Streetsblog New York City

Worst City Agency: Aching to build a huge parking deck but don't have enough cash? The NYC Economic Development Corporation is here to help. This quasi-public agency's predilection for financing suburban-style development was on full display in 2009. Two EDC specials held grand openings: The Gateway Center Mall on the South Bronx waterfront, with its 2,800 parking spots and atrocious walkways; and East River Plaza, a big-box retail complex with a 1,248-car garage hulking beside the FDR Drive in Harlem. These are utterly hostile environments for anyone who doesn't get around in a car, subsidized by taxpayers and located in neighborhoods with very high asthma rates. How does it all fit with PlaNYC and the vision of a more sustainable city? It doesn't. Not one bit.

Biggest Disappointment: Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. When it comes to violent crime, Kelly's police department is still getting impressive results. The murder rate reached a historic low this year despite a force that's shrunk by 6,000 officers since 2001. Kelly has publicly resolved to do more with less and drive the murder rate down further. Out in the street, it's a totally different story. Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are trending up, while reckless motorists remain free to speed, run lights, and endanger other people with near total impunity. But you never hear Kelly resolve to reduce the hundreds of traffic deaths in New York City each year.
Do police need more enforcement cameras or more manpower to reduce the rate of traffic violations and make streets safe? Kelly gave no indication that he's considered the question, even when presented with evidence that many New Yorkers fear venturing out to walk or bike because of traffic hazards. Life-threatening motorist mayhem can be tamed, but not if New York's top cop can't even admit it's a problem.

Elected Official of the Year: If we based this award on good deeds, we'd give it to outgoing Brooklyn City Council Member David Yassky, who shepherded the Bicycle Access Bill through some tumultuous turns. But this award is really about who best embodied the legislative spirit of 2009. The undisputed champion: State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada.

He foiled New York City's best chance for an adequately financed transit system. His taxpayer-funded health care clinic maintained a sizable fleet of gas guzzlers and SUVs as the state budget imploded. He temporarily abandoned his party and brought the governance of New York State to a grinding halt. And he did it all while driving home to his estate in suburban Mamaroneck on many a night, not his Bronx district, where more than 71 percent of households are car-free and where the law requires him to reside. The kicker? Despite tearing the last vestiges of Senate Democrats' dignity to shreds, he probably won't even face a challenger from the Bronx Democratic establishment in the 2010 primary. Pedro Espada, you are Streetsblog's Elected Official of 2009.

Read more...

Here's the first slate of winners in our annual binge of award-giving, the Streetsies. You may want to review the people's choice poll results before diving in. We'll be rolling out two more installments before the new year and resuming our regular publishing schedule on Monday, January 4. Enjoy...

Biggest Livable Streets Victory: 2009 will probably go down as a year with more than one watershed moment for livable streets in New York City. On the campaign trail, the next Manhattan District Attorney, Cy Vance, pledged to get serious about deterring reckless, deadly behavior behind the wheel. Implications for street safety could be huge. In City Hall, bike commuters won a legislative victory that had proved elusive for more than a decade. By ushering the Bicycle Access Law through City Council -- over objections from the powerful real estate lobby, don't forget -- bike advocates, bill sponsor David Yassky, and the Bloomberg administration gave a leg up to New Yorkers who want to ride to work without worrying about bike thieves.

But for sheer visceral impact, nothing topped the transformation of Times Square, Herald Square and Broadway. Midtown's new pedestrian spaces are street reclamation writ large -- acres of iconic urban space converted from vehicle lanes to public plazas. It's the kind of bold project that urban planning visionaries had counseled for ages, but which no mayor or DOT commissioner had the chutzpah to pull off until now.

Will it be permanent? We'll find out soon enough. What mattered more in 2009 was that the sweeping changes on Broadway got people talking about our streets and how we use them. While some members of the press are still freaking out and issuing nativist screeds against the enjoyment of public space by the great unwashed, most New Yorkers have decided that this new, more humane version of Midtown is their kind of place.

