Aaron Naparstek
AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.
Recent Posts
A Year After Eric Ng’s Death, Greenway Hazards Remain Unfixed
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This piece was written by Transportation Alternatives: On December 1, 2006, Eric Ng was riding his bike up the Hudson River Greenway. He was on his way to meet friends. He never made it, because a drunk driver named Eugenio Cidron took his life. After leaving a party at Chelsea Piers, Cidron got behind the […]
Half Moon Over the Brooklyn Bridge
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The "Fixie Flasher" strikes again. Bike Snob NYC tells the sordid tale of a New Year’s Eve morning bike commute gone horribly, horribly wrong… I had been riding Manhattan-bound over the Brooklyn bridge when I was overtaken on the incline by another cyclist. As he passed me, I noticed to my astonishment and horror that […]
City Hall to Reduce Parking Placards 20% and Centralize Control
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Crosby Street, Soho: A veritable government employee parking lot. (Photo: UncivilServants.org) As reported last week on NYPD Rant, the City Hall crackdown on government employee parking placards has arrived. Acknowledging the dissonance between his congestion mitigation efforts and City employees’ flagrant parking abuse, Mayor Bloomberg today announced a reduction in the number of city government […]
Kitty Justice: The Thai Solution for Police Parking Placard Abuse
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Top brass at the NYPD usually (but not always) cast a blind eye toward police officers who show disregard for the city’s parking regulations. It’s a sharp contrast to the NYPD’s "broken windows" school of policing, which promotes aggressive enforcement against minor scofflaws (like my friend Katie who recently spent a night in the box […]
The Streetsies
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All in all it was a great year for New York City’s Livable Streets Movement. Here are the winners of our 2007 awards. See you in January… Best Livable Streets Project: The Ninth Avenue bike lane, Chelsea. Best New Public Space: DUMBO’s Pearl Street Pocket Park. Honorable mention: Chelsea’s Meat Market Plaza. Best Pedestrian Project: […]
Merry Gridlock!
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Streetsblog editor Aaron Naparstek and StreetFilms’ Nick Whitaker hit the intersection of Atlantic, Flatbush and Fourth Avenues Thursday morning to see what a "Gridlock Alert Day" looks like at one of New York City’s most congested intersections. After about 25 interviews with drivers it became pretty clear that if City Hall truly wants to reduce […]
Stay Tuned for the 2007 Streetsies
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On Monday we’ll be announcing Streetsblog’s coveted year-end awards, the Streetsies. That will be our last post of the year and we’ll see you back here the first week of January.
Merry Christmas Chinatown
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A Streetsblog tipster snapped this photo yesterday afternoon. Note the Starsky & Hutch-style siren on the dashboard of the SUV hanging off the back of that tow truck. The photographer reports that NYPD tow trucks have been racking up the hours in December clearing the streets of Chinatown, and as you can see in the […]
Donald Shoup Plays With Parking Fees and Matchbox Cars
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During his recent visit to New York, Donald Shoup, professor of Urban Planning at UCLA, sat down with Open Planning Project’s Mark Gorton to discuss parking policy and play with Matchbox cars on a miniature New York City street grid. Shoup argues that charging higher fees for curbside parking would free up more parking space, […]
Highlights of Monday’s Traffic Commission Meeting
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Westchester Assemblyman Richard Brodsky’s claim that congestion pricing "smacks the middle class" was not challenged by reporters after Monday’s meeting despite a recent IBO report that says otherwise. Brodsky said a carbon tax would be fairer and praised Mayor Bloomberg for suggesting it. Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner Bruce Schaller has clearly been busy. At […]
Shocker: MTA Board Approves Fare Hike
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City Room reports: Today’s vote came after weeks of public hearings, at which commuters and advocacy groups expressed overwhelming and nearly unanimous opposition to the fare and toll increase. In particular, opponents called on the M.T.A. board to hold off at least until April, when the State Legislature is expected to evaluate recommendations from a […]
Eyes on the Street: Snow Day
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Washington Heights. Sunday, December 16. Photo by Lars Klove.