulo, Brazil. It's known informally as the minhocão ("giant worm"), and according to local blog Inside Sao Paulo, a project to remove the structure is on hold despite some form of support from the City Council. For now, the minhocão is closed to traffic on Sundays, when it opens to the public for ciclovia-style recreation.

About a week ago, local artist Felipe Morozini organized this massive pavement-painting endeavor, covering a swath of the minhocão with 75 enormous flowers (more pictures here). Unlike your usual pavement paintings and intersection repairs, which calm traffic by adding a layer of intrigue to existing spaces, the Sao Paulo paintjob feels like an assertion of what else could spring to life if the highway disappeared.

So, who wants to lay down a work of art on the Sheridan Expressway?

They're not super heroes per se, but in the livable streets universe, David Byrne, Janette Sadik-Khan and Paul Steely White are about as close as they come. You can catch them tonight at a free panel called "Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around" at the Union Square Barnes & Noble at 7 p.m.

Speaking of livable streets super heroes: any ideas? Bikeman? Woonerf Woman? Livable Streets League?

After reading about a new Pew Poll that found 88 percent of Americans believe they can't live without a car, I couldn't help thinking of this cartoon from John Akre -- who also gave us Cars for Hats. Car dependence has never looked so terrifying.

Today's toon combo comes to us via the Times' By Design blog, where Allison Arieff has posted a paean to Steven M. Johnson, an inventor, author, cartoonist and former urban planner described by Arieff as "a sort of R. Crumb meets R. Buckminster Fuller." Many of Johnson's "whimsical musings" are transportation related, and at least one of them (which Johnson called the "Treadaround") has become reality.

As for auto abandonment zones and the bike vest (seen after the jump), we'll keep our eyes peeled. 

From the cutting-off-one's-nose-to-spite-one's-face department comes this nonetheless impressive song and video excoriating the MTA (a.k.a. "Money-Taking Assholes") and calling on transit riders to "start jumping the gates." But there's more to the message than misguided MTA bashing, as "the fuck-ups in Albany" -- Ruben Diaz, Sr., Pedro Espada and Carl Kruger, specifically -- get their due.

Just goes to show that there's plenty of anger out there over the MTA funding fiasco, and that much of it could use some constructive channeling. Again, today's Union Square rally would be a good place to start. Maybe signs flashing across TV screens and tabloid pages naming state senators (whomever they may be) would finally get the fuck-ups' Albany's attention.

If you're in need of a little comic relief today, try this seemingly subversive pro-jaywalking message from the Muppets.

This past weekend, Livable Streets Education teamed up with educators at the New York Transit Museum to teach families about the past, present, and future of New York City’s streets. With help from their parents, kids designed their own "livable streets" to improve conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders. 

The kids also made some pretty fantastic buses out of recycled materials, complete with riders, drivers, wheels, windows, and decorations that would look stunning on the genuine article. We even saw a few double-deckers and articulated buses.

If you missed out this weekend, there are more chances to join in coming up in the summer. Look for us leading similar workshops at the arts room of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan on Sunday, July 19.

After the jump: an articulated, double-decker butterfly bus.