Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about City Council

Vacca Watch: Transpo Chair Stokes Fears of Phantom Bike Lanes on NY1

By Ben Fried | Jul 14, 2011 | 16 Comments

To borrow from the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay, this NY1 segment starring City Council Transportation Chair James Vacca seems to come straight out of the “shrill and embarrassing” early 2011 phase of NYC bike coverage. Once reporter Michael Herzenberg intones in his best investigative journalist voice that “believe it or not, many of the […]

Vacca Watch: Council Allows Parking Meter Rates to Rise to Dollar Per Hour

By Noah Kazis | Jul 1, 2011 | 4 Comments

After a grim day, it’s nice to be able to head into the holiday weekend with some good news. In a vote on Wednesday, the City Council allowed a proposed parking meter rate hike to move forward. The cost of parking on the street for an hour will increase from 75 cents to a dollar […]

NYPD Opposes Bill to Curb Placard Abuse as Total Soars to 118,000

By Noah Kazis | Jun 22, 2011 | 27 Comments

At a City Council Transportation Committee hearing today, the New York Police Department announced its opposition to legislation that would curb parking placard abuse by requiring barcodes on official placards. NYPD claimed that it has placard abuse under control and that only Police Commissioner Ray Kelly should have the power to determine what tools are […]

Vacca Watch: At Budget Hearing, Council Calms Down, Focuses on Potholes

By Noah Kazis | Jun 3, 2011 | 10 Comments

Call it the case of the missing demagoguery. Yesterday’s City Council transportation budget hearing was less notable for what was said than what wasn’t. Attacks on the city’s proposed parking meter rate increase were largely absent, and the scapegoating of bike lanes and pedestrian plazas that has dominated recent hearings in James Vacca’s committee failed […]

Introducing “Vacca Watch”

By Ben Fried | May 6, 2011 | 30 Comments

When Streetsblog interviewed City Council Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca a year ago, he was fresh off a press appearance with AARP calling for complete streets legislation in Albany. The Ninth Avenue protected bike lane was the backdrop. During our conversation a few weeks later he came across as someone who took street safety seriously […]

The Untold Story of DOT’s Plaza Program: It’s a Hit

By Noah Kazis | May 5, 2011 | 14 Comments

You wouldn’t know it from opening the newspaper or turning on the television, but yesterday’s City Council hearing on pedestrian plazas actually showed how widespread support for the plazas are. Only two council members appeared to be at all opposed to the plaza program — though of course those two have dominated the headlines — […]

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