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
Hyping the HyperBike
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Inventor Curt DeForest Jr. claims that his HyperBike will be the fastest and safest human-powered vehicle ever built. It’s roll cage supposedly can withstand a 200 mph impact. DeForest writes: I set out to create a machine that would promote good health and good posture, could travel great distances at top speeds, did not use […]
Pedicab Rally in the News
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AMNY reports: The City Council is poised to put the brakes on New York’s freewheeling pedicabs, prompting hundreds of their drivers to say the regulations would devastate a pollution-free way to get around town. "They say we are causing traffic congestion," said pedicab driver Mega Martinez, 43, at a protest Tuesday. "How can that be? […]
Today’s Rally Against Pedicab Regulations
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Chad Marlow of the Public Advocacy Group is at the podium. Concerned pedicab owners, drivers and their supporters met on the steps of City Hall at noon to lift the veil off ongoing negotiations to reconcile the Mayor’s and City Council’s pedicab regulation bills. What we want is something that addresses the problem of bunching […]
Paris Approves Plan to Reduce Traffic by 40% by 2020
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The Paris Link reports: Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoë has unveiled his plans to cut traffic in the capital by 40%. The plans, which also aim to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 60%, has met serious opposition with both drivers and right-wing parties. Despite this opposition, the Mayor’s detailed plans were adopted by the […]
Cyclists Ride with Pedicabs to Rally at City Hall
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The City Council Consumer Affairs Committee is set to vote on regulations that would put a very low cap on the total number of pedicabs in the City and ban certain types of pedicabs from City streets. Time’s Up! joins the Pedicab Owners’ Association against these unreasonable regulations to say: NO CAPS! NO BANS! SAVE THE […]
Pedaling Protest Takes on Car Show
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The Chicago Tribune reports: Dressed as polar bears and Santa Claus and towing signs that read "True Patriots Don’t Burn Oil" and "Be a Hero: Drive Less," a group of bicyclists gathered Saturday in front of McCormick Place to protest the Chicago Auto Show. "We feel there are enough cars in Chicago," said Dan […]
A Guilty Motorist Turns Himself In
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from Ben’s Musings: As I left the garage in a stressed state, I drove through a pedestrian crossing on red lights startling a mother pushing a pram, but missing her by some way. I immediately realised what an utterly stupid thing I had just done and when we got home, before heading out to lunch, […]
Robert Moses’s Fundamental Misunderstanding
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In the latest issue of the Regional Plan Association’s Spotlight on the Region newsletter, editor Alex Marshall has an outstanding essay responding to the recent burst of Robert Moses revisionism. An excerpt: It all comes down to capacity. Like many people of his generation, I’m convinced, Moses essentially didn’t understand the different capabilities of […]
40,000+ U.S. Buses Are Equipped With Bike Racks. None in NYC.
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Via the National Center for Bicycling & Walking’s Centerlines Newsletter, the National Center for Transit Research reports: "Over 40,000 buses at more than 300 transit agencies in the U.S. are equipped with bike racks, and an estimated 670,000 bikes-on-transit trips are provided each month… Photo: brandonzwa/Flickr
Cars Conquering the Bicycle Kingdom
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The Globe and Mail reports: Last year, China became the world’s second-biggest car market, behind the United States. In Beijing alone, there are 1,000 new cars on the streets every day. As a result, bicycles are increasingly being squeezed to the margins. The streets are choked with traffic and automobile fumes. New roads are sometimes […]
Is a 1.3 mph Increase in Crosstown Traffic Speed “Innovative?”
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The Staten Island Advance reports on Monday’s press conference outlining the qualities that leading City Council members would like to see in the next DOT Commissioner. The Bloomberg Administration responded to the Council with the following statement: The Mayor will appoint a commissioner who will carry out policies to meet the sustainability challenges he […]
$100 Fine for Crossing the Street and Talking on the Phone
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Fox News reports: There are laws on the books to stop jaywalking, but if one New York state senator gets his way, it will soon be illegal to bop along to your iPod while crossing the street. Sen. Carl Kruger will propose a bill that would ban using an iPod – and any other electronic […]