DOT: Bergtraum to CUNY, Primeggia to Copenhagen

Department of Transportation First Deputy Commissioner Judith Bergtraum, a top aide to former commissioner Iris Weinshall, is leaving DOT for a job at the City University of New York where Weinshall is now a vice chancellor.

As first reported by the Daily News’ Elizabeth Benjamin, DOT commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan just returned from a quick trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, the world city that is really setting the standard for urban bike infrastructure and public space design (36% of commuters travel by bike.) There she met with Jan Gehl, one of the world’s foremost experts on progressive urban design. Deputy Commissioner for Traffic Operations Michael Primeggia joined her as well as Planning commissioner and William Holly Whyte acolyte, Amanda Burden.

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DOT Commissioner Update

By Aaron Naparstek |
Sources say that Janette Sadik-Khan (left) is a top candidate to replace Iris Weinshall when she resigns on April 13. Sadik-Khan met with Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff this week to talk about the job. A senior vice president at Parsons Brinckerhoff and former Director of the Mayor’s Office of Transportation for New York City during […]

Famed Danish Urbanist Jan Gehl in Town to Consult on PlaNYC

By Alex Marshall |
The Urbanist Musketeers: Alex Garvin, Jan Gehl and Fred Kent in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 30, 2006. Jan Gehl, the famed Danish urbanist, is in New York City this week where, sources say, he has been hired as a consultant for Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC program. At a presentation to the board of the Regional Plan Association […]

Q&A With Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan

By Aaron Naparstek |
Streetsblog interviewed DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan at 40 Worth St., Monday, June 18. Photo: Brad Aaron Janette Sadik-Khan: Four days. Streetsblog: Left in the legislative session? JSK: Yeah, well, maybe four days left, maybe more days. August in Albany. What can be better? SB: (Laughing) So, let’s start with something other than congestion pricing. How […]

Who Will be the Next DOT Commissioner?

By Aaron Naparstek |
People are starting to kick around the names of potential successors to outgoing DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall. This morning, Crain’s Insider reports: Insiders believe that Mayor Mike Bloomberg will look inside his administration for Iris Weinshall’s replacement as transportation commissioner. But because Bloomberg will be out in 2009, top transportation people may favor state jobs: […]

DOT Launches Gehl Street Survey Project

By Brad Aaron |
The New York City Department of Transportation has retained Danish urbanist Jan Gehl’s firm to evaluate city streets and other public spaces. Streetsblog first reported this development as a possibility back in June, when we interviewed Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan. Not long after, we got word that Gehl had been hired by the city as a […]

Sources Say…

By Aaron Naparstek |
DOT Commissioner Kate Ascher: "It’s not happening. It’s not possible. That information is incorrect." DOT Commissioner Joan McDonald: "It’s a very complicated agency, a huge bureaucracy with lots of moving parts and serious work to be done. If they took someone who has been here before, already had knowledge of the agency and who has […]