The Long, Ugly Road to a Federal Transportation Plan
Come September 30, Congress has to have a plan in hand to fund the nation's trains, buses, bikes, bridges and roads -- or pass an extension of the 2005 federal bill, locking in the same spending patterns that have nurtured Americans' addiction to the automobile. But the odds are that you haven't heard much about how the process works. What has to happen in order for Congress to meet that September deadline? Let's break it down a bit. Continue reading »
Charles Siegel
I am surprised that streetsblog missed the obvious photo op that I have posted at
http://preservenet.blogspot.com/2009/07/hope-in-times-square.html
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
Ian Turner
Eric,
At least part, and maybe all, of the phenomenon involving professional atheletes and car crashes can be attributed to reporting bias. Deadly accidents happen so often they are usually not noteworthy, but when a celebrity is involved, that changes.
Cheers,
--Ian
in response to The Weekly Carnage
Eric McClure
It sure seems like professional athletes are involved in automobile-related fatalities at a rate waaaaay disproportionate to their population, doesn't it?
@vnm, whomever coined carnage, presumably well before the automobile, did so with incredible foresight -- no need to rewrite your comment.
in response to The Weekly Carnage
jay
I second the necessity of the a bike lane along Brooklyn between Fulton and Maple. This would connect the bike lane along Tompkins in Bed-Stuy with the bike lanes already present along E. New York and Maple.
As an aside, I believe there should be a concerted effort to improve and simplify bike access into Prospect Park from the east side at Lincoln. The bike lanes on Lincoln and Maple don't exactly line up with the Prospect Park exit and Lincoln and it's really kinda kludgy.
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Cap'n Transit
And your point is?
in response to Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence
I \v/ NY
well i dont think these households you talk of choose to take a bus that runs once every hour and a half on weekdays only to the supermarket on the outskirts of town as is the case in most small cities. these are not choice transit riders. choice transit riders are only in the major cities where it is easy and pleasant to live car-free.
in response to Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence
Cap'n Transit
It's nice that the community board asked for bike lanes, but it would have been better if they had asked for loading zones and metered parking. We need to be proactive about getting these things included in the plans, or else we'll be fighting the same fight over and over again.
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
PSlopeBiker
I park my bike near Aunt Suzie's frequently and I see their customers do often park cars right out front. Their customer base seems to be older, more car oriented and suburban. All the other restaurants and bars nearby have more walking and biking customers. There is no need for private car parking on 5th ave make the whole thing a loading zone. Maybe Aunt Suzie's could offer their customer discounts at nearby parking garages instead of removing bike lanes.
in response to Fifth Ave BID, CB6 District Manager Take Aim at Park Slope Bike Lane
vnm
Well, yes. If I had a chance to write that comment over again, I would start it: "Motor vehicle carnage is so common . . . "
in response to The Weekly Carnage
jass
Standing on the thingy
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_1274.jpg
The "straight" side of it
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/jamesinclair/IMG_1275.jpg
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
J-Uptown
What you say is true, unless the carnage is uncommon or occurs on a large scale all at once. As a point of comparison:
2,974 people were killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
45,800 people in the U.S. were killed in automobile collisions in 2005.
The responses to the two tragedies couldn't be more different.
in response to The Weekly Carnage
gary fisher
That NYT piece is terrible.
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
vnm
Well, White has two rooks versus Black's rook and bishop. But I think Black potentially has a strong positional advantage. If Black can manage to put together a coordinated bishop-rook attack, they have a shot at winning this game. In fact, it looks like they're about to move their bishop that's being threatened by the rook at d6.
I say move that bishop to c4. Then, on the next move, if possible, Black can move its rook to e1, putting the White king in check. If White tries to get out of check by moving its rook to f1, that team puts its rook in jeopardy. White's best hope is to create a distraction by using its d-file rook to repeatedly put the Black king in check, which is actually not half bad.
