Speed Bumps

At the Museum of the City of New York, Vincent Cianni’s bracing photos show how a group of teens on Williamsburg’s south side organized to get a skate park built in the shadowy wasteland beneath the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. If these kids can persuade City Hall to let them shape their own terrain, imagine what five boroughs’-worth of block associations, business improvement districts and Livable Streets advocates can accomplish. Check out the show, We Skate Hardcore, and get the wheels turning. It closes August 6. 

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Streetfilm: Paris Skates!

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Streetfilms’ Elizabeth Press kicks off a series of videos about livable streets in Paris with this look at the city’s two weekly romps on skates — roller-versions of Critical Mass that attract up to 15,000 participants. Notice that the police are an essential part of the proceedings (and they seem to have fun doing it […]

This Week in Livable Streets Events

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Not a lot going on this week on the Streetsblog Calendar, but when Summer Streets is your bookend, how much more do you really need? Wednesday: Join Streetfilms at the New York Transit Museum for a program of short films exploring and celebrating transit systems from across the country and around the world. Bring your […]

Community Benefits Agreements: What Do They Mean for Livable Streets?

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A rendering of the CBA-mandated walkable development slated for the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis. Image: UrbanWorks Architecture. Last week, Comptroller John Liu announced plans to convene a task force to study and issue recommendations about community benefits agreements in New York. While details on the task force are still forthcoming, the renewed public attention on […]

Eyes on the Street: Livable Streets a Mile High

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A little end-of-day action from the Streetsblog Flickr pool, courtesy of BeyondDC: Here’s Denver’s 16th Street Shuttle, also called the MallRide. Check out those three low-floor doors for easy-on, easy-off boarding and alighting. The MallRide travels up and down a mile-long pedestrian mall — the only vehicle allowed there — arriving every 90 seconds. It’s […]