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
Launching the Campaign for Carbon Taxes
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Streetsblog contributor Charles Komanoff, along with Daniel Rosenblum, today announce the foundation of their new organization, the Carbon Tax Center. The Center’s mission is "to educate and inform policymakers, opinion leaders and the public, including grassroots organizations, about the benefits of and critical need for significant, rising and equitable taxes on carbon emissions from fossil […]
New Congestion Pricing Poll in Line With London & Stockholm
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A new Quinnipiac Poll finds that New York City voters oppose the idea of congestion pricing by a margin of about two-to-one and the idea of East River Bridge tolls by more than four-to-one. The opposition exists despite the finding that only 24 percent of New York City voters surveyed "usually travel into and out […]
Livable Streets Apparently Not on the Mayor’s ’07 Agenda
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Mayor Bloomberg’s State of the City Speech yesterday looked back on a year in which "so much went right throughout" New York City and looked forward to a year focused on improving schools, encouraging more real estate development, and eliminating sales tax on footwear and clothing. Unlike Mayors of many other world cities, the kinds […]
The State of the City
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Mayor Bloomberg delivered his State of the City address at Brooklyn Tech yesterday afternoon. Anyone hoping to hear policy proposals on traffic, transportation, livable streets, climate change and long-term sustainability issues was likely disappointed. During the speech, a Streetsblog tipster happened to be biking along Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn on his way to the […]
For or Against NYPD’s Public Assembly Restrictions?
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OnNYTurf maps out New York City Councilmembers who are for or against the NYPD’s proposed rules to limit public assembly. Blues are against the NYPD restrictions; red is for.
Homemade Traffic Calming in Mexico’s Yucatan
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From Wired Magazine co-founder Kevin Kelly’s web site Throughout Mexico "topes" or speed bumps, are ubiquitous. These can be metal pods arrayed across the road, or asphalt humps, or even significant concrete wedges. You really do have to slow down, and almost stop to crawl over them. There is usually a sign warning they are […]
Traffic Signals Timed for Bicycling
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Here is an interesting bike infrastructure story out of Copenhagen, Denmark. 30,000 Cyclists Get the Green Wave: Cars and especially buses have for year had the benefit of a green traffic light wave on the roads. But now it is the cyclists turn to enjoy a smooth ride through the city without stopping at red […]
Flushed Away
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Kevin Walsh at Forgotten NY has a new photo essay on his neighborhood, Flushing, Queens. It’s not the typical Forgotten NY catalogue of historical obsurities. Rather, in this post, Walsh illustrates what he sees as the destruction of one of New York City’s great old neighborhood by developers run amok. Even if you see new […]
PLANYC 2030 Community Leader Meetings
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Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Long-Term Planning & Sustainability is running a series of meetings with community groups. Though the meeting times are posted publicly on the PLANYC 2030 web site, no locations are listed and word has it these borough-wide "Community Leader" meetings are going to be pretty strictly invitation-only. Presentation to New York New Visions […]
Uncool New York: NYC Lags in Combatting Climate Change
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Chris Smith has an outstanding story in this week’s New York Magazine pointing out that New York City has fallen behind other world cities in addressing climate change and challenging the Bloomberg Administration to do more. An excerpt: Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been cruising through his second term. At this point, with a gaudy approval […]
Does Vehicular Chaos Push Families Out of NYC?
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Streetsblog contributor Charles Komanoff had an excellent letter in the New York Times on Sunday in response to the article about Sara Robbins, the Brooklyn Heights woman tragically, horrifyingly killed by a private sanitation truck last month: To the Editor: Your reporting in "A Death in the Family" (Dec. 24) makes clear that the traffic […]
Reverse Graffiti
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Who is the big bad graffito — all of those automobile tailpipes or the guy scrubbing soot off the wall of this tunnel in Sao Paulo? A Streetsblog tipster sends along news about a cool new urban art form: A number of street artists around the world have taken to expressing themselves through an innovative […]