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
PlaNYC Testimony Live on NY1 Right Now
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Mayor Bloomberg is presenting his plan for a greater greener New York at the first in a series of Assembly hearings today, where he is pitching his congestion pricing plan, among other aspects of his proposal for a sustainable city. DOT Deputy Commissioner Bruce Schaller got a nice introduction at the start. Watch it live […]
I Love This Town But…
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Has anyone spotted the new Environmental Defense billboards that are supposedly hanging over the Holland Tunnel and Brooklyn-Queens Expressway? If so, send us a photo — bonus points for including lots of traffic in the shot. ED has a new web site, AllChokedUp.org. Here is one of the ads they are running:
PlaNYC and Pricing Legislation Introduced. Download it Here.
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Exclusive to Streetsblog, at least for the next few minutes, here is S. 6068, the New York State Senate’s congestion pricing legislation, or, as it is also known: AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to establishing a congestion pricing program in the city of New York; to amend the public […]
Congestion Pricing Plan Advancing Rapidly
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Sewell Chan at the New York Times’ Empire Zone has more on this morning’s meeting between Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer and US Dept. of Transportation secretary Mary Peters: Mr. Spitzer said at a news conference this morning, "There will always be some congestion and the good news is there is economic growth and there’s vitality […]
Spitzer Backs Congestion Pricing
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Is Mayor Bloomberg actually going to pull this off? Governor Eliot Spitzer came out in favor of congestion pricing this morning. Elizabeth Benjamin at the Daily News reports: Standing with Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Gov. Eliot Spitzer this morning said he is "in favor of embracing a congestion pricing model" at a press conference where U.S. […]
London Finds “No Adverse Impact” Outside Charging Zone
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With many New York City elected officials expressing concern that Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing study will create numerous problems in the neighborhoods just outside the charging zone, now is a good time to take a look at the extensive "Boundary Impacts Study" undertaken by Transport for London in its Fourth Annual Monitoring Report The London […]
Joe Lentol is Worried About Congestion Pricing Park-and-Riders
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Local elected officials appear to be moving from a "tax on the middle class" critique of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing proposal to a "park-and-ride" argument. Check out these two letters from senior Brooklyn Assembly member Joseph Lentol to constituents. In the first letter, written May 15, Lentol says that he is giving congestion pricing "his […]
Hit by a Car? Nothing Can be Done Unless You’re Hurt.
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A letter in the Daily News this week reminds us of the need for better enforcement as well as the open source hit-and-run investigation conducted by Streetsblog readers last November: Brooklyn: Last week, as I rode my bicycle along Third Ave. in Brooklyn, I was hit by a car as it cut around traffic in […]
Transport for London: You’re Better Off by Bike
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A Thermoplastic bike stencil is the star of this short public service advertisement produced for London city government’s transportation agency.
Deborah Glick: Devil’s in the Details of Congestion Pricing
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Below is a letter from Lower Manhattan State Assembly Member Deborah Glick responding to a constituent who urged her to support Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan. If you have written a letter to one of your local elected officials and received a response, send it in. Thank you for your letter expressing support of the […]
DOT Hires Bruce Schaller to Run a New Planning Office
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This is the first of a number of exciting and heretofore unimaginable hiring announcements likely to be coming out of New York City’s Department of Transportation in the next few weeks: Today, DOT is announcing the creation of a new Office of Planning and Sustainability and the appointment of Bruce Schaller of Schaller Consulting as […]
David Yassky Supports Congestion Pricing
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City Council Member David Yassky has come out in favor of congestion pricing, with the caveat that "many features of the Mayor’s proposal will need to be reworked." Yassky’s Brooklyn district, it’s worth noting, encompasses three East River bridges, the Battery Tunnel and a seemingly endless number of of honking, spewing, frustrated motorists. Until last […]