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
jass
The "future performance area?" has a steeper side where the cars are, which hints that its a sort of barrier to out of control cars. One of them was in place a few weeks ago when I was there, Ill check if I have pictures of it.
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
Rhywun
I hope those humps aren't a prelude to something similar to those god-awful barriers (complete with watchtowers) going up on every street in a circle around the stock exchange. I loathe what's going on down there. I'm sick of the machine-gun toting military types. Meanwhile, the still-lively-despite-everything Nassau Street (outside the Militarized Zone) remains a free-for-all with cars all over what is supposed to be a pedestrian street. I wish the folks who are getting these good things done in Midtown would pay a little attention to the awful things that are going on in the financial district.
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
Cap'n Transit
So then why do most cities, even small ones, have about 10% of households car-free? Living car-free in these places may not be much fun, but it "works" in terms of survival.
in response to Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence
Ben Fried
That's pretty much what this bill does.
in response to Action Alert: Tell John Liu to Support Better Bike Commuting in NYC
Clarence Eckerson Jr.
Mike: You know I was starting to think of that too. Actually this new group at the DOT is so clever, I suspect it is a little of everything - a traffic calming/impediment to cars, but it is also just the right size that a band could play on it or a performer could charm a crowd. In addition, I am figuring it is ADA compliant.
So nice to have smart people in charge.
On another note: a friend and I walked from TSq to HSq thru Broadway Boulevard and it was just so crowded with people we could not find two chairs near each other to sit down! If this isn't a slam dunk....
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
DC Resident
I'm assuming that the vast majority of streetsblog readership is left-of center (and pro-transit/bike/ped). Given all of the information outlined in the Census report and the subsequent analysis of congressional redistricting, I would strongly encourage each and every one of you to call your congressperson and inform them that you support full voting rights for DC residents. We would give you two senators and a congressperson who are guaranteed to consistently vote in favor of pro-bike/transit/ped policies as well as for other legislation that favors cities and urban interests.
The District of Columbia: TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!
in response to Cities See Population Gains -- But What About Political Power?
Mike Epstein
Something in the shape of that "future performance area?" seems to appear at the north end of every closed-off block in the plans. I suspect that it has something to do with emergency vehicle access, but I don't know anything for sure.
in response to Independence Day Special: The Freedom to Sit
owen howlett
Doesn't this bill miss the point? The most common reason people can't keep their bikes inside their workplace is that the building management doesn't want the hassle or the liability, and cites the fire code as a reason to exclude bikes, even though the fire code only requires "egress routes" (not cubicles/storage areas etc) to be clear of obstructions. To really nail the problem, the bill should require building managers to allow bicycles to be stored in people's work areas or other storage areas as long as they're not on an egress route.
in response to Action Alert: Tell John Liu to Support Better Bike Commuting in NYC
Cephas
"Never give someone a route you wouldn’t ride yourself.…"
That's good advice, but personally, my rule is that I never give most people the routes I ride. I don't want to scare anybody! and my routes often involve more faster traffic than most people are comfortable with. So, I analyze carefully the routes I give out so that I don't scare anybody off from biking from the first route!
in response to Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence
Kaja
> Slapping a car is a bad idea. The owner has his identity tied up in that thing.
Don't be cowed by others' tendency to violence. If you're endangered, act reasonably in your own defense. In the end, assault is a felony, but tapping a car in self-defense is legal.
If you're weak or with family then of course your risk threshold should drop. Young single dudes on bikes are rightly the front line of social norm enforcement.
in response to DA Files Charge Against Cyclist Attacked by SUV Driver in 9th Ave Bike Lane
Alex B.
Here's to Mr. Klein!
in response to Streetfilms: D.C. DOT Director Talks "Transportation Freedom"
Jonathan
Dan Berkman said:
The conspiracy theorist in me says it's so that automobilists can use the bike lane as an ad hoc double-parking lane or while preparing to parallel park without impeding other automobilists.
