Aaron Naparstek
AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.
Recent Posts
The 2008 Streetsie Awards, Part 5
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Best Spontaneous Livable Streets Moment: Joyous New Yorkers take to the streets to celebrate Barack Obama’s victory. Movement of the Year: This year we saw cities across the U.S competing to run the first, biggest and best Bogota-style Ciclovia events. San Francisco debuted Sunday Streets (after local activists sat Mayor Gavin Newsom down in front […]
The 2008 Streetsie Awards, Part 4
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Worst City Agency: The NYPD. If they’re in a good mood, they’ll summons you for no apparent reason. If they’re in a bad mood, they’ll body slam you off your bike. They drive recklessly through city parks in their off-duty hours and park their vehicles in bus lanes, bike lanes — pretty much wherever they […]
The 2008 Streetsie Awards, Part 3
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Bureaucrat of the Year: In just a year-and-a-half, Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan has transformed New York City’s Department of Transportation into the envy of city transportation agency officials across the country (OK, maybe Portland, Oregon where the former DOT commissioner was elected mayor isn’t envious). In this Streetfilm, Sadik-Khan shows off and explains some of the […]
The 2008 Streetsie Awards, Part 2
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Biggest Setback: After being approved by an unprecedented civic coalition, the mayor and New York City Council, congestion pricing — the one policy measure that simultaneously reduces traffic congestion while raising money for mass transit and livable streets — died in an Albany backroom without even a vote. Lobbyists of the Year: Walter McCaffrey and […]
The 2008 Streetsie Awards, Part 1
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We’ll be back to a regular publishing schedule starting Monday, January 5. This week we’ll be posting our year end awards, The Streetsies, once per day. Here’s the first batch… The Year’s Best Livable Streets Project: Summer Streets. In a year of rapid and remarkable improvements in New York City’s public spaces, bike lanes and […]
Stay Tuned for the 2008 Streetsies…
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We’re going offline as we compile our 2008 year-end Streetsblog awards. If you’d like to nominate someone or something for a coveted Streesie, submit your idea here in the comments section. It’s not too late. Here are last year’s Streetsie winners to jog your memory. From all of us at Streetsblog and the Livable Streets […]
The Livable Streets Backlash Claims a Victim at Brooklyn’s CB1
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Teresa Toro, one of New York City’s most productive livable streets activists in recent years, has been deposed as chair of Brooklyn Community Board 1’s Transportation Committee. CB1 covers the Williamsburg and Greenpoint neighborhoods of Brooklyn and has recently been embroiled in bitter fighting over the new bike lanes on Kent Avenue. CB1’s executive committee […]
Same.gov: A Transportation Secretary Who’s Hard to Believe In
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On Monday, Obama announced his "green dream team." Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wasn’t there. We’ve been calling around to Congressional staffers, advocates and insiders to get a better sense of what Obama’s appointment of Ray LaHood as transportation secretary means for those pushing for sustainable transport, smart growth, livable streets. While no one is giving […]
Done Deal: Obama Picks LaHood as Transpo Secretary
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The Washington Post says it’s official.
Cartoon Tuesday: Dinosaurs
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Marshall Ramsey of the Clarion-Ledger explores the relationship between the automobile industry and the rest of us. Click through for the punchline.
Channel 13 Poll: Tolls on the East River Bridges?
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Channel 13 is promoting tonight’s episode of "New York Voices" with an online poll asking, "Should there be tolls on the East River Bridges?" I don’t know. Should motorists get a free ride into Manhattan while subway riders face massive fare increases? What do you think? The show airs at 8pm: Tuesday night’s New York […]
Get Ready for Streetsblog San Francisco
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How come so many posts on San Francisco lately? Let’s make it official: The Open Planning Project will be launching Streetsblog San Francisco in January 2009. After interviewing many highly qualified candidates during last month’s RailVolution conference, we’ve hired Bryan Goebel as the site’s editor and Matthew Roth as full-time reporter. Bryan is a veteran […]