Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Air Quality

Sadik-Khan and Congestion Pricing: Ready for Prime Time

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 Janette Sadik-Khan has one week to go before taking over as the city’s new transportation commissioner. Not surprisingly, a public appearance Friday found her well prepared to push Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC congestion pricing program. Pressed into service for the Regional Plan Association’s day-long 17th Annual Regional Assembly, held at the swank Waldorf-Astoria, Sadik-Khan served as […]

Building a Better Bike Lane

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This weekend’s Wall Street Journal has an massive, full-page report on bike friendly cities in Europe. Initially the arguments for more biking were mostly about health and congestion, but in the last year concern for the environment has become an important factor compelling people to travel by bicycle: Flat, compact and temperate, the Netherlands and […]

Are “Directional Miles of Bike Lanes” a Good Metric?

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Monday night I attended Manhattan Community Board 8’s pedestrian and cycling safety forum. There was an All-Star cast of panelists. Former DOT Commissioner Sam Schwartz, Manhattan DOT Commissioner Margaret Forgione and Director of Street Management and Safety Ryan Russo, Matthew Bauer of the Madison Ave BID, Traffic Enforcement Agents as well as other transportation experts. There were the usual complaints […]

New York Magazine Casts a Cynical Eye on “Bloomtopia”

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New York Magazine’s Chris Smith, who calls congestion pricing a trojan horse, suspects fewer cars and more trees may be a "green screen" for mayor Bloomberg’s real estate development agenda: Mayor Bloomberg’s Earth Day speech compiled 127 ideas for making the city more "sustainable" by 2030. But congestion pricing has dominated the conversation ever since. […]

Ken Livingstone on Congestion Pricing in New York

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In his most recent article for the Guardian, London mayor Ken Livingstone applauds Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to introduce congestion pricing in New York City: New York is now to get congestion charging modelled on London’s successful scheme. Isn’t it about time the naysayers admitted they were wrong? Retail sales in central London are far outperforming […]