Articles and Actions
Events and Alerts
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| Let Your Green Flag Fly | |||||
In the past few months, Mayor Bloomberg has shown that green--along with orange and blue--is one of New York City's official colors. His plaNYC 2030 initiative shows a real commitment to the environment that advocates hope will last from His Honor's Earth Day announcement (this Sunday, April 22nd) to the end of his mayoral term. The New York City Council however, has not been so straight ahead with its actions or in demonstrating its hue of choice.
The current City Council has introduced and promoted several environmentally regressive policies and even passed some of them. In November, Speaker Quinn and many of her Council colleagues supported the NYPD's Parade Permit rules, making organizing environmentally friendly group bike rides more burdensome by establishing an onerous application and approval processes for all formal and informal group bike rides. More recently, Madame Speaker pressured Councilmembers to override the mayor's veto of draconian pedicab regulations. Her colleague Councilmember Lew Fidler introduced Resolution 774 "calling upon the Mayor of New York City to oppose the institution of any form of congestion pricing." Although these actions imbue the City Council with a surprisingly anti-environment tint, their color is subject to change. The Council has plenty of opportunities to show New Yorkers that they see the link between transportation and sustainability and are willing to work for a greener Big Apple. In the near future, the Council will have the opportunity to take swift and positive action on amended versions of the Traffic Information and Relief Bill (Intro 199A) and the Car-Free Parks Bill (Intro 276A) as well as to break with Speaker Quinn and support the Mayor's welcome veto of the pedicab bill (Intro 331A). If the City Council were to take these issues seriously and act to improve conditions in our crown jewel parks, get serious about understanding traffic and transportation and support pedicabs, they would send a strong environmental message and project a bold green streak that could rival that of the Mayor.
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| Bike Month NYC is Nearly Here! | |||||
Why do over 120,000 New Yorkers ride their bikes everyday? It's fun, healthy and a great way to get around the City. Every May we salute these daily cyclists and give you over 200 opportunities to get on a bike and give it a try. Transportation Alternatives, the NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Health and the NYC Parks Department bring you the 16th Annual Bike Month NYC.
Visit BikeMonthNYC.org for a full listing of events and to request a copy of the official Bike Month NYC calendar of events to be mailed to you. Take your pick of over 200 great events from rides to rallies to art shows to the Bicycle Film Festival. Another great way to participate in Bike Month NYC is by volunteering at some of the events. Visit transalt.org/volunteer for more details or email volunteer@transalt.org today. Kick off Bike Month NYC with Sustainable Flatbush presenting Streetfilms. The last Bike Month NYC event is Transportation Alternatives' 3rd Annual Tour de Brooklyn on Sunday, June 3rd. We strongly recommend advance (free) registration. For more tips on getting geared up for a great season of biking and all the great Bike Month NYC events coming up, check your in-boxes next week for a special Bike Month NYC themed StreetBeat. |
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| This Week on StreetFilms.org | |||||
Over the last year, The Open Planning Project--one of T.A.'s partners in the NYC Streets Renaissance campaign--has been hard at work advocating for more livable, walkable and greener neighborhoods. One of their most effective tools in this noble effort has been StreetFilms. These unique short films document the experience of everyday people working to make their neighborhood streets safer and more sensible.
In addition to an awesome archive of interviews, T.A. press conferences, special events and community actions, StreetFilms has great videos on best practice policies in other cities featuring innovative bicycling and pedestrian improvements. Some of their finest work can be found in a StreetFilms video featured earlier this year about physically separated bike lanes. It has been watched nearly 40,000 times and has generated interest around the world. In one of their most recent video updates, the StreetFilms team applied an interesting treatment to our new poster campaign, Icons of a Living City. StreetFilms productions are free to transportation groups, festivals, organizations--essentially anyone that wants to spread the livable city love. You can contact the StreetFilms team here. And be sure to check the website often; updates are frequent and always exciting. |
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| Act Now to Save Pedicabs | |||||
On March 30th, Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed Intro 331A, a bill passed by the City Council that would have strangled the city's growing pedicab industry by capping the number of pedicabs at 325, banning electric-assist motors and giving the police power to ban pedicabs from certain streets at will. At this Monday's City Council meeting, Council Speaker Christine Quinn expects that the City Council will override the Mayor's veto, unless you act now.
