Aaron Donovan
Before he began blogging about land use and transportation, Aaron Donovan wrote The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund's annual fundraising appeal for three years and earned a master's degree in urban planning from Columbia. Since then, he has worked for nonprofit organizations devoted to New York City economic development. He lives and works in the Financial District, and sees New York's pre-automobile built form as an asset that makes New York unique in the United States, and as a strategic advantage that should be capitalized upon.
Recent Posts
Cool Thing: Subway Map With Entrances
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New York City’s best subway map just got better. OnNYTurf‘s clickable, dragable, searchable Google mashup showing the subway and PATH lines in scale relation to the surface streets now shows — ready for this? — the exact locations of all the entrances to the 116 subway stations in Manhattan. (The four-platform, 22-entrance Fulton Street/Broadway-Nassau complex is […]
The Cost of Sprawl on Low-Income Families
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Via the Manhattan Institute’s new blog, Streetsblog learns of a pdf-formatted report entitled A Heavy Load: The Combined Housing and Transportation Burdens of Working Famillies, which looks at the housing and transportation expenses paid by lower income families in a number of cities. The report, published by the Center for Housing Policy, a K Street […]
‘Unnecessary Driving’ Banned in Buffalo
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Photo: Mike Groll/Associated Press via The New York Times BUFFALO, N.Y., Oct. 13, 2006 (AP) — A rare early October snowstorm left parts of western New York blanketed with 2 feet of snow Friday morning. … Unnecessary driving was banned in Buffalo and suburbs Amherst, Blasdell, Orchard Park and Hamburg.
The Weekly Carnage
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The tragic deaths of New York Yankee’s pitcher Cory Lidle and his flight instructor grabbed the headlines this week, but meanwhile, some two dozen people were killed on the region’s roads. Chester, N.Y.: Fandango Founder and Wife Die, Baby Hurt in Crash (Daily News) Shokan, N.Y.: 3 Killed, 4 Hurt in Head-On Crash (AP via Newsday) Mount Sinai, L.I.: […]
Eyes on the Street: MetroCard Bike
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”The use of cycles has a place,” Councilman John Liu recently told the Times. ”But it doesn’t come anywhere near the capability of mass transit in making our city greener.” Whichever mode is greener, this New Yorker has all of his or her bases covered.
Road to Energy Independence: New York City’s Alternative Transportation Future
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Date: Thursday, Oct. 12 Time: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Where: Gould Memorial Library, Bronx Community College, West 181st Street and University Avenue, Bronx Agenda (PDF) Website Description: The Second Annual "Road to Energy Independence: New York City’s Alternative Transportation Future" conference, hosted by Bronx Community College’s Center for Sustainable Energy, will be held at the […]
Southern Brooklyn Transportation Investment Study
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The Southern Brooklyn Transportation Investment Study, initiated in 2002, set out to assess current and future travel conditions and deficiencies and develop multimodal transportation improvement alternatives that address the movement of people and goods throughout southern Brooklyn. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council will hold a public meeting to present results of the study (also […]
Jane Jacobs Today
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Jane Jacobs’ ideas redefined urban planning, and her hometowns of New York and Toronto are among many cities that continue to feel the impact of her writings. The American Planning Association’s New York Metro Chapter, the Canadian Consulate General, and NYU Wagner will present a panel exploring the importance, meaning, and influence of her work, […]
Speak Out for Open Space on Columbia Street
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The New York City Economic Development Corporation’s plan for the Brooklyn Piers 7-12 Project includes a proposal to rezone the west side of Columbia Street (between Warren and Degraw Streets) for mixed-use development. This is in conflict with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative‘s long-standing plan for public access and open space along this section of the […]
The Weekly Carnage
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Designated Driver Hits Utility Pole, Dies (Newsday) Driver, 25, Hears DWI Charges in Triple-Fatal Crash (Star-Ledger) Family Raises $200K to Bails Out Driver After Deadly Accident (Star-Ledger) Van Accident Kills Parents, but Police Save Their Children (NYT) Pedestrian Killed by Minivan Driver in Boerum Hill (Gothamist) Pedestrian Struck and Killed in Old Bridge, N.J. (Star-Ledger) Car Spins […]
Today’s Headlines
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Gas Prices Heading Below $2 in New Jersey (Star-Ledger) Roger Toussaint Campaigns for Re-Election With Item Sales (Daily News) Street Vendors Studied (Gothamist) Greenpoint Warehouse Arson Suspect May Get a Deal (Gothamist) NJ Transit to Get More Funds for Security (Gannett via UTU)
Can Sprawl Be Beneficial?
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Panelists on suburban sprawl: Eugenie Birch, James Russell, Robert Bruegmann and Alexander Garvin. Folks who went to yesterday’s Municipal Art Society forum "Can Sprawl Be Beneficial" heard what must be the best possible defense for suburban sprawl from one of its recently arrived boosters: "I’m not saying that sprawl is good," said author Robert Bruegmann. "All I’m saying is that […]