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
Fact Check: Congestion Pricing is Not a “Regressive Tax”
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One of the most oft-repeated slams against congestion pricing we heard at this week’s Congestion Mitigation Committee hearings is that congestion pricing would be a "regressive tax," an unfair burden to poorer New Yorkers. Is congestion pricing regressive? The data suggests otherwise. As the chart above shows, even in Brooklyn Council member Lew Fidler’s heavily […]
Bloomberg Declares Support for a National Carbon Tax
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New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will declare his support today for a national carbon tax, according to a report posted this morning on the New York Times City Room blog by metro reporter Sewell Chan: Mayor Bloomberg plans to announce today his support for a national carbon tax. In what his aides are calling […]
Low Turnout But Surprising Support at Bronx Congestion Hearing
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Erik Shilling reports: Though many agreed that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to charge cars and trucks to enter parts of Manhattan could be tweaked, a majority of those who spoke in last night’s Traffic Congestion Mitigation hearing in the Bronx expressed their support. The theater at Hostos Community College was quite a bit less than […]
Lew Fidler’s “9 CARAT STONE” Traffic Plan Arrives
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On Saturday we received the following mysterious e-mail in the Streetsblog tips box: Subject: Plan to be Revealed to go up against Mayor’s Congestion Pricing A major announcement will soon be made that will reveal a whole new plan for how NYC will handle traffic congestion, mass transit, air pollution and land re-development. A plan […]
Ped Struck as Cab Runs Into Storefront at 53rd and Madison
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David Dartley sends this in: Perhaps it’s just as well that I only had the crappy camera on my cell phone and you can’t see much detail. A taxi had smashed into a storefront on Madison Ave. just above 53rd St. On the other side of a taxi, there was a person lying face-down on […]
Celebrating Livable Streets on the Day of the Dead
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It occurs to Sean Roche of Newton Streets & Sidewalks that Halloween is, in a funny way, "America’s walking holiday," with kids, parents and just about everyone heading out for an early evening stroll, chance run-ins with friends and neighbors, and no need to pull the car out of its parking spot. Happy Halloween, indeed. […]
Congestion Pricing Supporters Speak Up in Queens
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Meghan Goth reports: With city buses slogging their way past double-parked cars on Archer Avenue just outside, Queens community members and elected officials testified on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal for a three-year congestion pricing pilot program at York College Performing Arts Center last night. The Traffic Congestion Mitigation hearing, one of seven being held around […]
Happy Halloween From Clarence the Purple Traffic Wizard
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Streetfilms’ Clarence Eckerson took to the streets in costume to check on the progress of DOT’s new 9th Avenue physically separated bike lane. The pleasant surprises continue as new signs, markings and cyclist-oriented traffic signals have recently appeared. Although driver behavior continues to improve, there are still a few problems to highlight, as well. If […]
RSVP Today to Re-Imagine Manhattan’s Upper West Side
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Help shape the neighborhood streets of the Upper West Side. Work with your neighbors to create beautiful, green streets with safer bike lanes, great walking spaces, less traffic and cleaner air. The Upper West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign is holding a series of events aimed at empowering residents to re-imagine neighborhood streets and make their […]
Jan Gehl: Half of Manhattan Trips Could be Done by Bike
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If you haven’t heard it already, WNYC’s Arun Venugopal has an outstanding piece on New York City’s rapidly changing transportation policies regarding bicycling. We hear from T.A.’s Noah Budnick, Copenhagen’s Jan Gehl, DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, NYPD Chief Ray Kelly, Judy Ross of Times Up, and a moron in a huge SUV. Click here or […]
Bloomberg Visits the Bronx. Dinowitz Anti-Pricing Rally Fizzles.
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Mayor Bloomberg and city agency commissioners answered questions in Riverdale last night. Megan Chuchmach reports: The auditorium at PS 24 in Riverdale was packed Tuesday night, as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his commissioners entertained an estimated couple hundred Bronx residents at a town hall-esque style meeting organized by the Northwest Bronx Democratic Alliance and the […]
The M23 Bus Earns the 2007 Pokey Award
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The slowest bus in New York City is… Manhattan’s M23, crosstown at 23rd Street. Remind me again why New York City hasn’t eliminated private automobiles on its major crosstown streets and established dedicated rights-of-way for buses, special loading zones and times for delivery trucks? CityRoom has the details: “Nearly one in three of its buses […]