Please send an e-fax to the City Council and urge them to abstain from overriding the Mayor's veto and to rewrite the pedicab regulations so that they both ensure safety and encourage green business and environmentally-friend transportation. Please send an e-fax! New York City Pedicab Owners Association (NYCPOA) President Peter Meitzler called the Mayor's veto "not just a victory for the pedicab industry, but for all entrepreneurs who want a fair shot at establishing and growing a small business in New York." The Mayor noted that it should be the "free market" that dictates the number of pedicabs on the street, not regulations imposed by the City. His Honor has asked for the regulations to be re-written either without a cap on the number of pedicabs, or with a number that is more reasonable. In the days since the Mayor's veto, both the NY Sun and the Daily News have editorialized on the Speaker's position against pedicabs, making it clear how essential it is that individual Council Members stand up for small business, the environment and the safety of NYC's streets by supporting of one of our city's zero-emission alternative-transportation industries: pedicabs. If the City Council overrides the Mayor's veto, and Intro. 331A becomes law, it will have a chilling effect on all persons who might consider starting a green business in New York City. The lesson will be that any green business in our City is just a special interest group's push away from being legislated out of business. To prevent this dangerous setback from happening, it is time to call on individual City Council Members and insist they either vote "No" or "Abstain" on the pedicab bill veto override vote on April 23rd, 2007. Please send an e-fax to the City Council right now and urge them to support pedicabs. |
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| Action Alerts for Park Slope, SoHo and Greenwich Village Supporters of Safe Streets! | |||||
If you live or work in Park Slope, SoHo or Greenwich Village, help save street safety improvements.
Over the past month, the DOT has rolled out two solid plans to make streets safer and grow the city's bicycle network--the 9th Street "road diet" in Park Slope, Brooklyn and the Prince & Bleecker Streets cross-town bike lanes in SoHo and Greenwich Village, Manhattan. Now, some reactionary locals are rallying to stop the DOT from making these streets safer, saying that the DOT's plans will make the streets more dangerous, cause traffic congestion and pollution, deprive the neighborhood of their "right" to double park and "flood local streets with cyclists!" T.A. strongly supports both of these plans because, they will slow drivers and better organize traffic, making these streets safer for all. These improvements will create safe street space for cycling and strong connections in the city's bike network, making these routes safe for the many people who already bike on them and the many more who soon will.
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| Gourmet Earthday with T.A. and BottleRocket Wine & Spirit | |||||
Bottlerocket Wine & Spirit presents a new installation in their eclectic salon series which has featured luminaries ranging from Dr. Ruth to Chef Anthony Bourdain. This month they are spotlighting global warming with a panel of experts including Environmental Defense Chief Scientist Dr. Bill Chameides, NRDC Senior Attorney Dale Bryk, Jon Coifman, Media and Communications expert from NRDC and Transportation Alternatives' Director of Development and Communications, Dani Simons.
Dani will be highlighting local, grassroots solutions to climate change.
When: Sunday, April 22nd 3 - 6 pm (panel discussion 4 - 5 pm) |
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| Warm Weather, Short Shorts, Hot Pens, Hot Pads | |||||
Spring is the season when the NYPD pulls out its pens and pads and starts writing tickets to cyclists that break traffic laws so be careful, be respectful, ride right and don't say we didn't tell you!
Bike riders are required to follow all of the same traffic laws as drivers. Additionally, the law requires cyclists to ride in available bike lanes unless preparing for a turn, passing or to avoid dangerous conditions like double-parked cars, potholes, debris or substandard bike lanes. Bikers must also have a bell and front and rear lights from dusk until dawn. All cyclists must yield to pedestrians and adults are prohibited from riding on the sidewalk. If you feel you were unjustly ticketed, harassed or would like legal advice, contact T.A. at bike@transalt.org. To urge the NYPD to ticket drivers who threaten cyclists and park and drive in bike lanes, e-mail Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. |
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| Can You Say Kosciuszko? | |||||
The Kosciuszko bridge is in need of repair and the New York State DOT is ready to act. In the coming years, the state will either rehabilitate or replace this critical Newtown creek overpass. All three of the replacement options include a bicycle and pedestrian path; the rehabilitation plans do not.
