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 Week’s Links
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A Bike Parking Building Boom in Portland (and Brooklyn Too) BikePortland.org reports that four new "Bike Oases," sleek, roof-covered, bicycle parking facilities (pictured above) will be installed on a popular shopping boulevard by spring. PDOT has also been converting car parking spaces into on-street bike parking. This is something that bicycle commuters who park-and-ride to the Bedford […]
Sander Picked for MTA Director
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As expected, word came out of Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer’s headquarters this morning that he will recommend the appointment of Elliot "Lee" Sander as executive director and CEO of the MTA. Sander is currently corporate senior vice president at DMJM Harris, a leading transportation engineering firm and director of the Rudin Center for Transporation Policy at […]
Streetfilms: Curbing Cars in Soho
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You’ve got to hand it to Clarence Eckerson. The producer of Streetfilms managed to turn around a video of this morning’s press conference announcing the new Bruce Schaller study of Soho streets (PDF) in less than four hours and it’s a really nice piece of work. My only gripe is that he edited out the […]
Rethinking Soho
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A Porsche, an ambulette, Paul Steely White, Bruce Schaller and a vendor compete for street space in Soho Crowded shoppers and residents want more sidewalk space in Soho and they would be happy to give up some of the area’s parking space to get it, according to a study released today by Transportation Alternatives (Download […]
Are Old-Line Environmentalists Asleep at the Wheel?
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Dr. Bill takes to NYC’s streets to tell us about cars and global warming Once a month, Environmental Defense, the venerable environmental organization, posts an "Ask Dr. Bill" video to their web site to answer common environmental questions. Dr. Bill is Bill Chameides, ED’s Chief Scientist. This month Dr. Bill takes to the streets to answer common […]
Pedestrian Safety in Brooklyn Heights
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Pedestrian injury and fatality data from the Transportation Alternatives Crash Map A note from Transportation Alternatives putting this morning’s pedestrian fatality in Brooklyn Heights in context: This morning’s pedestrian fatality on Henry Street and Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights is not an isolated event. According to Transportation Alternatives’ Crashstat data, six pedestrians have been hit […]
Futurama 2030 Speech: News Round-Up
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Map from the city’s PlaNYC web site. See more maps at Gothamist. Coverage of yesterday’s long-term planning and sustainability speech, "New York City 2030: Accepting the Challenge." Text of the speech and video (NYC.gov) Bloomy’s Vision of 2030 Foresees Nightmare of Crowding & Crumbling (Post) When a question was raised about congestion pricing — a proposed policy […]
Rebutting Congestion Pricing’s Opponents
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In today’s Gotham Gazette, Bruce Schaller, Visiting Scholar at the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University, assembles a nice summary of the current state of the congestion pricing debate in New York City. He writes: Opponents believe that they have the upper hand in this debate. Indeed, there is evidence for this […]
Eyes on the Street: Horrific Ped Fatality in Bklyn Hts This AM
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From a Streetsblog tipster: At 6:00 am a garbage truck (CSI company?) turned from Montague Street on to Henry Street and hit and killed a mid 50’s pedestrian. Her shoes and back pack were splayed on the street and I believe that a tire crushed her… I live on Montague Terrace around the corner from […]
Reader Contributions
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An apology to Streetsblog tipsters. Though our new, high-tech "Contribute to Streetsblog" page has been up and running for a few weeks, I’ve been having technical problems with the tips@streetsblog.org account and haven’t really been checking reader mail very regularly. The problem is now fixed and I’m excavating lots of excellent contributions. I’ll try to […]
Life at Streetsblog Headquarters
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This letter just rolled off my printer: Do you think your over-sensitive car alarm, which has been sounding off repeatedly all day today, is protecting your massive SUV? Or is it making it all the more likely that some otherwise peace-loving neighborhood person will go berserk and vandalize your vehicle? Just asking. Taking deep […]