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
цarьchitect
Right outside the Reeves Center, which a local business owner suggested replacing with a muni car garage!
in response to Streetfilms: D.C. DOT Director Talks "Transportation Freedom"
Dan Berkman
I agree. If there is going to be a high volume of truck traffic on the street it makes sense to give cyclists a better buffer. I've never understood why all the new bike lanes mix cyclists and car traffic so closely. If you're going to give that space to cyclists, then really make it useful. I hate riding next to fast moving truck traffic even if there is a bike lane.
I love all the new bike lanes and medians but anemic looking trees in a big concrete median will not make a street into a great space. People are going to be more receptive to changes in traffic flow and parking if those changes are accompanied by some good aesthetic changes as well. Vanderbilt Ave is a great example of how you can calm traffic and still create a street that feels to wide and looks pretty shabby. There's a difference between a good street and a great place. I know these are really just first steps, but some of these opportunities to redesign the streetscape are not going to come along again for a long time.
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
vnm
Carnage is so routine in our society that sometimes it's not worth more than a couple of paragraphs in one paper and no coverage at all in others. The July 1 print edition of the Daily News carried a "NY Minute" two paragraph news brief about a 19-year-old driver in a 2003 Infinity being charged after he killed a 45-year-old man in Borough Park, Brooklyn, at 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30. Does anybody know anything else about this one?
in response to The Weekly Carnage
Brad Aaron
Wow, vnm, I thought W. 214 at Seaman/PTW was was just a staircase through Isham Park. But if you check Google Maps, sure enough, it's marked as a street.
So there's at least one more step-street in Upper Manhattan than I thought.
in response to Renovation of Crumbling, Dangerous 215th Step-Street Delayed [Updated]
I \v/ NY
reform is in the air now. wait much longer and youre in 2010 reelection season and everyone will be campaigning as conservatively and as pro-status-quo as possible.
in response to Obama Administration's Transportation Goals: Read Them Here
I \v/ NY
well first the auto dependent person has to be willing to try traveling without an auto. most of them literally can not comprehend life outside their car, to them its about as odd an idea as living on the north pole.
secondly living without an auto only works near the heart of a major city with a halfway decent transit system and in neighborhoods with a variety of goods and services available and with sidewalks...
considering that, that doesnt leave too many places left, so I can completely understand the extreme dependence on the auto. if you lived in ultra-suburbia of course youre only going to travel by auto. this only works by self-selection where all those that like a car-free lifestyle move to and live in/near the central city.
in response to Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence
Kristi
These photos look like they're posted in reverse order of the action, and could be confusing, because it looks like the guy took the upright bike and then placed it under his car when it was the other way around. I know they're not going into court, just wanted to point it out.
in response to DA Files Charge Against Cyclist Attacked by SUV Driver in 9th Ave Bike Lane
Andy B from Jersey
RE: Another Report Surfaces of Violently Angry, Bike Lane Blocking Motorist Behavior
I know I know nothing of this incident but the pictures on My Bike Lane would seem to indicate that the driver was in the bike lane merely to parallel park his car in a legal parking space. This is NOT illegal!
Could it be (for once) that the cyclist was being jerk and provoked the driver?
in response to Today's Headlines
Moser
Do we really think more reporting requirements and data collection is a reform worth getting behind? How about something real like a higher share of money for transit and bike/ped?
in response to Obama Administration's Transportation Goals: Read Them Here
Courtney
When I moved back to my hometown of St. Louis, I moved to an area that was easily accessible to transit since my options seemed to be buying a car or paying for student loans and health insurance. Pretty easy choice for me.
