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Take Action! Bike Week NYC, May 1-11, is your chance to take action to improve bicycling conditions in NYC while having fun! Put up posters, attend events and speak to your Borough President at their celebrations. Bike Week NYC is fun! Free rides, food, seminars, shows, films and much more! Join us at Bike Week NYC!
Wanted: Century Coordinator Help organize the much-loved NYC Century Bike Tour! T.A. is seeking a highly motivated, detail-oriented, independent bicyclist to assist the Event Director with all details of the event. See job listing for more information.
T.A. In the News Latest 3/20 Letters: Burning blubber, Time Out New York 3/17 Weekend Warrior, Daily News 3/16 BUZZ: Looking for a Good Word About the Car Alarm, New York Times 3/13 Queens Residents Battle Against Noisy Car Alarms, NY1 3/13 Pushing to drive out car alarms, Daily News 3/13 Forum on Car-Alarm Ban, Newsday 3/9 From Racks to Insurance: Parking Guide For Bicycles, The New York Times 3/1 Segway's Breakdown, Wired Magazine 2/17 T.A. Hollers for Bollards, Park Slope Courier 2/16 On a Road That Has Claimed Lives, a Push to Save Them, The New York Times 2/12 Albany Pols Give Tolls an Unofficial OK, Queens Courier 1/30 Hills & Gardens: News & Views from Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn Heights Press & Cobble Hill News 1/28 Green Light for Greenways!, Waterwire.net's Waterwire News 1/27 Prospect Park Car-Free Hours Are Cause For Celebration, Park Slope Courier 1/23 Plan Eyed To Combat Accidents, Newsday 1/22 Prospects up for walkers in park car ban, Daily News 1/19 One-Vehicle Gridlock, New York Times 1/14 New bike lanes aren't welcome in one Bronx neighborhood, CBS2 1/13 Prospect Park set to go car-free... sort of, The Brooklyn Papers 1/13 More Car-Free Hours Coming, Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier 1/13 Issue of the Week: 311, Gotham Gazette 1/9 Prospect Park cuts drive time, Daily News
T.A. News
Come to the Volunteer Mailing Party, Wednesday, April 9th at 6 pm at the T.A. Office (115 West 30th, #1207)! Free beer, soda, snacks and scintillating conversation. Paid Advocacy
Internship/ 16 to 20 hours a week. Minimum commitment of one semester. Visit transalt.org/jobs for details. Time on your hands? Eager to
make a difference? T.A. needs folks who are retired, work part-time or
between jobs to help our top-notch advocacy staff make the city a better place for bicyclists,
pedestrians and transit riders. Valet Bike Parking Volunteers Needed Volunteer to provide valet bike parking at events throughout the year. Register online to express your interest in this opportunity. T.A. still has two open internships:
- Advocacy
(work with T.A. program staff) Please visit transalt.org/intern for more information. Donations Wish List Help cycling and walking and get a tax deduction. Donate to T.A. We need: -Pentium II or better
PCs Contact Matt: info@transalt.org
Do Your Part for Safer Streets! Report: Potholes
and Hazards: Sidewalk
obstructions: Mayor’s Quality of Life Hotline at 888-677-LIFE/
Read more about T.A.'s work to reduce street hazards at transalt.org/haz Report Dangerous Cabs: 212-221-TAXI or report them online.
Read more about T.A.'s work to make cabs safer for pedestrians and cyclists at transalt.org/cabs The T.A. Bulletin is a bi-weekly publication of Transportation Alternatives. The Bulletin has 23,000 subscribers. Transportation Alternatives is a 5,000-member NYC-area non-profit citizens group working for better bicycling, walking and public transit, and fewer cars. We work for safer, calmer neighborhood streets and car-free parks. Join T.A. today!
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The business of government and everyday life continues despite the war in Iraq. Here in New York City, the mayor and his commissioners continue to grapple with an enormous budget deficit and the threat of terrorism. Meanwhile, the MTA has announced that, due to soaring interest payments and predicted cuts in state and city aid, it may have to implement another fare hike in addition to the one scheduled to go into effect in May. Read on for T.A.'s campaign for life-saving red light and speed cameras, Manhattan Bridge dangers, plus GM on public transit riders.
