Three Things in Mind

New York Daily News, September 9, 2000:

"The city’s new transportation chief [Iris Weinshall] said yesterday she will take office with
three things in mind: ‘traffic, traffic, traffic.’"

What three things do we hope New York City’s next transportation commissioner has in mind as he or she takes office in April 2007? 

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The Iris Weinshall Legacy: Queens Boulevard

By John Kaehny |
"What became clear to me in this discussion was that the engineers were thinking from the motorists’ viewpoint."  — Iris Weinshall, New York Newsday, April 29, 2001   A long walk across Queens Blvd. at Grand Ave., Elmhurst, circa March 2001. Photo: Jeff Saltzman Departing Department of Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall often cites the pedestrian […]

Pedestrian Interference

By Aaron Naparstek |
  Left to right: New York City Department of Transportation Deputy Commissioner/Senior Policy Advisor David Woloch, Commissioner Iris Weinshall, a procurement and technical servicea aide and City Councilmembers John Liu and Gale Brewer. As I saw it, the three big bullet points to come out of yesterday’s City Council Transportation Committee hearing on Intro. 199, […]

Weinshall in Stockholm: Praying for Safer Streets

By Aaron Naparstek |
"The tragic loss of two bicyclists this week has shocked all of us and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families and friends. Unfortunately, New York City’s crowded streets often cause conflict between cars and bicyclists as they attempt to share limited space." — NYC DOT statement, June 29, 2006. On Thursday, June […]

Weinshall Upheld a “Cars-First Status Quo,” T.A. Says

By Aaron Naparstek |
Transportation Alternatives has come out with its statement on the resignation of DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall along with a brief to-do list for the next commissioner. Executive Director Paul White isn’t pulling punches. From T.A.: Iris Weinshall upheld the cars-first status quo at a time when New York City streets desperately needed innovation and change. […]

Streetfilms: “We’re New York, We Can Lead”

By Sarah Goodyear |
Traffic Information & Relief Bill Press Conference  Running time: 4 minutes 3 seconds Transportation Alternatives held press conference on the steps of City Hall yesterday in support of Intro 199, a bill introduced in the City Council by Councilmember Gale Brewer that calls for better information-gathering about the city’s traffic and aims to "reduce the […]

The Iris Weinshall Renaissance

By Aaron Naparstek |
DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall’s speech was, for many long-time Livable Streets advocates, the single most remarkable aspect of yesterday’s Manhattan Transportation Policy Conference. As Jon Orcutt at TSTC noted, Weinshall’s speech "laid out an array of measures to improve New York’s pedestrian and bicycling environments, soften the quality of life impacts of heavy traffic, and […]