Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.
Recent Posts
Eyes on the Street: Brooklyn Bike Patrol
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Streetsblog regular “Moocow” submitted this shot, snapped this morning in South Slope. Anyone else spotted a cycling TEA?
“Stop Means Stop”: Vacca Gives Thumbs-Up to Busy Red Light Cameras
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We’ll overlook the number of contortions performed by the Daily News to make today’s report on the success of red light cameras look like a “he said she said” story. It’s simply not a surprise when the city press corps assigns comparable weight to the wishes of motorists to break the law with impunity and […]
“Midtown in Motion” to Come With Rad Driver-Distracting Apps
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As it is, the NYC DOT “Midtown in Motion” initiative is a bit of a head-scratcher. To learn that the city is devoting well over a million dollars in addition to staff resources to speed up car traffic in Midtown, which the mayor has declared the “lifeblood” of the CBD — is it 2006 again? […]
Rumor Mill: City Collecting Data for Car-Free Central Park?
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Central Park advocate Ken Coughlin tells us he’s spotted a traffic counting strip on the park loop, near Tavern on the Green. The theory is that the city is gathering traffic data this summer as a baseline for a car-free park trial next year. That would jibe with recent remarks from Mayor Bloomberg and references […]
In the Tortured Mind of Steve Cuozzo, Even Street Trees Are a Threat
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Well it finally happened. Steve “Quixote” Cuozzo has conceded that the Times Square pedestrian plazas, the project to which he has devoted two years of relentless tilting, are a hit. Not only are they “popular with burger-chomping tourists,” writes Cuozzo in Thursday’s column, such a draw are Times Square’s new public spaces that they threaten […]
Unlicensed Driver Pays the Price for Killing Laurence Renard: $500
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The unlicensed dump truck driver who struck and killed an Upper East Side woman last winter will walk away with a $500 fine. Diego Tapia-Ulloa, 23, was rounding the corner at First Avenue and E. 90th Street on the evening of January 24 when he hit 35-year-old Laurence Renard, who died at the scene. Tapia-Ulloa […]
No Charges From Cy Vance for Killing of Yolanda Casal
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The man who killed an Upper West Side pedestrian and injured a second while backing up in pursuit of a parking spot made his first court appearance last Friday on a charge of driving without a license.On June 30, Yolanda Casal, 78, and her 41-year-old daughter Anais Emmanuel were crossing Amsterdam Avenue near West 98th […]
Here They Are: The Best and Worst City Transit Scenes
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The Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives have chosen the winners for their best and worst of New York City Transit photo contest. The top “Good Transit Scene” was “Break of Day ” by Sabrina Porter, while John Wehmeyer took the prize for best “Bad Transit Scene” with “”Reassuring? Not so much!” Porter and Wehmeyer will […]
Dershowitz Death Illuminates Dangers Faced By Greenway-Bound Cyclists
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Green lines are major north-south bike routes; red lines represent obstacles to the West Side Greenway; purple lines are wide, dangerous crosstown streets; and orange lines are westbound connections to the greenway. View a larger map. Streetsblog reader Mark Davis has put together a map showing how greenway-bound cyclists are funneled through the West 29th […]
NYPD Van Jumps Curb, Kills Chinatown Pedestrian
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A police van struck and killed a pedestrian in Chinatown this morning. Reports say the driver of the NYPD Auxiliary van jumped a curb on Elizabeth Street near the 5th Precinct stationhouse at around 11 a.m., striking a 55-year-old man on the sidewalk. He was later pronounced dead at New York Downtown Hospital. Two officers […]
Will Vance Prosecute Driver Who Killed Yolanda Casal for Deadly Negligence?
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A woman is dead her daughter injured after they were struck by an unlicensed driver on the Upper West Side on Thursday. Anais Emmanuel and her mother, 78-year-old Yolanda Casal, were crossing Amsterdam Avenue near West 98th Street around 5 p.m. when Edwin Carrasco, 38, backed his Ford Explorer into them while gunning for a […]
The Times Theory of Democracy: “More Power to the Design Commission!”
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If you’re looking for further evidence to support Jason Gay’s “the bikes have won” theory — that the anti-bike bile-fest of last winter was so much sound and fury signifying nothing more than the windshield perspectives of the city’s intransigent political and media elites — we present the latest, and perhaps lamest, salvo from the […]