Now I just appreciate the lifestyle...biking to my station, the extra exercise and chance to read during my commute. And I lot of my friends think similarly. It's not as easy to do in St. Louis as some metropolitan areas, but I think it's a choice more people are making. Why spend hours traveling in a car when we could live near restaurants, theaters, parks, transit within a walkable or bikeable distance?
in response to Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence
Jonathan
The original blog post for the footprints program explains it better: some of the itineraries they plan are quite complex. In NYC we are used to a compact city with easy visibility of transit options; this is apparently not the case in Chicago. It would be great to do a study after a year to see how many people are still using their routes (or not using their cars) in order to attract funding to the project.
in response to Another Step in Reducing Auto Dependence
Scott
I live a couple of blocks from empire, and Richard V has some good points double parking won't stop with this set up. There is currently no median on empire, that means they're already spending the time and money to put in a curb. Why don't they add an additional curb 5 feet from the sidewalk and put the bike lane between parked cars and the sidewalk? With all the problems that Manhattan and has been having you think they'd stop proposing lanes like this.
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Richard V.
This is just retarded I live on Empire and Empire is a mess as it is and adding this will just makes it worst. There is a Funeral home on Empire and Bedford that when it has Funerals Empire is all doubled parked. When the clubs are in session it's the same problem. Also Empire intersects with Rogers, New York, and Nostrand they have some of the worst lights at the intersections there with Empire. But I would add that I think it's a good safety for pedestrians because I know from trying to cross Empire and Franklin is like a death trap it's possible to cross if you know how to cross quickly.
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Justin Dove
I experienced the bike valet at an event here in Austin not too long ago. It was actually quite a pleasurable experience. They also did it for free, and it was well worth the $5 tip I gave them.
in response to Celebrate Brooklyn With Valet Bike Parking
Shemp
Check out DOT's street design manual - nyc.gov/dot
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Benjamin Kabak
I wrote about about that DN article that's going live at noon. That was my take on it. It's another faux-news article from a paper trying to stir up outrage that just shouldn't be there.
in response to Today's Headlines
Eric McClure
Kudos, CB9 (and DOT).
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Rhywun
RE: Latest Press Attempt to Drum Up Outrage at MTA
Gotta love the usual brain-dead comments from the Neanderthals that seem to be the only people who read newspapers any more.
in response to Today's Headlines
Mike Epstein
The truck routes are published, of course, but Corey was asking about the lane width standards for truck routes, which I don't think are published.
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
lee
Truck routes are listed in the nyc traffic rules section 4-13
http://nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/trafrule.pdf
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Mike Epstein
NYC. I don't think they're published...
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Corey Burger
Mike: I didn't realize that. Which DOT (NYC, NY, Federal) are you speaking of? Happen to know where those regs might be?
in response to Ask and Ye Shall Receive: Brooklyn CB9 Gets a Bike Lane on Empire Blvd
Miss Representation
Whereas cops aren't EMTs, they also don't help much with traffic control. About a year ago, directly behind me a man crossing (legally, with a walk signal) Houston at B was hit by a car turning left (onto Eastbound Houston). There were several cruisers in the vicinity. While officers were sitting in one, there was another accident in the westbound land (a result of rubber necking), but the two offices in a cruiser still did not exit to perform traffic control (or even sort out the other accident, which only involved vehicles). In the meantime, two officer were encouraging (and half dragging) the injured man to move from the road, clearly in an effort to resume traffic flow, even though there were enough officers on scene to stop traffic until the first responders (Engine 28, which took literally less than three minutes to deploy, since they are all of one block away) arrived, and who would have been trained to determine if dragging an injured person from the accident was medically safe.
in response to NYPD Cruiser Carnage: Move Along, Nothing to See Here
Rhywun
Hm. There are a couple of these near me in Bay Ridge and the one I've walked down was in perfect condition. No garbage either. Then again, it's lined with mansions, so--there you go. Maybe they had a deal with the city to maintain it themselves.
in response to Renovation of Crumbling, Dangerous 215th Step-Street Delayed [Updated]
Rhywun
I think this is overblown. It's worth noting that the Rust Belt is continuing its rapid slide into oblivion. Meanwhile, the vast majority of city growth, outside a few oddballs like New York and Chicago, remains in the South and West where the "cities" are of largely suburban character to begin with.
in response to Cities See Population Gains -- But What About Political Power?