Jason Varone
Jason Varone battles the streets everyday during a 9 mile commute on his bicycle from downtown Brooklyn to the Upper East Side. In addition to his efforts on Streetsblog, he is an artist making work related to the environment and technology. Examples of his work can be found at www.varonearts.org.
Recent Posts
Shifting Gears at DOT
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DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan bicylcing to work during her first week on the job Crain’s New York reports that the earth is shaking below Dept. of Transportation headquarters at 40 Worth Street: Janette Sadik-Khan, the city’s new transportation commissioner, politely says she’s building on the foundation left by her predecessors. In fact, she is […]
Albany Fiddles Over Congestion Pricing…
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… as NASA Scientist James Hansen and six other scientists publish a new global climate change study that concludes, "The Earth today stands in imminent peril and nothing short of a planetary rescue will save it from the environmental cataclysm of dangerous climate change." Steve Connor writes in The Independent (via Gristmill): "Civilisation developed, and […]
How Americans Get to Work
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According to a new U.S. Census Bureau analysis of data from the American Community Survey, most Americans drive to work — alone, and public transportation commuters are concentrated in a handful of large cities. From the Bureau’s press release: Despite rising fuel costs, commuters continued to drive their cars in 2005. The survey, gathered over […]
File Under: Only in America
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Sean Roche of the Newton Streets and Sidewalks blog sends along this sad, bizarre, disturbing item: A Tennessee dad named Larry Price set up a charity after his son suffered and survived a severe head injury in a bicycling accident. The charity, Cars for Kids, held a legal street drag race in Selmer Tennessee. During […]
David Weprin: The Parking Garage Industry’s Valet?
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The Post finds that Queens City Council Member David Weprin has been raking in campaign contributions from parking garage owners, all the while serving as one of the loudest critics of Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan. This ought to sound familiar to Streetsblog readers. Back in May we found that Weprin had taken in at […]
A Livable Streets Exhibition Opens in Brooklyn
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This Thursday will be the opening reception of "Livable Streets in Brooklyn," an exhibition at the Brooklyn Public Library. There will be a presentation by the Grand Army Plaza Coalition (GAPco) about the community-driven process that has been underway to re-envision Grand Army Plaza. And the Department of Transportation will discuss its recently announced plans […]
Quebec Approves Carbon Tax on Fuels to Cut Greenhouse Gases
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Quebec will become the first Canadian province to impose a carbon tax on energy producers. Bloomberg reports: The provincial cabinet approved the tax in Quebec City yesterday, according to a statement on the Natural Resources Ministry Web site. Refiners including Valero Energy Corp.’s Ultramar unit and Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Canadian unit will start paying […]
Brainstorming a New Vision for Midtown’s East River Waterfront
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The Municipal Art Society of New York, City Council member Dan Garodnick, and Manhattan’s Community Board 6 ran an intensive day-long workshop last Wednesday to develop a new vision for Midtown’s inaccessible East River waterfront. On Sunday, MAS unveiled some of the results. From the MAS press release: "By realigning and lowering the 42nd Street […]
Forever Double-Parked on Google’s Memory Lane
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Writing about Google’s new Street View feature in this week’s Brooklyn Paper, Brooklyn Heights Blog publisher Homer Fink finds out why the New York City Police Department has doled out more parking summonses in Brooklyn Heights this year than in any other precinct in New York City: The first thing you notice when trolling the […]
New TV Ad Focuses on PlaNYC’s Health Benefits
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The Campaign for New York’s Future has released a new poll, a glossy mailer that’ll go out to 380,000 families, and a television advertisement focusing on the health benefits of Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030. The Daily Politics has a nice write-up: With time running out up in Albany and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver saying he […]
New Bike Lanes Won’t Leave Room for Escalade Double-Parking!
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Across the Park, a blog dedicated to Brooklyn’s Prospect Lefferts Gardens neighborhood, notes the striping of new bike lanes on Lincoln Road and Maple Street, just to the east of Prospect Park. We assume that this is meant to be read with an ironic tone, though, you really never know in Brooklyn these days: Someone […]