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| Two Ways to Volunteer | |||||
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| Ride for Climate | |||||
Ride for Climate is a US bicycle tour to raise awareness of global warming and encourage action. Starting in Boston on April 21st, two global warming experts will ride across the US, stopping along the way to give presentations on global warming and discuss solutions. One of the riders, David Kroodsma, is a climate scientist who will have just finished an unsupported bicycle tour from California to the tip of South America. The presentation will discuss the science of climate change, global warming as seen from David's 15,000 mile bicycle ride, opportunities for action, and David and Bill's experience biking across the country.
Co-sponsored by the Ride for Climate, NYU Metropolitan Studies Society and Transportation Alternatives For more information visit rideforclimate.com/usa or read all about the project at: grist.org/comments/interactivist/2007/04/16/bradlee_kroodsma
When: Monday, April 30th 6:30 - 8 pm |
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| The Art of Bicycling in NY | |||||
Join T.A. and the NYC Bike Coalition at the gala opening of Why I Ride: The Art of Bicycling in New York.
Why I Ride is an exciting, multi-venue exhibition produced by Veloprop that showcases New York artists and cyclists working in photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture or installation, who are inspired by the freedom and mobility that the bicycle makes possible in a congested metropolis. With essays from over 30 writers and visuals by 15 artists and groups; visit whyiridenyc.org for more information.
Opening Reception |
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| River Road Temporary Closure | |||||
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Due to mudslides resulting from this week's storm event, part of the southern portion of Henry Hudson Drive ("River Drive"), from the circle at the entrance to the Ross Dock Picnic Area in Fort Lee north to the entrance to Englewood Boat Basin & Picnic Area in Englewood Cliffs, will remain closed to all traffic while repairs are made. It is anticipated that repairs will take over a week to finish. For updates go to the Palisades Interstate Park website.
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| The Livable Neighborhoods Program | |||||
The Municipal Arts Society is working to provide planning resources and training to communities with their Livable Neighborhoods Program.
Trainings will be held Saturday May 5th and May 19th and will provide participants with a comprehensive planning toolkit, training workshops and access to an ongoing web-based peer learning network.
Breakfast and lunch will be provided and, as an added bonus, there will be a supervised children's activity room available for participants to bring children who are pre-school age and up! To learn more about the program and to register click here. |
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| Help Campaign for a Car-Free Bedford Avenue! | |||||
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Car Free Bedford is looking for volunteers to raise awareness and gather signatures in support of a pedestrian and bicycle-friendly main street in Williamsburg.
To get involved, please contact Emil Kozerawski at arkadius1@mac.com.
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| T. A. In The News | |||||
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Earth Day Timing Could Affect Pedicab Vote, New York Sun, 4/18
He's on a Road to Nowhere: David Byrne's Bicycle Stolen, StreetsBlog, 4/16 Greening of Retailers, New York Business, 4/15 One Week Later, Pols Bury Yards Tunnel Plan, Brooklyn Paper, 4/14 DOT Called Out for Lacking Clear Ped Safety Plan, StreetsBlog, 4/13 City Council Committee Examines Pedestrian Safety On City Streets, NY1, 4/12 Sea of People, Climate Activists, gothamist, 4/12 CB6 Asks DOT to Find a Final Solution to the "Bicycle Problem", StreetsBlog, 4/12 CB2 Committee Approves "Additional" Prince/Bleecker Routes, StreetsBlog, 4/12 DOT's 9th Street Plan: Frequently Asked Questions, StreetsBlog, 4/11 Bloomberg Gets sNYP-py, Newsday, 4/11 Plan for Park Slope's 9th Street Traffic, gothamist, 4/10 Ghostly Bikes Pay Homage to Cyclists Lost on the Streets, Wilmington Star, 4/9 Book Talk: Noxious New York, StreetsBlog, 4/9 Bike Lane Plan OK'd, Brooklyn Paper Controversy Over 9th Street Bike Lanes, Park Slope Courier, 4/7 Transportation Alternatives is a member-supported non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Join T.A. today!
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