Articles and Actions
Events and Alerts
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| The New Chief | ||||
We're waiting for Mayor Bloomberg to announce a new DOT Commissioner--hoping for a sign of good things to come. Will the Mayor use this occasion to herald a new era of green transportation? Will he give the Commissioner a new mandate to switch driving trips to buses, bicycling and walking? (PDF) Will he raise NYC's curbside parking rates to deter the ceaseless cruising traffic that comprises 15-45% of all traffic? (PDF)
More and more New Yorkers are asking these questions and calling for sensibly managed streets. Over 100,000 New Yorkers have signed the petition for a car-free Central Park. A recent Tri-State Transportation Campaign poll showed that more than three-fourths of New Yorkers (79%) consider traffic jams on city streets to be a problem, including 53% who consider it a "major problem." And fully half (50%) believe traffic congestion in Manhattan on a normal workday is unacceptable. Seven hundred Park Slopers turned out last week to say no to a misguided DOT plan that would bring more high-speed traffic to their streets. And in town hall forums in all five boroughs, New Yorkers have told the Mayor to put traffic relief at the top of his sustainability agenda. The Mayor's new pro-transit sustainability plan, growing public outrage over street carnage and increasingly vociferous opposition to excessive traffic and its ills suggest that the DOT's new number one will have to hit the ground running with a progressive agenda in mind. Thankfully, in recent months, the DOT has been changing in positive ways: a flurry of recent hires and promotions have placed a new crop of progressive planners at the helm of the DOT's burgeoning pedestrian, bicycle and bus programs. (PDF) The growing influence of this new guard was evident in the release of last week's positive analysis of the recent increase in car-free hours in Central Park (PDF) and the new community instigated plan for a safe east-west bike lanes on Bleecker and Prince. The stage is set for reform and the time for change has arrived. Transportation Alternatives sincerely looks forward to working with the new DOT Commissioner to make the streets more inviting to those who use them most efficiently: walkers, bus riders and bicyclists. |
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| Mayoral Reprieve for Restrictive Pedicab Regulations | ||||
On March 14th, for the first time since taking office in 2001, Mayor Bloomberg withheld his signature from a bill put forth by the City Council. At the signing ceremony of Intro 331-A, a proposed law that would place overbearing and restrictive regulations on the city's growing pedicab industry, the Mayor announced that he wanted to "think about it" before granting his approval.
Sponsored by Council Speaker Christine Quinn and passed with the most dissenting votes of any legislation under her tenure, Intro 331-A would impose, among other restrictions, a cap of 325 pedicabs (there are an estimated 500 pedicabs in operation now) and a ban on low-power electric-assist motors. Mayor Bloomberg's thoughtful deferral of Intro 331-A shows real interest in encouraging non-polluting transportation and supporting environmental sustainability. His Honor's actions connect the dots between plaNYC, the everyday reality of NYC transportation policy and the City Council's pending pedicab legislation. Now, Mayor Bloomberg has until March 30th to decide what action he will take on Intro 331-A. Should he not sign the bill, it will automatically become law. Should he oppose it and call for alternative regulations that will promote healthy growth of the pedicab industry, the Mayor will be taking an important step towards making New York City sustainable in the years to come.
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| Uncivilservants.org Cleans Up the Curb | ||||
On Thursday, March 15th, Transportation Alternatives and community groups from around the city announced a three-part campaign to combat permit parking abuse in New York City. Each component of the new campaign shines light on a long-standing problem and strives to find a meaningful resolution to satisfy community residents and government workers alike. Starting with an innovative, user-driven website, uncivilservants.org, we've provided a forum for New Yorkers to post photos of vehicles abusing parking permits citywide.
The website not only continues to draw attention to a problem that clogs our streets and poses safety problems to us all, it also provides a level playing field for discussions about permit abuse. The parking placard issue is so closely tied to authority, privilege and entitlement that regular citizens rarely have a chance or a safe space to voice their concerns about it in a productive manner. Uncivilservants.org provides that space and enables us to present photos that document this citywide problem to the relevant authorities. Once the photos are logged on the site, a legal team will use the New York Freedom of Information Law ("FOIL") to query each agency and find out how permits are issued, which permits are valid, when permits may be properly used, who supervises the permit abusers and whether there is a formal complaint procedure. In addition to important information received from FOIL, we will log formal complaints where appropriate to compel swift resolution to scofflaw permit parkers. The final piece of the campaign is Intro 504, a vital piece of good governance legislation introduced in the City Council, which would require the Mayor's Management Report to detail the number of parking placards issued annually by the City. Transportation Alternatives and our community partners will not rest until the City Council passes this bill or the Mayor voluntarily discloses these numbers.
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| Dr. Shoup's Egalitarian Answer | ||||
The world's foremost parking expert, Dr. Donald Shoup, came to New York City with a mission: convince civic, business and city officials that we can have our cake (parking spaces) and eat it too (by creating rational pricing for it). After numerous meetings with directors of Business Improvement Districts, the Partnership for NYC, the Mayor's Long-term Sustainability Team, NYPD, City DOT, City Council Members and many more policy makers, it's safe to say, "mission accomplished."
