Articles and Actions
Events and Appeals
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| Want to Go for a Walk? A Bike Ride? You May Need a Parade Permit from the Police |
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Can you imagine teachers needing NYPD approval for field trips?
Can you imagine site-seeing tours being arrested for walking around the city? Can you imagine needing police-approved routes for all group runs, walks and rides? You can stop imagining and open your eyes. In July the NYPD proposed new parade permit rules (PDF), under which:
Groups without permits or groups that leave their permitted routes could be arrested. These changes will discourage cycling and walking, school field trips, site-seeing tours and fitness activities, endanger cyclists and pedestrians and curtail the freedoms of all New Yorkers. It's crucial that you voice your opinion to stop these proposed changes!
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| A Safe Houston Street: What Will It Take? | |||
The City of New York's official 1997 "Bicycle Master Plan" identifies all of Houston Street, from the East River to the Hudson River, as a "proposed" bicycle route. Houston connects the Hudson River Greenway, East River Greenway and popular bike lanes to the many neighborhoods, businesses and schools, as well as cultural and shopping destinations in Greenwich Village, the East and West Villages, SoHo, and the Lower East Side. Houston Street, however, is filled with big trucks and intimidating and dangerous traffic. It needs strong safety measures, like protected bike lanes, to make it safe and practical for cyclists of all ages and abilities.
The City has been planning a major reconstruction of East and West Houston Street from river to river for the past five years. The East Houston Street plan follows through on the "proposed" route laid out in the "Bicycle Master Plan" and includes buffered bike lanes (similar to Hudson and Lafayette Streets) from Forsyth Street to the East River. This makes sense. The DOT's West Houston Street plan, which runs from West Street to the Bowery, includes no bike safety improvements. This makes no sense. Between 2002 and 2004, 82 cyclists were struck by cars and trucks on Houston Street, and in the past year, three cyclists, Brandie Bailey, Andrew Morgan and Derek Lake, were killed by drivers there. These deaths have spurred Community Board 2's Transportation Committee and local elected officials to ask the City to include protected cycling space in the reconstruction of West Houston Street.
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| Bike Messengers Gather to Honor Fallen Riders | |||
On Tuesday evening over 200 bike messengers and city cyclists rode to honor John "Bronx John" Neese and Darren Lewis. Both couriers were struck by motorists and died in the past week. Mr. Neese, a longtime messenger, was riding from the Williamsburg Bridge and was struck by a livery driver at South 4th and Roebling Streets in Brooklyn on Wednesday night, August 9th. He passed away on Saturday. Last Thursday morning, August 10th, Mr. Lewis was riding south on 9th Avenue when a truck driver turned right on to 29th Street and stuck him. He was killed instantly.
More information about both couriers and the ride is available on the New York Bike Messenger Association website. |
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| Life is Good--When You're Above the Law | |||
Transportation Alternatives helped put parking permit problems in the New York Daily News all last week: City Hall reporter Michael Saul broke the first of three big parking permit abuse stories (right) on Tuesday, August 8th.
Following a hot tip, the headline read, "It's Disrespect!" It blazed across the page with three photos of armed court officers "valet parking" a mini-SUV on the sidewalk adjacent to Columbus Park. Heightening the irony, the wheel cover on the SUV's spare tire read "Life is Good." After two more days of coverage with excellent placement near the front of the paper, Mayor Bloomberg, in his familiar populist fashion, praised the Daily News for their reporting, argued that no one should receive special treatment, and claimed, "If we are going to have parking placards, we should have parking placards for the people who the city employees work for, not for the city employees." Get rid of parking placards? What a great idea (PDF) Mayor Bloomberg! Everyone knows that free parking makes for more driving and a recent Schaller Consulting study found that if government workers reduced their driving to the same rate as the private sector, 19,200 vehicles would be off the road overnight. Nearly 20,000 fewer cars! That would make our air more breathable, our streets more livable and our municipal employees more in touch with the majority of New Yorkers, a majority that don't have free parking or a windshield perspective.
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| Reshaping the Sheridan Expressway | |||
The South Bronx River Watershed Alliance, a coalition of community groups and city-wide organizations, is working to raze the Sheridan Expressway, a 1.25 mile stretch of road along the Bronx River. This little used highway consumes more than 28 acres of prime land in the course of its redundant path from the Bruckner Expressway to the Cross Bronx Expressway (the Bruckner and Cross-Bronx are directly connected to the east and joined by the Deegan Expressway to the west). If SBRWA has its way, the Sheridan will be replaced with higher and better land uses, such as housing, commercial development, parks and greenways.
Though removing a highway sounds like a big project, there are many precedents for such a change from across the country and around the globe. In San Francisco, the Embarcadero Freeway and the Central Freeway have been razed and redesigned as vibrant public spaces. Portland blocked the Mt. Hood Freeway and instead opted for building mass transit and creating a city more livable for its residents. Even Milwaukee demolished its Park East Freeway to provide 26 acres for new development downtown. These examples and the groundwork laid by the SBRWA set the stage and now key decision-makers in New York are taking notice. SWRBA's community plan to remove the roadway is in the State DOT's environmental study, which will decide the roadway’s fate and is expected to come out in 2006 or 2007. Prior to this, many of the Alliance's members will travel to Bogotá for "Towards Carfree Cities VI." Members of SBRWA will give a presentation about their efforts to de-map the Sheridan and have the chance to exchange ideas with Enrique Peñalosa and other luminaries of the progressive urban planning movement. |
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| Don't Miss: T.A.'s NYC Century Bike Tour | |||
Need more reasons to sign up? Register before August 19th and be entered to win a Three Speedster bike from Spokes and Strings. This is a great bike for city riding, sturdy enough to take the potholes, light enough to lug upstairs. With three gears for bridges, paths and chasing that cute cyclist who just passed you! |
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| Another Way to Help T.A. | |||
Already a T.A. member?
