Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito and 29 of her colleagues heeded the call of the millions of New Yorkers who want better transit, biking and walking and approved congestion pricing.

Next Stop: Albany--Last Chance to Act

T.A. volunteers have canvassed 14 neighborhoods over the last two weeks to generate letters and phone calls to elected officials in advance of the pricing vote. Photo courtesy Emmanuel Fuentebella.

When T.A. and the Partnership for NYC brought pricing to the fore in 2005, it was tantamount to political suicide for elected officials to mention the words, let alone support the idea. But in the months since Mayor Bloomberg put his first congestion pricing proposal on the table, New Yorkers have listened, critiqued and come together to put the City on a path to fewer cars, better transit and green, healthy streets. It's easy for a campaign this broad to boil down to sound bites and mantras. But we've been reminded in recent weeks by the words of thousands of New Yorkers who know what is really at stake here:

I am constantly late for work, where they do not accept train delays as an excuse. Working people in Queens are underserved by mass transit and pay a minimum of $4 a day to commute. We need congestion pricing!
   -Judith, Jackson Heights

I wasn't sure how pricing would affect local businesses, but the idea of having deliveries find a place in front of my store in Manhattan would cover the costs of congestion pricing just by reducing parking tickets.
   -Juno, Williamsburg

I have asthma, and ride my bike to work. Not only do all the unnecessary cars make ride dangerous, they make it unhealthy. Please support congestion pricing.
   -Justin, Bushwick

This week, the City Council echoed those same voices. By a vote of 30-20, the council showed remarkable leadership by moving pricing forward. Notably, two-thirds of the 30 "aye" votes came from outside of Manhattan, with votes from every borough.

Now it's Albany's turn to show leadership and pass a congestion pricing bill by April 7th. $354 million in immediate transit and startup funding is at stake, as are the billions pricing will raise in the coming years to build a world-class transit system in NYC. Click on the link below to find your State Senator and State Assembly Member and make a last-minute phone call to put pricing over the top. Let them know the time has come for better transit and less traffic.

Every single phone call and fax matters!

NYC Got on the Bus

New York City is finally on the BRT bandwagon.

Mayor Bloomberg announced "Select Bus Service" along the BX 12 line last week, a plan that many policy-minded readers might know by a different name: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Yes, after years of hard-nosed advocacy by Transportation Alternatives, the NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and a growing chorus of advocates like "Communities United for Transportation Equity," the City and the Bloomberg Administration finally got on the BRT bus.

Expect prepaid fares, signal priority at intersections, colored "bus only" lanes, entrances in the front and rear of the vehicle, as well as fewer stops along this flagship BRT route that runs on 207th Street in Northern Manhattan and on Fordham Road and Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. If all of these measures are made a reality, well-maintained and strictly enforced, New York City will see its first ever surface subway, a bus line capable of quickly moving a train's worth of people for a fraction of the cost.

T.A. has been calling for exactly these measures (PDF) since 2002 and is encouraged by the Bloomberg administration's actions. We look forward to seeing the improvements on the ground along this route, and on many more in the coming months and years.

Food and Fitness Grants

Apply for a Food & Fitness Grant to help create more safe opportunities for kids in Harlem, Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx to be active.

Do you have ideas for improving connections to a local park, creating a green market in your neighborhood, planning a community bicycle ride or any other program to promote healthy eating and a better environment for walking and bicycling? If you are a resident or community-based organization in East and Central Harlem, Central Brooklyn or the South Bronx, you are eligible to apply for a matching-grant of $500 to $7500 for these projects.

The grants are being made available by the New York City Food & Fitness Partnership, a coalition of community organizations from these regions and citywide organizations, including Transportation Alternatives. Convened by City Harvest, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Office of the Mayor, the Food and Fitness Partnership works towards transforming New York City communities into models of healthy and active living.

The partnership is targeting these regions of the city because of the poor health status of their 1.25 million residents, which include high rates of obesity; diabetes; pedestrian crashes; and poor access to nutritious food, recreational facilities and safe walking and bicycling.

To find out more about the grant application, visit cityharvest.org. The first grant information session will be hosted in Brooklyn on Tuesday, April 8th at the Brooklyn District Public Health Office, 485 Throop Avenue from 1-3 pm.

Big Week for Bike Lanes and Greenways

Speak up for better bicycling at a Community Board meeting near you.

Spring is in the air and that means new bike improvements aren't far off. In fact, there are three incredibly important Community Board meetings next week that every NYC cyclist ought to try and make, especially if you live, work or regularly cycle in North Brooklyn, the Upper West Side or Prospect Heights. Drivers will squash these projects if cyclists don't show up and raise the call for protected street space for cycling.

In Brooklyn, Community Board One will vote on a proposal for a physically separated bikeway along Kent Avenue and West Street, a crucial component of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Community Board Eight will look at a proposal for buffered bike lanes along Vanderbilt Avenue, connecting to Prospect Park.

