Happy Independence Day

In this Streetfilm by Elizabeth Press, New Yorkers enjoy a block party on West 87th Street in Manhattan. The June event was one of dozens sponsored this summer by the New York City Streets Renaissance, many of them still to come. At over 3,000 block parties per year, New Yorkers mark their independence from traffic and pollution. How are you celebrating your car-freedom this 4th of July weekend?

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Streetfilm: The Diverter

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 From Streetfilms’ animation division comes the third installment of traffic-calming shorts from Elizabeth Press. First she brought you chicanes, then the raised crosswalk. Now comes the diverter, which Elizabeth explains like so: Diagonal diverters, half closures, entrance barriers, median barriers, semi-diverters; traffic calming techniques come in all shapes and sizes. They can help create more […]

Streetfilms: Biking the Falls

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Before the four "New York City Waterfalls" began gushing along the East River this June, DOT marked a bike route passing by each installation and released a guide to go with it. In this Streetfilm Elizabeth Press shows us a recent bike tour of the falls, led by DOT commish Janette Sadik-Khan. Special bonus feature: […]

Streetfilm: Ladies’ Repair Night

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Here’s a great documentary-style Streetfilm about the Recycle-a-Bicycle program from Elizabeth Press, who writes: Recycle-A-Bicycle takes donated bicycles, repairs them and reintroduces them to the community through earn-a-bike programs in schools and sales from their non-profit retail locations. Although their work mainly focuses on environmental education and job training programs for New York City youth, […]

Make Queens Boulevard a Complete Street

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Last February, 22-year-old Asif Rahman was hit and killed by a truck while riding his bicycle on Queens Boulevard. Though the infamous "Boulevard of Death" is a lot safer than it used to be, it still produces far too many injuries and fatalities. Asif’s family, Council member Jim Gennaro, and Transportation Alternatives held a press […]

Streetfilms: Depaving Day in Portland

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Our coverage of the Toward Carfree Cities conference continues with this Streetfilm from Elizabeth Press, who brings us a unique public service project. Hundreds of conference participants helped break and remove asphalt from a 3,000 square foot parking lot. Depave.org is the mastermind behind the Fargo Garden Project. They promote the removal of unnecessary concrete […]

Free Bike Share Debuts on Governors Island

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Last Friday marked the first free bike share day on Governors Island, and Streetfilms’ Elizabeth Press was on hand: Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC), Transportation Alternatives and Bike and Roll have joined forces to create what they are calling New York City’s first sustained bike share program. Every Friday between June 6th and […]