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
Small Step for Pedestrians & Cyclists; Giant Leap for NYC
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The Department of Transportation’s recently announced streetscape renovation at the Bedford Avenue L subway station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn marks the first time ever in New York City that car parking spaces have been removed to make way for bicycle parking. Since breaking the news of this development on Monday, Streetsblog has learned more about the project. DOT’s plan […]
New German Community Models Car-Free Living
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The Vauban Department of Transportation gets to work. Schritt Tempo: Walking Speed. Freiburg, Germany is a place you need to know about if you are interested in models for reducing automobile dependence. Here is a great story by Isabelle de Pommereau from Wednesday’s Christian Science Monitor: FREIBURG, GERMANY: It’s pickup time at the Vauban kindergarten here at the edge […]
Highlights From the Latest Mobilizing the Region
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The latest issue of Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Mobilizing the Region newsletter just came out. Here are some of the highlights: The Bloomberg Sustainability Agenda: Reading the Transportation Tea LeavesThe mayor mentioned only two broad transportation-related goals: bring the subway system to a state of good repair, and improve travel times over today’s levels by adding […]
Confronting Our Problems
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Below is an interesting e-mail sent yesterday to Transportation Alternatives. T.A. forwarded it to Streetsblog and we all thought that it would make fodder for an interesting discussion. The letter’s author gave Streetsblog permission to publish it. One of my questions is whether people think that this cyclist’s approach is a productive way for New York City’s urban environmental advocates to press […]
Meeting Tonight on Westside Greenway Bike Safety
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Photo: Metrolens Will of On NY Turf is urging people who care about bike safety on the Hudson River Greenway to attend tonight’s meeting of Manhattan Community Board 4’s Transportation Committee. Less than a month after a drunk driver leaving a party at Chelsea Piers drove onto the Hudson River Greenway and killed cyclist Eric […]
Streetfilms: On-Street Bicycle Parking, Portland
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Following the news about the new sidewalk extensions and bike racks being installed in place of car parking space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Clarence Eckerson of Streetfilms sends along this short video looking at on-street bicycle parking in Portland, Oregon, that cyclists’ Shangri-La. As Greg Raisman from Portland DOT says, "After we put it in, it […]
Eyes on the Most Powerful Man in New York State Gov’t
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NoLandGrab is now reporting that Sheldon Silver is now expected to vote to approve Atlantic Yards today. The word is out, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is going to vote to APPROVE Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards proposal because Governor Pataki has allowed a stand-alone vote, not tied to other appropriations. Also Silver feels that the financial […]
Donut Emergency: Cop Parked in Crosswalk and Bike Lane
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This photo comes from a recent entry on MyBikeLane.com. Jessica writes: Coming home this evening from work on my bike, i saw 2 officers pull up to the curb, successfully parking in a crosswalk AND bike lane. I stopped and asked "Officer… do you really need to park in the crosswalk AND bike lane?" To […]
Chicago Cracks Down on Drivers Who Threaten Pedestrians
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In just the last ten days here in New York City a 7-year-old boy was killed in the crosswalk by a trucker trying to beat a red light in Brooklyn, a young woman on the Upper East Side and a Brooklyn Heights law professor were crushed to death by private sanitation trucks, and a 12-year-old […]
Did a Blogger’s Big Scoop Stall “Atlantic Yards?”
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NY1 is reporting a rumor that Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver will not vote to approve Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development project at tomorrow’s three-men-in-a-room meeting of the Public Authorities Control Board. (Amazingly, this one meeting constitutes the only legislative "debate" and vote that this massive project will ever see). NY1 reports: According to a […]
DOT Giving Away 350 Metrocards at Shea Park-and-Ride
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A DOT press release today: New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Iris Weinshall today announced that the agency will issue 350 complimentary round trip ($4) Metro Cards to motorists who park at Shea Stadium and use mass transit to enter Manhattan on December 20th, December 27th and January 3, 2007. "The holiday season […]
Wider Sidewalks & a Bicycle Park-and-Ride for Williamsburg
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Streetsblog has gotten a hold of a draft of DOT’s plan to widen the sidewalk and install new bike racks at the Bedford Avenue L subway station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. As diagrammed above, the plan calls for the elimination of five motor vehicle parking spaces on N. 7th Street at Bedford Avenue, alongside the subway […]