Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Ben Fried
Recent Posts
Google Bike Routes — Almost Here?
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New Yorkers can use Ride the City to plan bike trips. Cyclists in most other American cities don’t have the option. The folks at Google Maps "Bike There" — the blog dedicated to getting the world’s foremost information cruncher to include bike directions in its trip planning tools — noticed an encouraging development yesterday. On […]
Eyes on the Street: The Petrosino Square Renaissance
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Petrosino Square has nearly doubled in size. Photo: Elizabeth Press. SoHo’s Petrosino Square was one of the first places identified by the New York City Streets Renaissance as a prime candidate for pedestrian reclamation. The western edge of the square, defined by Lafayette Street, used to give way abruptly to an inexplicable expanse of asphalt. […]
Cartoon Tuesday: Paint the Pavement… on the Elevated Highway
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This project takes the spirit of intersection repair to new heights. You’re looking at the Elevado Costa e Silva, a two-mile stretch of 1970s-vintage elevated highway in the middle of gridlocked Sao Paulo, Brazil. It’s known informally as the minhocão ("giant worm"), and according to local blog Inside Sao Paulo, a project to remove the […]
Thompson vs. Bloomberg: The Ultimate Bicycling Referendum?
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Tonight’s debate will be broadcast on NY1. Tonight at 7:00, mayoral contenders Mike Bloomberg and Bill Thompson face off in the first debate of the general election. Andrew Hawkins at City Hall News has some good pre-debate reading for New Yorkers who care about how this election will affect the future of our streets and […]
Give Espada and Monserrate the “Oil Slick” Award
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It would be nice to shame every member of the Fare Hike Four, but we’ll settle for the two on the right. Thanks to the folks at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign for pointing us to this excellent survey from EPL/Environment Advocates. State Senators Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserrate are finalists for the "Oil Slick" award, […]
Can State DOTs Be Trained to Kick the Sprawl Habit?
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I had the chance to listen in yesterday to top staffers from USDOT explain their collaboration with HUD and the EPA — the "Partnership for Livable Communities" that was first unveiled in March and touted again by President Obama in July. Three officials, including one of Ray LaHood’s top deputies, Beth Osborne, outlined their plans […]
AAA Plunges Dagger in the Heart of the New Times Square
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In a stinging rebuke to New York City’s street safety methods, the latest issue of Car and Travel, a.k.a. AAA New York magazine, serves up a razor-sharp critique of Broadway’s new pedestrian plazas: Newly digitized AAA mag: crazy for cars, mad about pedestrian streets. The “test project,” now four months old, has been criticized by […]
NYPD Priorities in Action: Keep Traffic Moving, Pedestrians Be Damned
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Yesterday we saw what it looks like when police value pedestrian safety and enforce the integrity of the crosswalk. That’s how they roll in Sacramento. Here in New York, the NYPD’s priorities are a little different. Clarence Eckerson recently shot this clip at the intersection of Canal and Lafayette. As you can see, an officer […]
The Case for Open MTA Data: Transparency, Savings, and Easier Riding
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Transit riders in Portland have dozens of mobile applications at their disposal thanks to Tri-Met’s open data. New York’s ridership dwarfs Portland’s, but the MTA’s data policy stifles similar innovations. Without good information for riders, transit systems don’t work very well. A subway station sans system map or a bus stop lacking a posted schedule […]
“Unsuspecting Drivers” Caught Zooming Past Staten Island School
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Photo: Staten Island Advance. Here’s something you’d like to see more of from the NYPD: Cops cracking down on speeders near a school zone. Reports the Staten Island Advance: Staten Island’s newest speed trap is snaring unsuspecting drivers who must drop from a highway speed of 50 mph to 30 mph on the off-ramp, to […]
Bill Thompson: I’ll Rip Out Bike Lanes and “Review” Safer Streets
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Fact check: The Grand Street bike lane was presented to Manhattan CB2 and won overwhelming support [PDF]. Bill Thompson is making it pretty hard for New Yorkers who care about safe streets to get behind his campaign for mayor. With Tony Avella out of the way, Thompson has no bike lane-bashing rival nipping at his […]
Latest Kent Avenue Bike Lane Complaint: Truck Traffic
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One section of the Kent Avenue two-way bike path has been painted. Two more will follow. Image: NYCDOT [PDF]. We’ve got another dispatch from the ongoing bike lane drama that is Kent Avenue. At Wednesday night’s information session hosted by Brooklyn CB1, the DOT team gave a short presentation [PDF] outlining their plan to address […]