Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Quality of Life

Queensboro Bridge Area Safety Under Scrutiny

By Glenn McAnanama | Nov 6, 2006 | No Comments

Among the three cyclist fatality clusters identified by the joint report by the City Departments of Health, Police, Parks and Transportation, the Queensboro Bridge is by far the worst. The entrance intersection at 60th and Second also claimed the award for the most unticketed incidents of block the box in the Borough President’s study of lax enforcement of […]

Slow News Day?

By Aaron Naparstek | Nov 3, 2006 | 5 Comments

Apropos of I’m-not-sure-what, today’s New York Sun dedicates the majority of its op/ed page to an excerpt of my 2003 book, Honku: The Zen Antidote to Road Rage (an excellent holiday gift, I might add). Below are some excerpts from the Sun, including some excellent poems written by visitors to my web site, honku.org. The […]

London Calling. Are New York’s Leaders Really Listening?

By Aaron Naparstek | Nov 2, 2006 | 6 Comments

London officials closed the northern side of Trafalgar Square to traffic creating a vibrant new public space. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Chuck Schumer argue that New York City risks losing its place of global pre-eminence in a Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday. The editorial is a response to growing conventional wisdom that says London […]

San Fran Mayor Sets Ambitious Transportation Targets

By Aaron Naparstek | Nov 1, 2006 | 5 Comments

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom (pictured right) emphasized quality of life issues in his annual State of the City address last week. Most significant, Newsom put forward an ambitious transportation agenda and laid out specific targets for increasing bicycling and reducing automobile use: We will continue our long term planning to create a citywide bicycle network, […]

Foreign Correspondent: Bogotá’s Lack of “Vibrancy”

By Aaron Naparstek | Oct 27, 2006 | 10 Comments

Before Enrique Peñalosa took over as Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, this thriving downtown plaza was a decrepit, crime-ridden, traffic-congested slum. Peñalosa cleared out the old shacks, banned private motor vehicles, launched the Transmilenio bus service, created the plaza, and returned this public space to his city’s people. Granted, the neighborhood pictured above clearly lacks the First […]

Life on Crutches in NYC

By Glenn McAnanama | Oct 27, 2006 | 8 Comments

For the last month, since I broke my ankle, New York has ceased to be the same place for me. At least in terms of getting around the city, the landscape has been dramatically transformed. Week 1 was spent in relative isolation at my parents house on Staten Island where they were nice enough to […]

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