In Manhattan, Community Board Seven will discuss traffic calming, turn bays and buffered bike lanes on W. 106th Street, connecting Central Park and Riverside Park.

All of these projects need your support.

Tuesday, April 8th Brooklyn CB 1: Kent Avenue and West Street 6:30 pm* Swinging 60's Senior center 211 Ainslie Street (at Manhattan Avenue) Brooklyn *Arrive at 6:15 pm if you wish to speak.	Tuesday, April 8th Manhattan CB 7: West 106th Street 7 pm 250 West 87th Street (at Broadway) Manhattan
Thursday, April 10th Brooklyn CB 8: Vanderbilt Avenue 7 pm Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation 727 Classon Avenue (between Park & Prospect Place) Brooklyn

CityRacks Design Competition

It'll take more than a trusty parking meter to win the CityRacks Design Competition.

The DOT, in partnership with the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and with the support of Google Inc. and Transportation Alternatives, announced an international design competition for new bicycle parking for the City of New York. As part of the DOT's effort to promote cycling as a sustainable, mainstream transportation option and in keeping with the environmental goals of PlaNYC 2030, they're seeking to tap the creative energy of the international design and art communities for this important element of street furniture.

The purpose of the competition is to develop functional, well-designed sidewalk racks and to generate new concepts for bicycle parking inside commercial and residential buildings. These two initiatives, in addition to the DOT's commitment to increasing the number of miles of bicycle facilities, providing the City's first sheltered bike parking stations and creating more bicycle parking at transit stations, will raise the profile of bicycling as a convenient mode of transportation in New York.

For more information on the design contest go to nycityracks.wordpress.com.

The registration deadline is April 30th.

Planning for Park(ing) Day

Help us find a few good park(ing) spots.

Park(ing) Day, the day when on-street parking spaces are reclaimed for people, may not be until September 19th, but the planning and volunteering has already begun. In the next two weeks, we are asking organizations, groups and individuals to submit locations for NYC Park(ing) Day 2008. These may be parking spot locations where you would like to build a park on Park(ing) Day or an ideal spot for another group to use. Our goal is 50 Park(ing) spots in 2008. If you have a location in mind, please contact Lindsey Lusher at lindsey@transalt.org or 646-873-6039. The list of potential park(ing) spots will be recorded here.

You Can't Win if You Don't Register!

We're giving away a limited edition Bailey Works messenger bag so register now for the NYC Century.

Set your goals high and register early for the 2008 NYC Century Bike Tour at NYCCentury.org. If 100 miles seems like a bit much, don't worry--the NYC Century is for everyone. Pick a distance that is right for you, 15-, 35-, 55-, 75- or 100 miles, all within NYC. And if you sign up between now and April 30th you will be entered to win an official Transportation Alternatives Bailey Works messenger bag.

Recycle-A-Bicycle Presents "Biking in Brooklyn"

As a part of the Dumbo Improvement District's SEED initiative and in honor of Earth Day celebrations during the month of April, Recycle-A-Bicycle will be hosting, "Biking in Brooklyn-Get Ready for Spring." This will be a fun, relaxed event with information on how to get your two-wheeler ready to ride, tips on great bike destinations in Brooklyn, updates on transportation options and the latest news about bicycle related events.

Thursday, April 10th
6:30-8:30 pm
ReBar
147 Front St.
Brooklyn

The Car-Free Cities Conference Mail Art Show

Send a submission to take part in this year's Car-free Cities Conference.

At the International Car-free Cities' conference in Portland, Oregon this June, there will be an installation of Mail Art from around the world. If you're an artist, writer or someone who celebrates freedom from car culture in any and every phase of life, please send original, mailable photos, paintings, collages, poetry or prose to:

SHIFT
P.O. Box 6662
Portland, Oregon
USA 97228

Sip a Long Trail, Support the East Coast Greenway

Long Trail Brewing Company, in honor of Earth Day, will donate a portion of its April proceeds to the East Coast Greenway and some other upstanding, environmentally progressive non-profit organizations. So if you happen to spy Long Trail when you're hankering for a brew, drink easy: It's for a good cause.

Drink beer, support biking -- if only the rest of life was so simple.

Give Us Your Best Shot

Photo Courtesy ratherbebiking on flickr.com.

Are you a photographer? Here's an easy way to help Transportation Alternatives (and maybe get a photo credit in the process). When you upload your NYC bicycling and walking photos to Flickr, tag them with TransAlt. We'll be compiling these photos for use in upcoming T.A. StreetBeats, Reclaim Magazine and on our website.

We need tons of great photos of people bicycling and walking in all five boroughs. For complete photo guidelines and details about photo credits please see our photo guidelines (PDF).