Best Pedestrian Project: The Times Square plazas are a shoo-in for this category, right? In our people's choice poll, apparently so: The new Times Square captured more than 70 percent of the vote -- more than any other winner. But let's take a closer look at the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project. In terms of permanent, concrete-pouring sidewalk expansion, it's got the upper hand. After years of advocacy and an agonizingly slow trip through the city's construction bureaucracy gauntlet, this project improved safety at dozens of intersections in neighborhoods overrun by car commuters taking advantage of free East River bridges. In some places, the effect on the quality of public space is quite palpable.

So it was a tough call. In the end, the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project nabs the runner-up position. Turning one axis of the crossroads of the world into a street for walking, socializing, and snowball fighting takes the top spot. Times Square is a completely different place for the 350,000-plus office workers, theater-goers, and, yes, tourists who walk there every day. And it's all the more potent because of those oft-maligned visitors from out of town. After a visit to the new Times Square, they're heading back home to the Omahas and Jacksonvilles of the nation with a different perspective on what an American city can be.

Read more...

Streetsblog is about to go dark for the holiday, so we've got something that will hopefully keep you satisfied until Monday. Polls. Lots of polls.

The last thing we publish every year is the Streetsies, our final burst of awards and commentary. This time we're adding a "people's choice" wrinkle. The voting is open in six categories until Sunday at midnight. Then we'll see how the popular will compares to the stuffy editors' picks. If you've got a write-in candidate for any category, tell us about it in the comments. Many thanks to tech director Chris Abraham for getting the polls up and running.

Next week we'll be back with our year-end wrap, and Streetsblog will return to our regular publishing schedule on Monday, January 4. In the meantime, you might also get a kick out of these pictures.

Best Spontaneous Livable Streets Moment: Joyous New Yorkers take to the streets to celebrate Barack Obama's victory.

Movement of the Year: This year we saw cities across the U.S competing to run the first, biggest and best Bogota-style Ciclovia events. San Francisco debuted Sunday Streets (after local activists sat Mayor Gavin Newsom down in front of Streetfilms' Ciclovia video and sold him on the idea), Portland and Chicago both called it Sunday Parkways, in south Florida it was Bike Miami and, of course, New York City experienced the phenomenal Summer Streets.

Best International Transportation Concept: The huge success of Paris's Velib has made it so that if you are a big city mayor and you want to be considered "green" you've got to have a public bike-sharing program in the works.

National Policy Idiots of the Year: Texas Gov. Rick Perry opens the rebuilt Katy Freeway proclaiming 18 lanes of "freedom" while Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin whip Republican crowds into a "Drill, baby, drill!" frenzy.

The Year's Most Promising National Trend: Increasing demand for transit.

Maybe There is Hope After All Award: Obama dismisses Clinton and McCain's gas tax holiday "gimmick" one week before the Indiana and North Carolina primaries and with gas prices hovering somewhere around $4 -- and people still vote for him.

Welcome to the Future Award: Atlanta motorists used Twitter to locate service stations that haven't run out of gasoline.

Most Inexplicably Popular Streetfilm: "Hal (and Kerri) Grade Your Bike Locking." It's a smash hit with 24,000 views since being posted at the end of April...

Simplest, Cheapest, Best Bike Infrastructure Idea: Portland's bike corral.

Best Use of Bicycles in Television Advertising: Regions Bank, Kaiser Permanente and FreeCreditReport.com. 

Best Livable Streets Rap Video: "Bikes on Board" by Louisville, Kentucky bus mechanic and m.c. Mr. Theo and his back-up singers, the TARCettes. 

Best Public Service Video: Transport for London's "Awareness Test."

America's Baddest Livable Streets Activists: Los Angeles's Crimanimalz. It turns out the 405 and Interstate 10 are somewhat practical bike routes during rush hour. When is someone going to try the BQE with a camera on their helmet?

Coolest New Web App: New York City cyclists get their own online route mapping service with Ride the City.

Professional Athlete of the Year: Baltimore Orioles pitcher and regular bike commuter Jeremy Guthrie.

Most disturbing photo: Paul "The Fixie Flasher" White bikes over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Book of the Year: Tom Vanderbilt's "Traffic."