In addition to extolling the benefits of parking reform on traffic reduction--particularly by eliminating cruising, which in some neighborhoods is as high as 45% of all traffic--Dr. Shoup reiterated countless times the untapped goldmine in our streets. If New York City made the important decision to charge market-rate prices at the curb in commercial districts and piloted Residential Parking Permits in certain neighborhoods, the revenue potential would likely be in the billions. What's more, the City could finally rent some of its most lucrative properties--curbside parking spaces--at market cost and use that revenue to improve sidewalks, a street resource that benefits all New Yorkers. In the coming months, Transportation Alternatives will be working with our new partners in the business world, BID directors and with city agencies to promote a pilot "parking improvement district" by 2008. Given the strong show of support among many of the potential stakeholders, our hopes are high that New York City will lead the way on parking reform, and make a buck or two in the process. |
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| Vote For a New E-Bulletin Title | ||||
The competition was fierce, but here they are, our top six choices for a new e-bulletin name. Help us pick the winner! The person with the winning entry will win a brand new Crumpler messenger bag, plus the joy of helping Transportation Alternatives make our advocacy more compelling than ever.
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| Room to Breathe NYC: Bicyclists Needed | ||||
T.A. is reproducing a dramatic visual that will show how much street space New York City would gain if more people rode bicycles and took mass transit instead of driving personal cars. We will have a professional photographer on hand to document a group of 40-50 cyclists riding on an iconic stretch of NYC's streets. We need you to be a part of the pack!
We'll provide bagels and coffee; you provide yourself, your bicycle and a desire to be part of an historic and unique event. Please e-mail Wiley at volunteer@transalt.org for more information and to RSVP. |
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| A Livable Streets Discussion and Happy Hour | ||||
Meet and mingle with readers, activists, supporters and members of online communities dedicated to a livable approach to transportation, development and public spaces. Get to know the others who share your values about the kind of city we want to live in. Put faces behind the screen names online. And have a drink!
The Open Planning Project and Blogging Liberally Present: |
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| Give Us Your Best Shot | ||||
Are you a photographer? Here's an easy way to help Transportation Alternatives (and maybe get a photo credit in the process). When you upload your bicycling and walking photos from NYC to Flickr tag them with TransAlt.
We'll be compiling these photos for use in upcoming e-bulletins, Transportation Alternatives Magazine and our soon to be redesigned website.
We need tons of great photos of people bicycling and walking in all five boroughs. For complete photo guidelines and details about photo credit please see our photo guidelines (pdf). Thanks in advance for your help. |
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| Will Rising Sea Levels Drown NYC? | ||||
Not if we fight back and demand that our elected officials, corporations and fellow citizens take climate change seriously and do something to stop it now! Join Transportation Alternatives and a host of other environmental and community-based organizations on Saturday April 14th, as we call on our country to "Step it Up." Step it Up is a national day of action to raise awareness about climate change and to call on congress to pass legislation that would set caps on CO2 emission. Here in New York we'll be forming a "Sea of People," so we need huge numbers of people to come out and be part of a rally and march that will demarcate the projected eastern and western 10-foot waterlines that may one day redefine lower Manhattan under the ten-foot sea level rise scenario.
Will you join us? Visit seaofpeople.org and click on the link on the right-hand side of the page to RSVP. We also need volunteers! Email: seaofpeople@gmail.com to get more involved. April 14th is just around the corner, please spread the word about this important action to your friends, colleagues and family and join us as part of the Sea of People fighting back against climate change. |
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| Two Chances to Catch Contested Streets in Queens | ||||
See the T.A. produced documentary for free at these great venues:
Contested Streets Screening
Contested Streets Screening |
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| Build NYC's First Mountain Bike Trails | ||||
Our friends at the NYC Mountain Bike Association need help constructing the first mountain bike trails in NYC. Their last big volunteer day is Saturday, March 24 at the Highbridge Park trails. Volunteers meet at the corner of Dyckman Street and Ft. George Hill, right next to the 1 train stop at Dyckman Street (in Inwood, Manhattan) at 9 am. Lunch, drinks and tools are provided. You bring the elbow grease.
To sign up, or get more info, email Jamie at jb@nycmtb.com. |
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| Be Smarter, Save Money | ||||
You already like the T.A. E-Bulletin, but what if we told you we can give you the direct line to more T.A. news, benefits and savings? Become a T.A. member today and receive:
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| T. A. In The News | ||||
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Shame Game, Downtown Express, 3/23
Debate Over a Web Site About Parking and Permits, New York Times, 3/22 Parking Violation Watchdog Website Draws Critics, gothamist, 3/22 Proof! City Plan Would Create Speedways, Brooklyn Paper, 3/17 Council, Advocacy Group Take Aim at City's Parking Placards, Staten Island Advance, 3/16 A New Deterrent for Parking Violators: Shame, New York Sun, 3/15 'Park' Hogs are Caught in a Snap, New York Post, 3/15 Homemade Illegal Parking Porn, New York Press, 3/15 Events for March 15, 2007, New York Observer, 3/15 Films Explore Social, Environmental Issues, Vancouver Sun, 3/15 Traffic Tsar Candidates Have Vastly Differing Visions, New York Sun, 3/14 Having a Car in the City Costs More Than the Sticker Price, New York Daily News, 3/14 "Parking Rock Star" Donald Shoup Plays Broadway, StreetsBlog, 3/13 Three Killed in Weekend Car Accidents, Metro NY, 3/12 Downtown Detour? New York Sun, 3/12 Weekend's Toll: Vehicles Kill 3 Pedestrians, Injure 4, gothamist, 3/12 Parking: If You Build it They Will Come... in Their Cars, StreetsBlog, 3/12 On Right Bus Path, New York Daily News, 3/12 Rush hour: Trains, Pains and Automobiles, New York Daily News, 3/11 Too Many Pedestrians Dying on City's Meanest Streets, New York Daily News, 3/8 Woman Dies Crossing Lefferts, Times Ledger, 3/8 Pedestrians Rally for Safer Streets - Advocates say Traffic is Murder on Many, Kings Courier, 3/8 The New York City Parking Boom, StreetsBlog, 3/8 Transportation Alternatives is a member-supported non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Join T.A. today!
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