Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about City Council

Sidewalk Biking Enforcement and NYC’s New Criminal Justice Reforms

By David Meyer | May 25, 2016 | 77 Comments

The City Council just passed a package of bills — collectively known as the Criminal Justice Reform Act — encouraging police officers to issue civil instead of criminal summonses for “quality-of-life” offenses like possessing an open container of alcohol or littering. Sidewalk biking wasn’t one of the offenses included in the bills, but a reform NYPD made to its enforcement […]

Rodriguez: Wouldn’t DOT Like More Vision Zero Funding? Trottenberg: Nope

By David Meyer | May 18, 2016 | 11 Comments

The de Blasio administration continues to resist the City Council’s efforts to devote more resources to street redesigns that will save lives. Speaking at a transportation committee hearing yesterday, Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said DOT has sufficient funding in the city budget to redesign, within six to seven years, the 292 dangerous intersections where most fatal traffic crashes occur. That […]

City Council Proposes Vision Zero Funding Increase — Will de Blasio Agree?

By Brad Aaron | Apr 5, 2016 | 1 Comment

The City Council is proposing a significant increase in funding for street safety projects. Now it’s up to Mayor de Blasio to decide whether to devote more resources to get the city closer to his Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2024. The council’s budget proposal calls for an additional $52.4 million in FY 2017 […]

NYPD and DOT Back Bill to Expand Right of Way for Pedestrians

By David Meyer | Apr 4, 2016 | 9 Comments

NYPD and DOT both support a bill to give pedestrians more legal protection under the city’s Right of Way Law. The Right of Way Law took effect in August 2014 and made it a misdemeanor to hit a pedestrian or cyclist who has the right of way. But district attorneys and the police department often decline to […]

It’s Time to Vote on How to Spend Your Council Member’s Money

By David Meyer | Mar 28, 2016 | 3 Comments

For the fifth year, New Yorkers can vote via participatory budgeting on which projects should receive discretionary funds earmarked for their City Council districts. This time around, a record 30 council members are asking constituents how to spend their discretionary budgets. Voting began this past weekend and runs through Sunday. Instead of the old, opaque, scandal-prone method of distributing discretionary […]

Advocates Ask City Council to Fully Fund Vision Zero Street Improvements

By David Meyer | Mar 18, 2016 | 1 Comment

If the city hopes to dramatically decrease the number of traffic fatalities in New York City, DOT needs more resources to redesign the city’s most dangerous corridors and intersections. That’s the message 70 members of Transportation Alternatives brought to the City Council yesterday, meeting with 21 council members or their staff. “We are calling on the council to increase funding and watchdog […]

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