Best out-of-town Streetfilm: A Harvard student named George Zisiadis is doing some great work for Livable Streets Boston. Here's one:

Sexiest Streetfilm: Vancouver, British Columbia's "B:C:Clettes vs. Sexy Back." Watch out!

Junket of the Year: Streetfilms goes to Melbourne, Australia. Clarence loves his job.

Lifetime Achievement: Hans Monderman, engineer of livable streets, 1947-2008.

Worst City Agency: The NYPD. If they're in a good mood, they'll summons you for no apparent reason. If they're in a bad mood, they'll body slam you off your bike. They drive recklessly through city parks in their off-duty hours and park their vehicles in bus lanes, bike lanes -- pretty much wherever they want. If you're hit by a car while walking or biking in New York City? Don't waste their time. If you're still breathing, they're not interested. If you're dead, they'll probably just call it an "accident." Maybe they'll even blame you after taking witness testimony from no one else but the driver of the vehicle that killed you.

NIMBY of the Year: All in all, it was a tough year for the not-in-my-backyard crowd. Despite their occasional protests, New York City's streets and neighborhoods continued to improve for pedestrians, cyclists and bus. Still, there were some standouts:

Manhattan Community Board 4 member Allen Roskoff wins an honorable mention for arguing that Chelsea's gay community would no longer "feel at home" on 8th Avenue because of DOT's new, separated bike path plan.

In Windsor Terrace, Randy Peers, Alvin Berk and Assemblyman Jim Brennan earn special commendation for trying to argue that routing motor vehicle traffic through Prospect Park is actually good for the environment.

City Council candidate Isaac Abraham and some members of South Williamsburg's Hasidic community also win an honorable mention for their contention that the new bike lanes on Kent Avenue -- installed with overwhelming Community Board approval following a painstakingly inclusive, decade-long community-driven process to create a Brooklyn waterfront greenway -- would bring too many scantily clad women through the neighborhood. Abraham showed the kind of leadership he'd bring to the Council when he urged his fellow motorists to harrass and endanger Williamsburg cyclists.

But the hands-down winner of our coveted NIMBY of the Year award is Sean Sweeney of the SoHo Alliance. With bike, bus and public space improvements proliferating throughout Lower Manhattan, Sweeney had a busy year trying to maintain his neighborhood's traffic-choked status quo. Though his protests of the Prince and Grand St. bike lanes have gone nowhere (thusfar), he managed to kill "the Department of Tyranny's" proposal for a car-free Prince Street weekend trial project, in part, by raising the ominous specter of neighborhood streets overrun by mimes. Well played, sir! You may disagree with Sweeney but you've got to respect him for being a hardworking neighborhood activist. He's also sporting enough to mix it up in the Streetsblog comments section. For all of that and, I'm sure, much more in 2009, Sean Sweeney (below) is our NIMBY of the Year.

Rarest Sighting: The NYPD ticketing bus lane violators on Broadway. As for the 34th Street bus lane? No such luck.

Best Transportation Policy Reporting: PBS's Blueprint America series. If only more transportation journalism received funding from the Rockefeller Foundation instead of the auto industry.

Saddest Excuse for Journalism: When it came to the two biggest transportation stories of the year -- congestion pricing and the MTA's canyon of a budget gap -- New Yorkers were not particularly well served by their local media. Of all the reporters that accepted Richard Brodsky's populist claptrap as gospel or zeroed in on $30,000 in travel perks for the MTA Board as the agency stared down a $1,200,000,000 deficit, Fox 5 reporter John Deutzman stands out. Deutzman is the brave soul who ambushed MTA chief Lee Sander while he was getting a shoe shine at Grand Central and peppered him with questions about his personal commuting habits. Just when you thought the level of discourse about MTA finances had already reached rock bottom.

Most Memorable MTA Moment: MTA Board member David Mack, a well-to-do Long Island real estate developer, essentially says that mass transit is an "inconvenience" fit for "common people" -- with a New York Times reporter in the room.

