Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer is one of Capitol Hill's strongest voices for walking, biking and transit. Soon after arriving in Congress in 1996, he started the Congressional Bike Caucus, now more than 160 members strong, and he's the founding chairman of the House's new "Livable Communities Task Force," which he announced two weeks ago here on Streetsblog.

Blumenauer's bike commute to the Capitol has become as much a personal hallmark as his predilection for bowties. So when he came to New York this weekend to stump for a progressive federal transportation bill, the congressman didn't pass up the chance to tour our city's evolving bike infrastructure with Paul Steely White and Noah Budnick of Transportation Alternatives. Clarence Eckerson and his camera were there too, of course.

Watch this Streetfilm to hear Blumenauer's thoughts on the big federal transportation bill, the emergence of a national movement for safe biking and walking, and the difference between protected bike lanes and regular old Class 2 facilities. Then ask yourself: When will we get to see a rep from New York City walk, bike, or ride the bus with Clarence?

A hot topic on Streetsblog the past few weeks has been the massive numbers of pedestrians and cyclists using the Brooklyn Bridge walkway during rush hours and weekends. Since many folks don't have the chance to experience the promenade day-in and day-out, I decided to capture the conditions on a recent ride home from work.

I shot all the footage you see here in about half an hour, starting at 4:15 p.m. -- it doesn't even show rush hour, when there are usually far more cyclists. I would say these scenes capture typical conditions on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., as long as it's not rainy.

So, you can see the Brooklyn Bridge promenade is popular. Which is good! It's a wonderful place to experience the city and an important transportation link for many New Yorkers. But all those commutes, workouts, and sightseeing expeditions are increasingly uncomfortable for pedestrians and cyclists. Ten years ago I would have been amazed to see this many people using the walkway. Today, the Brooklyn Bridge promenade needs some relief.

Clarence recently dug up a few unused nuggets from last year's junket to Melbourne, Australia. Watch and see how curbside space in residential neighborhoods has been repurposed for plantings that double as traffic calming treatments. Whatever red tape they had to hack through to plant trees in the roadbed, not just on the sidewalk, they've hacked through it in Melbourne. Have to say, though, the trees planted in the bike lane (or the bike lane painted around the trees) had me scratching my head.

Bike lanes: In some cities people are so desperate for them they'll go so far as to mark their own. Here in New York City, it feels like every time I get on my bike there is a new bike lane -- sometimes on the left, sometimes buffered, and sometimes completely separated from automobile traffic.

I recently had the opportunity to go for a ride with the NYC DOT bicycle boys, who explained the classes of bike lanes and showed off some of these inventive facilities.

Cars blocking crosswalks, drivers failing to yield to pedestrians, unnecessary honking -- New Yorkers have to contend with these violations every day on nearly every corner in the city.

As Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton says in this Streetfilm, most drivers are not bad or mean people, but few seem to realize how their conduct behind the wheel inconveniences and endangers pedestrians. It's a level of rudeness and carelessness that we tend not to tolerate in other spheres of life, especially when you consider the risks involved in piloting a multi-ton vehicle. New Yorkers can get brusque or nasty on the subway, but you rarely see straphangers engage in behavior that poses an immediate danger to the people around them. So what is it about driving a car that lets people disregard the safety of others?

With all the remarkable recent livable streets improvements in New York, it's no surprise the tenth annual Walk21 Conference chose our city for its host digs. Visitors and attendees salivated over new pedestrian infrastructure and public spaces, including tours of the recently opened High Line and a special visit to the soon-to-be-restored High Bridge. Featuring a plethora of speakers, design charrettes and walking workshops, the three-day event drew experts from the UK, Austria, Japan, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Italy, and Australia, among other places.

We were able to speak with the organizers as well as conference registrants, and also got a chance to chat with headliners such as Jan Gehl, Janette Sadik-Khan, Kristina Alvendal (Vice Mayor of Stockholm), and Gil Peñalosa (Walk and Bike for Life, Ontario) about the future of walking and the vital importance of this conference in inspiring world leaders.

We just love when we hear Streetfilms motivational stories from around the globe. Our latest report comes out of Boulder, Colorado.

Last year, I traveled there for four days to document the city's League of American Bicyclists Platinum Status. As is usual on one of these trips, we try to designate one night for a screening of Streetfilms, and nearly 100 people turned out to an event graciously hosted by local bike shop Full Cycle.

