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
John Liu Says He Supports Congestion Pricing
| | 38 Comments
Some actual news came out of this morning’s congestion pricing forum with London Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron, the one event that Streetsblog’s reporting team decided to skip this week. Queens City Council Member John Liu publicly stated that he supports congestion pricing. New York Times reporter Sewell Chan reports for the EmpireZone blog: Mr. Liu, […]
Battery Park City: An Opportunity for Innovative Street Design
| | 6 Comments
A "woonerf" or "shared space" street design in the Dutch town of Haren. Yesterday a Streetsblog reader reported that the Department of Transportation is removing stop signs and installing traffic signals at some intersections in Battery Park City as a way "to provide for the safest streets possible citywide." The reader noted, "The area is […]
CB6 Committee Unanimously Approves 9th St. Project
| | 12 Comments
The transportation committee of Brooklyn Community Board 6, of which I’m a member, voted unanimously last night to approve DOT’s traffic calming and bike lane plan for Park Slope’s 9th Street. The approval came with requests that DOT build a bike lane along Prospect Park West, undertake a curbside management study aimed at alleviating double-parking […]
Time to Expand DOT’s Toolbox Beyond Signs and Signals?
| | 15 Comments
A Streetsblog reader reports from Lower Manhattan: DOT is removing a series of stop signs from a five block street along the river in Battery Park City for reasons explained below. The street is lined on one side by a heavily-used waterfront park, and the other by residential apartment buildings and entrances to other parks. […]
9th Street Road Diet Meeting Tonight
| | 2 Comments
Konrad Kaletsch‘s street safety petition to DOT, July 2005. Tonight, the Department of Transportation’s Traffic Safety and Bike Lane plan for Park Slope’s crash-prone 9th Street comes up before the transportation committee of Community Board 6 for the second time. Here are the details: 6:30 pm at Old First Church729 Carroll Street at 7th Avenue […]
Pedestrians Fighting Over the Scraps
| | 9 Comments
The Brooklynian message boards are often the scene of fierce fighting over Brownstone Brooklyn’s crowded sidewalk space. While Park Slope’s legion of double-wide stroller-pushing moms and sidewalk-riding cyclists tend to generate the most ire, yesterday a new target emerged: Guys playing cards on the sidewalk. Thankfully, these sidewalk fights seem to take place more in […]
Gridlock Sam on Car-Free Central Park
| | No Comments
Yesterday we put forth the argument that fastest, cheapest, easiest and most symbolically rich way for Mayor Bloomberg to initiate his new green agenda for New York City would be to make Central Park car-free during the summer of 2007. Last fall, in a wide-ranging interview with Open Planning Project executive director Mark Gorton, New […]
Aug. ’05 Flashback: 1,200 Slopers Demand a Safer 9th Street
| | 5 Comments
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and 9th St. resident Konrad Kaletsch at Dizzy’s Diner, Eighth Ave. and 9th St., August 2, 2005. That’s DOT Borough Commissioner Lori Ardito in the background wearing shades and looking none too happy to be harangued by Park Slopers demanding safer streets. Tomorrow evening the transportation committee of Community Board […]
Eyes on the Street: Commissioner Sadik-Khan’s Commute
| | 19 Comments
This is how newly appointed transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan got to work this morning. Accompanied by DOT director of street management and safety Ryan Russo, assistant commissioner and director of signs and markings Gerard Soffian, and bicycle program coordinator Josh Benson (pictured above, left-to-right), she took the scenic route, traveling along 9th Avenue through the […]
A New Day at DOT
| | 5 Comments
Today is Janette Sadik-Khan’s first official day on the job as New York City’s new Department of Transportation commissioner. Word has it she recently purchased a new bicycle and will be using it every so often to commute between her home in the West Village and her new office on Worth Street. As Mayor Bloomberg […]
Double-Parking in a Bike Lane? There Isn’t Even a Check Box.
| | 4 Comments
Those of you who are sick of reading about DOT’s plan for Park Slope’s 9th Street and the small but well-organized group of car-owning residents who are opposed to it, will be pleased to know that whole affair may soon be resolved. On Thursday, May 17, the transportation committee of Community Board 6 will take […]
There Are Certain Facts That We’ve All Got to Face Up To
| | 4 Comments
Given that it was only a few months ago that Mayor Michael Bloomberg could be heard saying, "We like traffic, it means economic activity, it means people coming here," his pitch for a whole new set of progressive transportation policies at last week’s meeting of the Regional Plan Association was all the more remarkable: There […]