Most Disappointing City Agency: Amanda Burden and the Department of City Planning win for their laissez faire attitude on Brooklyn's "New Fourth Avenue and their near total lack of attention to parking policy, particularly in Hell's Kitchen.

Most Schizophrenic Bloomberg Administration Moment: Three months after his transportation agency rolled out its Sustainable Streets plan, Mayor Bloomberg endorsed a big box store and 2,300-car garage for Manhattan's west side.

Best Policy Paper That You Probably Didn't See Because They Released it at the End of August: Suburbanizing the City, Transportation Alternatives report studying the impact of off-street parking requirements on traffic congestion. Conclusion: "If New York City maintains current parking policies, the traffic generated by the addition of new off-street spaces will likely exceed a billion miles per year by 2030."

Best City Agency Strategic Plan: It's got to be the Department of Transportation's Sustainable Streets  because, as far as we know, no other city agency has a strategic plan.

Most Disappointing City Council Member: Until a few weeks ago, Bill de Blasio was a shoo-in for this category thanks to his refusal to back congestion pricing despite its promise of less traffic and cleaner air for his predominantly car-free constituents. But Alan Gerson made a last-minute surge, taking the lead when word surfaced that he would introduce a bill to give "Council and Community input into street reconfigurations." Gerson had been known to at least show up for a photo-op in support of bike and pedestrian improvements, but has now apparently cast his lot with a livable streets backlash driven by Lower Manhattan's NIMBY contingent.

Bureaucrat of the Year: In just a year-and-a-half, Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has transformed New York City's Department of Transportation into the envy of city transportation agency officials across the country (OK, maybe Portland, Oregon where the former DOT commissioner was elected mayor isn't envious). In this Streetfilm, Sadik-Khan shows off and explains some of the most recent developments...

Activist of the Year: With so many outstanding livable streets advocacy projects popping up across New York City, it's hard to single out just one community activist for praise. Transportation Alternatives' Queens Committee Chair Mike Heffron did a great job in 2008 organizing activities and drumming up support for livable streets in a borough where it can often be tough to find allies.

Teresa Toro wins a big honorable mention for helping to organize this summer's Williamsburg Walks event, for winning approval for Community Board DOT's Kent Avenue bike lanes and for her years of hard work as chair of CB1's transportation committee. Working on a Community Board can be a thankless task and Teresa did it well.

This year's winner is Florent Morellet. Proprietor of the recently closed Meatpacking District restaurant that bore his name, Florent was a key instigator and steward of the Gansevoort Plaza project, a leading voice for the protected bike paths on 8th and 9th Avenues, an eloquent defender of the Grand Street bike lane and an important behind-the-scenes political player, in general. Even as he was being priced out of his restaurant of 23 years (rent was going to jump from $6,000/month to $50,000!), Florent continued to work to make his neighborhood and his city better for pedestrians, cyclists and, unfortunately, landlords too.

Favorite Streetsblog Commenter: There's a real glut of worthy candidates for this honor, but we're giving it to "Marty Barfowitz." The deciding factor? It could be the consistently insightful, pull-no-punches mini-essays on topics such as NIMBY opposition to bike lanes and the State Assembly's culpability for killing congestion pricing. Or it could be the pseudonym that appeals to both our outer political cynic and our inner eight-year-old.

Most Effective LSN Member: Honorable mention goes to Dave "Paco" Abraham, whose achievements in 2008 included a successful one-man lobbying effort to sell Duane Reade on the benefits of bike racks. The top spot belongs to Susan Donovan (below), who could be spotted drumming up support for Amtrak funding in a widely read Daily Kos diary, and, in an impressive media coup, leading NY1 through the automobile-clogged sidewalks near Yankee Stadium on game day -- proof that livable streets advocacy and local TV news are a great match.

Best Lenswork: Goes to Jacob-uptown for his photographic documentation of conditions on New York City sidewalks, bike lanes, and bus routes, the best of a bumper crop submitted to the Streetsblog Flickr pool this year.

Best LSN Group: With 47 members, LSN's Inwood and Washington Heights Livable Streets group is doing a great job of making use of our online organizing tools. Let's hope that 2009 brings a redesigned Dyckman Street and some new Community Board members to northern Manhattan.