One of the films we screened was Portland's "Intersection Repair." A few days ago I received an email from Cara Priem, who thanked us for the event. "I was in attendance," she wrote, "and was inspired by your 'Intersection Repair' video to do the same thing in our Boulder neighborhood."

As reported by The Daily Camera, that neighborhood is Martin Acres, in south Boulder, where residents painted a 30' by 30' street mural a few weekends ago.

This is what Streetfilms is all about: trying to inspire, educate, entertain, and inform through the medium of video, and providing a resource for cities to see what others are doing better. If you'd like to arrange a Streetfilms showing in your city and have a venue, just drop us a line at info@streetfilms.org.

Finally, another Boulder news item. I just checked out a new film called "Boulder Bike Story," put together by Mathew Barlow of Bikes Belong, which contained a startling fact: In 2008, Boulder devoted 46 percent of its transportation budget to bikes, transit and pedestrians. If more cities were doing that kind of funding split, we could solve a lot of problems fast.

In New York City, about 80 percent of kids walk to school. This is amazingly high compared to the national average of about 13 percent.

On October 7, over 40 countries celebrated International Walk to School Day. Livable Streets Education and the National Center for Safe Routes to School hosted a walk to school celebration in Washington Square Park in conjunction with the Walk 21 Conference.

After students participated in activities promoting better urban mobility, Gil Penalosa spoke to the students and beatbox master Rahzel performed. Check it out.

The debut Streetfilms Shortie caught an errant scooter blocking a bike lane. This time it's New York's Finest, camped out in the Manhattan Bridge bike path at Canal and Chrystie.

A half-step forward, two steps back.

You've been asking for more ways to get your Streetfilms fix, and now you've got 'em.

In addition to now posting all of our new films directly to YouTube, we've started podcasting on iTunes and Miro, making it easy to enjoy the latest and greatest from Streetfilms just about anywhere. Currently, our top 25 films are available for download and we're working on getting the entire Streetfilms collection up pronto.

In other exciting news, Streetfilms is Twittering away, keeping you up to date on where we are and what we're working on. Follow us and you'll get instant notification about our latest films and ways you can contribute.

And via Twitter, you'll also get instant access to our newest creation: "Streetfilms Shorties." These are little fun bits of video -- sometimes just one shot, never longer than a minute -- we may have captured while out and about that doesn't yield a full traditional Streetfilm, but are intriguing. These shorts will only appear on our YouTube account and we'll immediately Tweet them. Wanna see our first stab? Check it out above.

Finally, we'll have some very exciting news in mid-October concerning the Streetfilms site as a whole. So stay tuned.

Chalk up more bikeway innovation to the folks at the NYC Department of Transportation. Nearly complete, the Sands Street approach to the Manhattan Bridge is now safer and more enjoyable thanks to a New York City first: a center-median, two-way protected bike path. The facility is a perfect solution to counter the dangers posed by a tangle of roads and highway on-ramps that burden the area. Dramatic before-and-afters tell the delicious story.

We'll also take you back into the archives to April 2005, when, following a severe injury to Transportation Alternatives' Noah Budnick, advocates held a passionate rally asking Mayor Bloomberg to not only improve bike access to the Manhattan Bridge, but to all East River bridges. Four years later, there's much to be proud of. As DOT Assistant Commissioner for Traffic Management Ryan Russo points out, back in 2005 about 800 cyclists used the bridge daily. In 2009, those numbers have soared to over 2,600. That gives us a serious case of happiness.

Although there is undoubtedly an amazing streets renaissance going on in NYC, there still remain places in dire need of improvement. Every workday, heavily-used areas like the blocks surrounding Penn Station are overwhelmed with pedestrians making their way home via buses, subways, the Long Island Railroad and Amtrak. The sidewalks are so clogged by this "crush of humanity" that people are forced to walk in the streets. If you've never seen it, or if you're claustrophobic, get ready.

Open Planning Project Executive Director Mark Gorton recently went out to sample the atmosphere on a typical weekday evening and posits that we can do much better in how we choose to allocate street space. His words sum it up nicely:

The reason it's so crowded here is not because there's not enough space. It's because we give all of our space to the least spatially-efficient form of transportation available. 

Of course he is referring to the automobile -- especially the single-occupant vehicle. Oddly enough, I did a PSA over three years ago which aired during our New York City Streets Renaissance campaign launch. I filmed most of it in the same location. It still looks much the same, perhaps worse.

