Posts tagged New York

  • Grocery stores disappearing in NYC

    One of the great things about living in NYC the ease of buying groceries. What is widely considered NYC’s best grocery store was about five blocks from me, and yet I didn’t usually go there because it was crowded and there was another supermarket only three blocks from me, not to mention a little grocery one avenue over. Or at least, this a great thing about living on the Upper…  Keep reading…

  • NYC discusses blank walls

    Streetsblog spoke with New York’s Department of City Planning about the new blank wall buildings going up on Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue, which Streetsblog and I criticized. DCP explained why they didn’t require retail, and how the minimum parking requirements forced garages onto these buildings.  Keep reading…

  • New Partners: Congestion pricing and transportation finance

    The panel at the New Partners conference on transportation finance featured NYC’s congestion pricing hero Bruce Schaller, and Michael Replogle of Environmental Defense. As David Burwell of Project for Public Spaces said when he introduced the panel: The transportation trust fund is broke—not just broken, but broke. Actually, the highway fund is broke now, and the…  Keep reading…

  • Congestion is other people

    The New York City commission formed to study congestion pricing has made its recommendation, to positive reviews. It’s mostly like Mayor Bloomberg’s original proposal, with a few changes: it moves the boundary from 86th Street to 60th Street, adds the FDR drive and West Side Highway/West Street to the toll zone, removes a parking tax exemption (parking is definitely…  Keep reading…

  • Long Islanders crave alternatives to suburbia

    Long Island’s lack of walkable downtowns containing apartments and townhouses is hurting the region and causing young people to leave, according to Long Island Index, and a third of Long Islanders would like to have the option to live in that kind of downtown.  Keep reading…

  • “I’m all for bike lanes but” not enough room to double park

    Today’s Gridlock Sam column in the NY Daily News contains this letter that reveals the amazing absurdity of New York’s parking mess. This truck driver depends on double parking to make deliveries, but new bike lanes interfere with space for the double parking. Does he criticize the lack of loading zones? No, it’s clearly the bike lanes at fault. And rather…  Keep reading…

  • Building over Union Station rail yards

    One of the best ways for cities to improve the often-forlorn areas around major infrastructure is by building on air rights. When a street crosses over a major highway, why not put buildings over the highway on either side, turning an empty bridge into a city street with activity along the sidewalks, like they are doing in Boston and Columbus.  Covering a big rail yard near a major…  Keep reading…

  • UFT still narrow-minded on parking

    Sam Schwartz, former NYC Traffic Commissioner who reduced placard parking in the 1980s, released his ten-part recommendation for reducing placard abuse. But the UFT has other ideas, passing a resolution asking for expanded rights to park on their schools’ scarce property.   Keep reading…

  • UFT disappoints on parking

    Randi Weingarten, president of NYC’s United Federation of Teachers, acted against the public interest by defending parking placards for teachers, as just another type of benefit and digging in her heels to protect the status quo. Unions are a controversial part of our society and economy. Years of conservative framing have made many citizens deeply suspicious of unions,…  Keep reading…

  • “All I want for New Year’s is free parking”

    When asked what they wished for in the New Year, many neighborhood leaders replied world peace, better public schools, and free parking. Free parking? Yes, Cleveland Park ANC Commissioner Richard Rothblum listed those very items (fortunately, in that order). In the latest Dupont Current (which unfortunately has no online archives except June 2007), a variety of neighborhood…  Keep reading…

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