Most Weirdly Effective and Totally Accidental Online Advocacy Effort: State Farm pulled one of its TV advertisements from the air after a Streetsblog-incited Internet mob told them that their attitude towards bike commuting needed a major adjustment. Here's a description of the ad. And here's State Farm's response. 

Best Advocacy Campaign: Michael O'Loughlin and the crew at M+R win a huge honorable mention for the Campaign for New York's Future. Though they weren't able to bring congestion pricing across the finish line in Albany, the Campaign put together an unprecedented coalition of business, labor, environmental, public health, religious and community groups and won approval for congestion pricing in City Council, something that many said would be impossible.

Honorable mention also goes to Joan Byron and Brad Lander at the Pratt Center for Community Development for their Transportation Equity Project. The idea of bringing together lower income communities to advocate for better bus service is an absolute no-brainer. But no one was doing it until Joan and Brad stepped in to fill the void.

The winners are the Prospect Park Youth Advocates because no other advocacy campaign employed the Brooklyn Steppers Marching Band to such great effect.

Best Livable Streets Education Initiative: After fifth grader Michael Needham, Jr. was killed by a reckless, speeding motorist while riding his bicycle, P.S. 76 in the Bronx might have decided to discourage students from riding bikes (like this New Jersey high school principal did in May). Instead, P.S. 76 began working bike safety, skills and street awareness into its curriculum. With the help of Bike New York, P.S. 76 implemented a month-long, bike-oriented physical education program for students and their parents and even raffled off a brand new bicycle to one student -- a bold move for school administrators and a fitting tribute to Michael.

Best Celebrity Livable Streets Endorsement: Step aside David Byrne. It's Jay-Z.

Best Out-of-the-Box Transportation Policy Thinking: With regrets to Councilman Lew Fidler and his 9 CARAT STONE Plan, we're going to have to give the award to Charles Komanoff for the Kheel Plan and his Balanced Transportation Analyzer. Honorable mention goes to TOPP's own Mark Gorton, for his four-part Smart Para-Transit opus.

The Old College Try Award: Goes to Paul Newell for running a Democratic primary campaign challenge against State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. If nothing else, it forced Shelly to campaign for the first time in ages, and may have provided the nudge that pushed the Speaker to stop obstructing the traffic-reducing Gansevoort Waste Transfer Station. It'd be great to see a dozen Paul Newell's taking on State Assembly Democrats come 2010.

Biggest Setback: After being approved by an unprecedented civic coalition, the mayor and New York City Council, congestion pricing -- the one policy measure that simultaneously reduces traffic congestion while raising money for mass transit and livable streets -- died in an Albany backroom without even a vote.

Lobbyists of the Year: Walter McCaffrey and the Committee to Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free (below). It turns out New York City government is controlled by a handful of Queens Democrats, suburban state legislators and the Automobile Club of New York.

How Not to Lobby a State Legislator: Brooklyn State Senator Martin Malave Dilan's car is towed during a congestion pricing meeting with city officials.

Most Sociopathic Elected Official: Bronx State Senator Jeff Klein nearly crushes a cyclist with his black Mercedes and then tells him, "Get your hands off my car, you f*#king a55hole." Unfortunately for Sen. Klein, this particular cyclist happens to run a pretty robust media operation.

Most Disappointing Elected Officials: During the congestion pricing debate, three State Assemblymembers stood out for their enormous potential to exert leadership and their utter inability or unwillingness to do so. Deborah Glick, Joan Millman and Hakeem Jeffries all represent districts that would have overwhelmingly benefited from New York City's congestion pricing plan. Yet, Glick could only find reasons to oppose it. Millman decided she supported it -- two hours after the proposal was killed by her Democratic Assembly colleagues. And Jeffries had the gall to demand increased subway service on the G line three weeks after helping to eliminate the revenue source that might have paid for it. If only New York City were represented in the state Assembly by an aggressive, attentive, self-aggrandizing politician like...

