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
Visualizing a Car-Free Bedford Avenue
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Emil Choski has given his Car-Free Bedford Avenue project a serious face lift. The 22-year-old freelance graphic designer and community organizer’s new web site includes a three dimensional “flyby” visualization accompanied by some very un-Williamsburgy classical music. With apologies to the Meatpacking District and Ninth Avenue, Emil’s project has to be my favorite grassroots livable […]
Plan Urged Safety Measures for Intersection Where Boy Died
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The May 2003 final report of the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project recommended pedestrian safety measures designed specifically to prevent the kind of collision that killed a four-year-old boy in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon. A graphic from the Downtown Brooklyn Traffic Calming Project final plan showing pedestrian safety recommendations for Third […]
2006 Pedestrian Fatality Numbers from DOT
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DOT’s press office sends along the 2006 pedestrian fatality numbers for New York City along with a couple other years for context. The official count for 2006 is up from 2005 but a bit lower than Transportation Alternatives’ number: Year Fatalities 1994 — 2232005 — 1562006 — 166
NYC Pedestrian Fatalities Up in 2006?
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In the wake of yet another gruesome killing of a pedestrian walking in the crosswalk with the right-of-way — this time, a 4-year-old boy run over by a guy driving a Hummer — Transportation Alternatives is arguing that these kinds of deaths can be prevented or, at least, made less likely, with the following five […]
Political Deal Results in Bad Pedicab Regulations
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More on tomorrow’s rally and press conference on the city’s proposed pedicab regulations: Chad Marlow of the Public Advocacy Group, the pedicab industry’s lobbyist, sends along this press release arguing that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Speaker Christine Quinn’s proposal to put a cap on the number of pedicabs and ban electric-assist technology harms the industry […]
Gridlock Sam: Avert Climate Catastrophe, Ride a Vespa®
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While Parisians are starting to complain that "an invasion of noisy scooters and motorcycles and a rise in accidents involving pedestrian and motorcyclists" is one of the "unintended consequences" of Mayor Bertrand Delanoe’s traffic reduction policies, "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz’s consulting firm just issued a report claiming that New York City could better meet its […]
Unintended Consequences of Paris’s Traffic-Reduction Policies
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Red lights mean gridlock on this real-time map of Parisian road traffic. During the launch of Paris’s new streetcar system last month, a Times of London wrote that Parisians are beginning to turn against Mayor Bertrand Delanoe’s aggressive traffic reduction measures: Paris residents, most of whom do not drive much, were until recently happy with […]
Streetfilms: “A City Is a Means to a Way of Life”
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Manhattan on the Move ConferenceEdited by Nick Whitaker Running time: 6 minutes 52 seconds At last October’s Manhattan Transportation Policy Conference, convened by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, people from every neighborhood in Manhattan gathered to discuss a vision for the future of transportation in New York. In his keynote address, Enrique Peñalosa, the former […]
DOT: “Our Job is to Keep Traffic Moving, Not Pedestrian Safety”
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Scribner Avenue, New Brighton, Staten Island, formerly two- and now one-way, looking up the hill toward Bismarck Avenue from Westervelt Avenue Streetsblog reader Dan Icolari became curious about changes that were being made on his neighborhood streets in Staten Island. In researching the issue he found that progressive policy statements coming out of Department of […]
Driving Mrs. Kelly
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Police columnist Len Levitt of NYPD Confidential has an interesting piece on Commissioner Ray Kelly’s use of his official security detail to chauffeur his wife on personal trips at taxpayer expense. My first reaction would be a big "So what?" except for three things: State Comptroller Alan Hevesi was forced from office earlier this year […]
Birth Announcement and Illegal Permit Parking
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Aaron Naparstek, the editor of Streetsblog, and his wife Joanne Nerenberg announce the birth of their second son, Saul Oren Naparstek, Thursday, February 1, 2:01 pm. Saul weighed in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces and was 20 inches tall. He was born at Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn with a city government […]
Three Things in Mind
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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?