Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about James Vacca

Mayor’s Budget Includes Parking Meter Rate Hike, Red Light Cam Expansion

By Noah Kazis | May 6, 2011 | 8 Comments

Mayor Bloomberg’s budget proposal, which was released today, still includes a plan to increase parking meter rates across the city, a plan which the City Council scuttled once in January. The transportation budget also includes an increase in revenue from an expansion of the city’s red light camera program. The biggest budget fights are sure […]

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 […]

Mugging for TV, James Vacca Turns Transpo Committee Into Kangaroo Court

By Noah Kazis | May 5, 2011 | 12 Comments

When James Vacca called a hearing of the City Council transportation committee to discuss the DOT plaza program yesterday, what was he trying to get out of it? For many neighborhoods, the plaza program offers the best and only chance of expanding their limited supply of public space, and most of the council members who […]

Help Streetsblog Tell the Political Story Behind the Prospect Park West Fight

By Ben Fried | Mar 30, 2011 | 34 Comments

Thanks to some rescheduling, we’ve got nearly two months until the first court hearing on the Prospect Park West lawsuit. Flimsy as the plaintiffs’ case may be, they now have a long time to run their smear campaign against DOT and the neighborhood advocates who put in years of organizing to make this street safer. […]

Pedestrians and Cyclists Come First at D.C. Street Safety Hearing

By Brad Aaron | Feb 16, 2011 | No Comments

“If we want to give meaning to multi-modal transportation … and if we want a vibrant city, then we must encourage safety for people who walk and bicycle.” That was Phil Mendelson, the city council member in Washington, DC, who chaired a hearing on pedestrian and cyclist safety earlier this month (as quoted by TBD). […]

Sensible Talk on Parking From Council Mems in Seattle and D.C.

By Ben Fried | Jan 11, 2011 | 3 Comments

After Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca, Speaker Christine Quinn, and the City Council yanked a 25-cent parking meter increase out of the city budget last week, reading Vacca’s explanation in the Daily News (“This was just not fair.”) was enough to make transportation reformers despair. NYC meter rates are so low right now that curbs […]

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