Tell Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver and State Senate Leader Joe Bruno to pass There is overwhelming evidence
that red light cameras and speed cameras make streets safer. To their credit,
Mayor Bloomberg and the
Act now. Fax them both a message to make NYC streets safer for bicyclists and pedestrians.
www.transalt.org/press/askta/030331.html#s Dear State Senate Majority Leader Bruno and Assembly Speaker Silver:
Name:
Please include your full contact information so that your message will be treated as official correspondence! Your message will be faxed to both Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senate Leader Joseph Bruno and e-mailed to Transportation Alternatives. If your e-mail program does not support forms, please visit this page online:www.transalt.org/press/askta/030331.html#s You may also e-mail Silver and Bruno at speaker@assembly.state.ny.us and bruno@senate.state.ny.us.
British Transport Secretary Alistair Darling announced in February that deaths and serious injuries fell by 35% in Britain on roads with speed cameras in operation. He heralded the life saving benefits of the devices:
Key Findings on Speed Cameras
The independent report was commissioned by the Road Safety Division of the
Department for Transport and produced by University College London and PA
Consulting Group. www.roads.dft.gov.uk/roadsafety/cameras/redlight/
During last year's legislative campaign for speed cameras, the Daily News, which editorialized in favor of the cams, interviewed Assembly Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt (D-Rochester) about his opposition:
As to Gantt's "slippery
slope attendant to using machines to enforce traffic laws rather than
people," the man has got it backwards.
This statistic is staggering: motorists run 1.23 million red lights in New York City every workday. According to a 2000 report by then NYC (and now NY State) Comptroller Alan Hevesi, the worst intersection for red light running in Manhattan is 79th Street and Madison Avenue, and the five worst intersections in Brooklyn are close to schools.
All polls are anonymous. If your e-mail program does not
support forms, simply visit this page online to
participate in this poll:
The DOT Must Act to Make it Safer When the Manhattan Bridge opened to cyclists and pedestrians in June 2001, dangerous traffic conditions existed on both sides of the bridge.
 on the Brooklyn side
of the Manhattan Bridge and it is hard to imagine how bike/ped safety improvements
could make it worse.Despite the dangers, cycling
use of the bridge has skyrocketed since the DOT conducted its safety evaluation of
the bridge in August 2001. The number of cyclists crossing the Manhattan Bridge
between 7 and 10 am on an average August day has increased from 11 to 152.
It's
time for the DOT to re-evaluate bicycle and pedestrian access to the Brooklyn side
of the Manhattan Bridge and take action to make it safer.
What GM Thinks About Public Transit Riders
Advertisement appearing in the Georgia Straight, a Vancouver, British Columbia publication [an error occurred while processing this directive]
This issue is being mailed to all T.A. members. It includes news on bicycle, pedestrian and car-free Central Park and Prospect Park, sensible transportation, features and much, much more! View the Table of Contents or request a copy!  Selected articles
Take Action
Advocacy Committees Brooklyn@transalt.org Centralpark@transalt.org Gowanus@transalt.org Citywide: |
• Sign-up Online! T.A.’s members support our advocacy for bicyclists, pedestrians and car-free Central and Prospect Parks. So should you. 
MAD AS HELL? DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
Call the Mayor's Quality of Life Action Line (real people 24 hrs a day): 888-677-5433 or 888-677-LIFE. POTHOLES, STREET HAZARDS GOT YOU IN A RUT? Call DOT at 212-225-5368 and hit 0 to skip the message and speak with a
human. You can also report them online at transalt.org/ STAY SMART & INFORMED Savvy
transit riders get their lowdown on the subways here: Sensible
Transport Junkies:  The daily Gotham Gazette: gothamgazette. org NYC News summaries and savvy commentary. Bikes
in Bogota? Car-Free Cartagena? Tel-Aviv by Train?
Give on-line at transalt.org/join Quick!
What's your city council GET THERE!