For many American cities, 2009 marks the second time around for car-free events modeled after Bogotá's Ciclovía. In San Francisco, like New York, last year's innovation is this year's tradition, as you'll see in this Streetfilm from John Hamilton:

Despite a blanket of fog, the last San Francisco Sunday Streets of 2009 was, from all accounts, a smashing success, one of the most popular so far, with thousands of people enjoying four activity-filled hours of pristine car-free space through Golden Gate Park and the Great Highway. Kids, families, bicyclists, skaters, dancers, and even the MTA Chief Nat Ford came out to enjoy the car-free zone.

Don't miss the Fun Cycle, also known as the Conference Bike, which is like an all-ages version of the beer bike.

This past Saturday, New York City DOT and partners kicked off the second year of Summer Streets, a six-hour car-free event stretching from 72nd Street to the Brooklyn Bridge. DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan estimated that twice as many people visited the route compared to the first Summer Streets event last year.

If you missed this installment of Summer Streets, don't worry: You have two more chances to experience the car-free bliss, on August 15 and 22.

Unless my Mac dashboard weather widget is deceiving me (and it's been known to), tomorrow should be a gorgeous day for the debut of Summer Streets 2009. Here's a look back at last year's fun, care of Streetfilms, to whet your appetite.

Earlier today, Lily Bernheimer posted a nice rundown of related goings-on tomorrow in the Livable Streets Community. And if you can make it, start the weekend off right this evening with a ride on the city's newest cycling amenity, the Sands Street separated bike lane.

Enjoy.

People all around New York City have been sighting the Zozo. So it's no surprise that a special guest showed up to help NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan invite New Yorkers to enjoy Summer Streets 2009 (on August 8, 15, and 22).

Have you seen the Zozo?

Biking Rules, the new campaign organized by Transportation Alternatives, is sponsoring a video and photo PSA competition. Submissions are now being accepted for two categories in the competition: "Why Biking Rules!" and "The Biking Rules Street Code."

The Biking Rules campaign outlines several ways to lead by example when riding your bicycle. So, with a little inspiration from an old Bike Snob NYC post, I made this PSA addressing one of the street codes called "Ride Right" -- meaning, ride in the direction of traffic. It is simply safer for everyone on the street.

Take a look and then go out and make an even fancier PSA. If watching mine is not inspiring enough, it looks like you can win up to $4000, a bike and some other goodies. For contest details and submission information, visit BikingRules.org/PSA.

When New York City opened up new pedestrian zones in the heart of Midtown this summer, naysayers predicted a traffic nightmare. Nearly two months later, we're still waiting for the much-feared Carmaggedon.

In this video, Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton takes us on a tour of Broadway's car-free squares and boulevard-style blocks, where conditions have improved dramatically for pedestrians, cyclists, and, yes, delivery truck drivers. As Mark says, the counterintuitive truth is that taking away space for cars can improve traffic while making the city safer and more enjoyable for everyone on foot. There are sound theories that help explain why this happens -- concepts like traffic shrinkage and Braess's paradox which are getting more and more attention thanks to projects like this one. While traffic statistics are still being collected by NYCDOT, there's already a convincing argument that Midtown streets are functioning better than before: To understand it, just take a walk down Broadway.

Ever heard an anti-idling rap? Or Seen the "Funky Pollution Dance?" Tune in to this video to see what Livable Streets Education students are up to at MS 51 in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Every year, vehicular violence claims the lives of about 300 New Yorkers and injures thousands more. But even in cases where victims die, drivers are often allowed to get right back behind the wheel as long as they are sober, licensed, and remain at the scene.

A large part of the responsibility for deterring deadly driving lies with New York’s district attorneys. With the campaign to succeed Robert Morgenthau as Manhattan’s top prosecutor heating up, the next DA will have the opportunity to keep streets safer by holding reckless drivers more accountable.

Last month, Transportation Alternatives and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law organized a forum on traffic justice for the three Democratic DA candidates: Richard Aborn, Cyrus Vance, and Leslie Crocker Snyder (who could not attend and sent a top staffer, Richard Socarides, in her stead). Streetfilms used footage of the debate to compile this selection of highlights. Watch and find out how each candidate pledges to deter dangerous driving if elected. As TA’s Peter Goldwasser said after the Q&A, “Once one of you is in office, we’ll remind you of the things you said today.”