Albany has set a path to greener streets: Let's make sure they follow it.

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T.A. in the News

Congestion pricing's future is so bright, New Yorkers are wearing shades.

The agreement authorizes the Mayor to develop a congestion pricing plan and to implement it, if the plan passes muster. In short, the process would require a newly formed Traffic Congestion Commission (made up of 17 members, 13 of whom will be appointed by pro-pricing politicians) to approve the Mayor's congestion pricing plan or produce an alternate plan that reduces vehicle miles traveled in NYC by 6.3% (a decrease that most experts see as attainable only through congestion pricing). Then, if New York City receives a federal traffic reduction grant of at least $250 million (or $200 million, plus $50 million committed from the City) by October 2007, and the MTA adequately explains the impact of the proposed plan on their budget and operating strategy, the Commission would hold a vote on the proposed plan in January 2008. Once they voted, the City Council would be asked to OK the plan, followed by the Assembly and the Senate, all before March 31, 2008.

Ensuring that this process yields the maximum amount of traffic relief and transit benefits will require the support and activism of T.A. members, volunteers, coalitions and allies from across the region. T.A. and the 140+ member organizations of the Campaign for New York's Future will conduct outreach to educate New Yorkers and elected officials about the benefits of congestion pricing, the demographics it will affect, the breadth of its outcomes and what is needed to make it happen. This in-the-field edification is essential because, according to polls, when New Yorkers know how congestion pricing works, who will be affected and that the revenue will be used to fund transit, public opinion on pricing flips from 80% opposed to over 60% in support.

If you want more information on what every New Yorker needs to know about congestion pricing, visit T.A.'s newly updated congestion pricing resource webpage to see presentations, other cities' experiences, studies, and how you can take action to win congestion pricing.

Take Action: Sign-up to volunteer with T.A.'s congestion pricing campaign. Follow this link to let us know what neighborhood you live and work in and how you can help. Since the Mayor's historic Earth Day announcement, T.A. has raised over $200,000 for Green the Streets, our campaign to make sure that congestion pricing becomes a reality. Help us reach our goal of raising $500,000 for this two-year campaign.

Takeria Cummings of the Groundswell project team presents the design concepts for the traffic safety mural that will be painted next month along 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. Photo courtesy of Streetsblog.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a large-scale mural made with Groundswell Community Mural Project (a local non profit). It will be painted along 3rd Avenue in August. Groundswell is working with a team of local teens, under the guidance of acclaimed social activist artists Christopher Cardinale and Nicole Schulman, to research traffic calming strategies and to design and paint a large-scale mural to promote traffic safety.

Last week the project team delivered an outstanding presentation on the mural design to a packed room of community members. Attendees included several families of crash victims, tenants from the Warren Housing Project, and representatives from the Boerum Hill Association, Community Education Council, Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors, the Fifth Avenue Committee, Visual Resistance and local parents and children.

Meanwhile, T.A. is working with the DOT to get safety improvements at local schools and dangerous intersections. The recent improvements along Brooklyn's 9th Street are a great example of how balancing our streets for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers can result in safer conditions for everyone. Just imagine if 3rd and 4th Avenues were designed as places for people rather than as thru-streets for truck traffic.

To get involved or find out more information about this campaign, please E-mail ped@transalt.org.

It's no surprise that this isn't a safe way to exercise.

Athletes, who may consume up to 20-30 times more air--and pollution--than a sedentary individual, are at particular risk for the negative health effects associated with air pollution from cars. A recent New York Times article interviewed a researcher from the University of Edinburgh who found that breathing in polluted air while exercising can cause the fist signs of a heart attack. And a researcher from the University of Brisbane, also quoted in the article, found that an individual exercising and breathing in relatively non-polluted air suffered similar lung damage as a person not exercising and breathing highly-polluted air, most likely due to the increased frequency of respiration.

Obviously, these disturbing findings are another in the long list of reasons to fight for increased support of active transportation and the expansion of car-free spaces for safe and healthy recreation. To stay up to date with T.A.'s efforts to promote car-free space and car-free parks, sign up to receive Central Park Committee and/or Prospect Park Committee campaign updates.

Have you recently switched commute modes? We need your help!

One area where individual New Yorkers can make a real impact is their commute choice. This regular journey, often the most carbon intensive component of our transportation habits, is one of the easiest ways for New Yorkers to reduce their carbon footprint. You'll have to wait until we release the study to find out more, but if you've recently changed your commuting habits, even one day a week, we'd like to talk to you about what you've changed and how it's impacting our city and our future. E-mail the Director of T.A.'s climate change program at climate@transalt.org.

Baseball, bikes and Coney Island: It's officially Summer.

Leave the traffic behind and bike to Key Span Park! Join us for a 7-mile ride to see the Brooklyn Cyclones vs. the Vermont Lake Monsters. Marshals from Transportation Alternatives will escort you to the game via on-street bicycle lanes and off-street greenways at a leisurely pace. Riders of all skill levels are welcome. Riders who wish to take their own route and starting location are also encouraged to join in the spirit of the day and meet us at the game.

Once at the game, free attended bike parking close to the stadium entrance will be provided. The ride is free. Meet at Grand Army Plaza entrance to Park at 4:15 pm.

To purchase discounted tickets for the game, go to brooklyncyclones.com and click on Special Tickets, find Bike to Key Span Park and type in BIKE as the special code or call 718-507-TIXX.

Parking Spot Squats are the easy way to make a parking space a public space.

New York City is not alone in its need to rebalance street space away from cars. September 21st marks the 3rd year of Park(ing) Day, a global effort to rethink the way streets are used, to call attention to the need for urban parks, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat.

Transportation Alternatives is helping New York City join this effort and we need your help. To get involved in New York City Park(ing) Day 2007, please email lindsey@transalt.org.

We're also hiring a freelance illustrator/cartoonist/animator to develop visual messages to aid our current campaigns to win congestion pricing and streets, parks and public space that are more conducive to bicycling, walking and surface transit.

Go to our jobs page for more info.