Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Public Health

Free Bike Helmets for Delivery Workers Today

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In anticipation of two new laws that take effect in July, DOT is handing out free helmets to commercial cyclists. One law requires businesses to provide helmets to employees who use bicycles as part of their work, and to make sure their workers wear them. Another law requires businesses to display this poster (pdf) in […]

Jackson Heights: New Front in One-Way Battle

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A view of 35th Ave. in Jackson Heights, part of the DOT’s proposed one-way pair for the neighborhood Apparently undeterred by the resounding community rejection of proposed one-way streets in Park Slope in March, the city’s Department of Transportation is proposing changing two major thoroughfares in Jackson Heights from two-way to one-way. The proposal, which […]

City Holds Its Breath for Silver

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At the end of last week it appeared Mayor Bloomberg was on the verge of pulling it off. Having scored a congestion pricing bill in the state Senate, coaxed a cautious endorsement from the governor, and all but securing a near half-billion dollar pledge from Washington, Bloomberg sailed into Friday’s state Assembly hearings on a […]

Chicago Alley Initiative Shows How to Make Streets Greener

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Chicago’s Department of Transportation started the Green Alleys Program to use the city’s many alleyways to conserve natural resources and improve the environment. Although New York City doesn’t have too many alleys, the beautifully-designed, 47-page Green Alleys Program booklet (PDF) offers several techniques that could still be useful in making New York City streets perform […]

Car-Free Sundays Return to the Bronx

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In the early 1990’s three and a half miles of the Grand Concourse, a major arterial roadway in the Bronx, was closed to cars every Sunday from July through November (kind of like Bogota Colombia’s Ciclovia). The closures provided residents with much-needed open space to bike, walk, play and develop a sense of community with […]