Check our maps page for links to NYC-area bicycle and transit maps. RIDES AND WALKS Friday, March 28, 7 pm. Critical Mass. Union Square Park North. Time's Up! Saturday, March 29, 9 am. Montauk Training Ride / Hackensack, NJ. Plaza Hotel. 5BBC. Saturday, March 29, 10 am. Bike the Bronx River with the Urban Park Rangers. 219th Street and Bronx Boulevard in Shoelace Park; Biking to Soundview Park. Saturday, March 29, 10 pm. Riverside Ride. Columbus Circle. Time's Up! Sunday, March 30, 8 am. Montauk Training Ride / Rockland Lake, NY. Plaza Hotel. 5BBC. Sunday, March 30, 9 am. Four Boro Bike Ride. City Hall. 5BBC. Sunday, March 30, 10 am. Spanish / Bilingual Immersion Ride - El Museo. City Hall. 5BBC. Sunday, March 30, 12 pm. Coney Island & the Aquarium. Nathan’s Rest. near Stillwell Ave. station (F, Q, or W trains). Shorewalkers. Tuesday, April 1, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists. Thursday, April 3, 10 am. Ride the Manhattan Greenways. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists. Friday, April 4, 10 pm. Central Park Moonlight Ride. Columbus Circle. Time's Up! Sunday, April 6, 8 am. Montauk Century Training Ride / Sunken Meadow State Park, LI. Cunningham Park. 5BBC. Sunday, April 6, 10 am. Hoboken Waterfront Exploration. Near entrance to PATH train at 6th Ave. & 32nd St. in outdoor seating area. Shorewalkers. Sunday, April 6, 12:30 pm. Captain Kidd & the Lost Treasures of the East River. East 60th St. & 1st Ave. 5BBC. Tuesday, April 8, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists. Thursday, April 10, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists. Saturday, April 12, 8 am. Montauk Century Training Ride / Stony Point, NY. Plaza Hotel. 5BBC. Saturday, April 12, 10 am. Broadway #1. Staten Island Ferry Terminal. Shorewalkers. Sunday, April 13, 8 am. Montauk Century Training Ride / Lloyd Neck, LI. Cunningham Park. 5BBC. Sunday, April 13, 8:45 am. Kingston, NJ to Princeton. PABT, south bldg., to take 9 AM Suburban Lines bus (Coach USA) to Kingston (NJ), arr. 10:20. Shorewalkers. Sunday, April 13, 11 am. Rounding Historic Manhattan. in front of Trinity Church, 9 Broadway and Wall Street. Shorewalkers. Sunday, April 13, 12:30 pm. Brooklyn Queens Mosaic. East 60th St. & 1st Ave. 5BBC. Tuesday, April 15, 10 am. TBA. Central Park Boathouse. The Weekday Cyclists. |
Commentary
this
lifesaving legislation
Department
of Transportation are renewing their efforts to get the state legislature to
pass new laws allowing NYC to expand its successful red light camera program
from 50 to 150 cameras and to install up to ten automatic speed enforcement
cameras.
Send
a fax to both Silver and Bruno using the form below or
modify it as you see fit. If your e-mail program does not
support forms, visit
Read more about
"I am hesitant to expand
photo-radar cameras beyond the existing N.Y.C. red light demonstration project
due to concerns about motor vehicle operator privacy, the appropriateness of
citing motor vehicle owners rather than operators, the slippery slope attendant
to using machines to enforce traffic laws rather than people, and the adequacy
of law enforcement staffing levels."
Briefing materials supplied to
Gantt by the NYC DOT and Transportation Alternatives clearly demonstrate that
speed and red light cameras like those in use in NYC and Britain take pictures
of only the vehicle's license plate. And, even if they take a picture of the
driver's
face, the cameras are triggered only when a motorist runs a red light or speeds.
In Gantt's world, it seems that law breaking motorists are entitled to a
special privacy right not available to the rest of society, given that it is now
common practice to videotape--and even use facial recognition technology--in public spaces?
Moreover, NYC already has issued more than a million tickets to vehicle owners
using red light camera technology without a public outcry over the fairness of
issuing the penalty to the vehicle owners rather than the vehicle driver
committing the crime. Indeed, the January 10th, 2002 issue of Car and Travel
reports that 89% of NY State AAA members support red light cameras.
Red light cameras don't engage in
racial profiling and they don't harass women traveling alone late at night. In
fact, they are utterly unbiased and fair. H'mm, perhaps this is exactly the problem
for legislators and other VIPs who are used to getting away with speeding and
light running.
So who is running all those red lights? Not
taxis. They account for only 2% of the violations (14% in Manhattan). The vast
majority of violators are passenger vehicles, and they overwhelmingly have
in-state license plates (98%). According to Hevesi, other cities are taking red
light runners head on. For NYC to equal Washington D.C.'s coverage, it
would need 338 red light cameras. To equal San Diego, 251. New York City
currently has 50 red light cameras.
The
DOT should install a "yield to
cyclists" sign and flashing amber light here on the Brooklyn side of the
Manhattan Bridge to alert bridge traffic to the presence of cyclists.
T.A.
has many volunteer opportunities. Please visit our site to learn
more about how you can help. Come to the 
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