Elected Official of the Year: You've got to hand it to Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky -- he works hard for his constituents and supporters. Unfortunately for New York City's traffic-choked neighborhoods, beleaguered transit riders and asthmatic kids, his constituents are the metropolitan region's wealthiest car commuters and his supporters own a bunch of parking garages in Manhattan. While New York City's legislators rolled over and played dead, Richard Brodsky worked his butt off to make sure that New York City's congestion pricing plan -- a plan approved by the Mayor, City Council and a state commission -- died a quiet death in the Assemly's Democratic conference. Brodsky did incredible damage to New York City in 2008 but he also showed us what effective representation in Albany might look like.

Worst Elected Official: Rochester Assemblyman and transportation committee chairman David Gantt continued his decade-long effort to deny New York City the ability to deploy automated traffic enforcement systems on its streets. He loosened up a little bit though. This year he introduced legislation that would allow counties outside of New York City to use red light cameras -- as long as they purchased the technology from a Swedish firm represented by one of his cronies. Shocking? Not really. Just another day in Albany.

Most Opinions Fewest Solutions Award: From now on, this will be called the Anthony Weiner Award.

Most Moronic Idea From Albany: State Senators Jeff Klein and Eric Adams put on their serious, fighting-for-the-people faces and proposed suspending tolls on New York City bridges and tunnels and giving drivers a $200 gas tax rebate ahead of Memorial Day weekend. Not planning to burn lots of gasoline for your summer holiday? These two have nothing for you.

We'll be back to a regular publishing schedule starting Monday, January 5. This week we'll be posting our year end awards, The Streetsies, once per day. Here's the first batch...

The Year's Best Livable Streets Project: Summer Streets. In a year of rapid and remarkable improvements in New York City's public spaces, bike lanes and bus infrastructure, the opening up of Park Avenue to pedestrians, cyclists, joggers and recreation-seekers for three consecutive Sundays in August was the livable streets movement's watershed moment. In one fell swoop, tens of thousands of New Yorkers personally experienced the benefits of reclaiming city streets from the automobile. It was really just a lot of good, healthy, inexpensive fun and Streetfilms was there...

The Year's Top Bicycle Project: New York City's bike network grew like kudzu in 2008 as DOT's hardworking team of bikeaucrats worked to surpass their 2006 mandate to produce 200 miles of new bike lanes in three years. There were so many outstanding bike projects in 2008 it's hard to single out just one. And, really, singling out one bike project is almost besides the point. Commuter cycling jumped an unprecedented 35% last year not because of any one new bike lane but because New Yorkers can now see a complete network of bike lanes filling out and taking shape on the streets around them.

Still, one project stands out as the year's most significant advance: The Grand Street bike lane. Grand Street now offers Manhattan's first crosstown protected bike path. It's a design that can be replicated on many New York City streets. And it's the kind of infrastructure that can make New York City a safe and comfortable place for pretty much anyone to ride a bike.

Best Bus Project: New York City got its first taste of bus rapid transit-ish service on Fordham Road in the Bronx in 2008. While DOT needs to do a better job of providing the MTA's buses with lanes that can't be obstructed by private automobiles, travel times on the Bx12 have been cut by 24 percent and the early results are promising.

Best New Street Design Element: The nipple bollard.

Best New Public Space: Broadway Boulevard is the year's most groundbreaking public space project. Paris has the Champs-Élysées, Barcelona has La Rambla and New York City should have a fully pedestrianized Broadway from Columbus Circle to Union Square. Broadway Boulevard is a great start and a smart way to dip a toe in the water and test the idea.

Best Local Livable Streets Project: Despite a couple of rainy weekends, Williamsburg Walks on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn was outstanding.

We’re going offline as we compile our 2008 year-end Streetsblog awards. If you’d like to nominate someone or something for a coveted Streesie, submit your idea here in the comments section. It’s not too late. Here are last year’s Streetsie winners to jog your memory.

From all of us at Streetsblog and the Livable Streets Network, have a nice break and good luck getting out of town if you’re flying. We wish you a transit-oriented economic recovery in 2009.