Already give of yourself by volunteering? Looking for another way to support better bicycling, walking and sensible transportation? Donate your used computer hardware and get a tax deduction! Right now we are looking for:
To arrange a donation, call Mike at 212-629-8080, or e-mail tech@transalt.org. |
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| Contested Streets at the Solar Powered Film Festival | |||
Here's your chance to see the T.A. co-produced, critically acclaimed film, Contested Streets: Breaking NYC Gridlock for free at one of New York's hottest new outdoor venues, Solar One.
Contested Streets explores New York City's ill-fated romance with the automobile and how other cities around the world are breaking free from this dysfunctional relationship and opening the door to more walking and bicycling. This 57-minute documentary film has been seen by business leaders and elected officials around the city. Now it's your turn! Saturday August 26th
Panel Discussion: Ending NYC's Traffic Nightmare Featuring:
Contested Streets: Breaking NYC Gridlock For more information about this free, public screening and the Solar Powered Film Festival visit Solar One. |
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| Hear Them Live: The Ditty Bops | |||
Catch these cycling songstresses as their cross-country bike tour hits New York City on August 30th at 10 pm. They'll be playing the Spiegeltent Theatre at the Fulton Fish Market, North Side of Pier 17. Tickets are $15.00 (plus fees), $2 off with your bike helmet. Advance tickets through Ticket Central. Hear their music and read more about their tour here.
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| A Care-Free Sunday for Residents on the Car-Free Grand Concourse | |||
Hundreds of Bronx residents walked, biked, skated, learned capoeira and played basketball at the first car-free Sunday on the Grand Course of 2006.
This return to the Grand Concourse was welcomed by many who remember the original car-free Sundays, which happened each summer Sunday along a 3.2-mile stretch of the Grand Course during the early 1990s. After the original, very popular car-free Sundays were shut down by Mayor Giuliani the event took a multi-year hiatus. Car-Free Sundays were revived in 2005 by a coalition of community groups including Transportation Alternatives, supported by the Bronx Borough President's office. One successful car-free Sunday in 2005 has lead to three planned car-free Sundays in 2006. Join us 12 pm – 6 pm for the next two Car-Free Sundays on the Grand Concourse: Sunday, September 10th (as part of the NYC Century Bike Tour): 192nd Street to Moshulu Parkway (note: details are still subject to change). Transportation Alternatives will host a water stop along the NYC Century route. Sunday, October 8th: 170th to Mt. Eden Transportation Alternatives will be running bike repair clinics and bike workshops for kids and adults, so bring your bike! If you would like to volunteer to help out at either event email volunteer@transalt.org. If you are a member of a community group that would like to get involved please email events@transalt.org. See a short film about the great first Car-Free Sunday on the Grand Concourse of 2006. |
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| See "StreetFilms" from the NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign | |||
Please join us for a 75-minute program featuring "StreetFilms" from the NYC Streets Renaissance Campaign. "StreetFilms" educate, enlighten and propose more civil streets for pedestrians and cyclists in New York City by advocating for more open space and questioning why our Transportation policies have not evolved to match the needs of its citizens. In this eclectic presentation of video shorts, NYCSR will showcase many of the ways citizens, community groups and advocates are battling to make the city a more livable community--and how others cities are doing it better. All films directed by Clarence Eckerson Jr. Ticket price includes a pizza and beverage reception following. Link for advance tickets: tix.com/Event.asp?Event=64458 |
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| Have an Hour or Two to Spare? Volunteer! | |||
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Volunteer to Keep the NYC Century Bike Tour Rolling!
We still need volunteers for our biggest event of the year. Lend a hand with route marking and brochure distribution in August, or help us out on Sunday, September 10th as a ride marshal, rest stop worker and morning registration crew. Sign up for these opportunities at nyccentury.org/volunteer.html or email volunteer@transalt.org. Help us Survey Central Park Users! In conjunction with the Manhattan Borough President, T.A. is surveying Central Park users to find out more about their habits and their perceptions of the park. The survey is short, your time will be spent in Central Park and the study will make a big difference in our car-free parks campaign. Email parks@transalt.org if you can help. The surveying is ongoing through September. |
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| T.A. in the News | |||
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Parades, Permits And The Right To Protest, Gotham Gazette, 8/15 A Heavenly (but Off-Limits) Place to Ride a Bike, New York Times, 8/13 Manhattan: Bike Messenger Killed, New York Times, 8/11 Mayor Bloomberg: Reduce Traffic by Switching City Driving Trips, PPOL News, 8/11 Big Apple Smackdown, New York Police Department tightens screws on cyclists, Cycling News, 8/10 News Parking Exposé Earns Mike thanks, New York Daily News, 8/10 At Bronx Courthouse, Park-and-Glide Rules, New York Daily News, 8/9 'It's Disrespect', New York Daily News, 8/8 Video of the Day: How to a Steal a Bike on Good Day New York, gothamist, 7/27 Houston Street Redesign: The $30 Million Missed Opportunity, StreetsBlog, 7/25> Residents Want Input On Bellerose Bike Lanes, Queens Chronicle, 7/20 Hacks Back Bike Smack, New York Post, 7/20 Councilman Liu Hopes Film Will Help Traffic Congestion, Times Ledger, 7/20 Biking it, Gotham Gazette, 7/18 Fort Greene Community Board Says 'No' to New 5-Mile Bike Lane, Brooklyn Paper, 7/15 Transportation Alternatives' 2006 NYC Century Bike Tour Training Rides, PPOL News, 7/14 New York DOT Extends Overnight QBB Path Closures Through September 3rd, PPOL News, 7/12 Transportation Alternatives is a member-supported non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Join T.A. today!
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