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
New York Public Transit Data Summit
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After the great success of our first event last month, we’ll be having a second meetup to continue the effort to make up-to-date New York public transit data easily and freely available. This meeting will serve both as an update on the events of the past month and as a working session. There’s lots happening […]
Software Freedom Day: From Software to Everywhere
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It’s an exciting time. The values that have been championed for decades by the free software movement — values of sharing, participation, and freedom — have over the past several years spread well beyond the confines of computer software and are permeating everything from the arts to government. That’s why the Software Freedom Law Center, […]
A Bike-to-School Bright Spot in NYC
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Photo: Josh Brustein/New York Times. No sooner did Brad post about the dismal state of biking to school in most of the country than City Room published this great little story about the opposite trend here in New York. A few dozen schools are trying to make it easier for students and parents to bike […]
Tonight: Support Brooklyn Greenway and Safe Cycling at Kent Ave Meeting
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Come out tonight and support the city’s first two-way, on-street protected bike path. If you care about safe biking in Williamsburg and Greenpoint and you’d like to see the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway eventually reach completion, you’ll want to show up at tonight’s Brooklyn CB1 transportation meeting. The Kent Avenue bike lane is item number one […]
Voters Reject Incumbents in Low Turnout Primary
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Margaret Chin, rallying an anti-DOT crowd last December, defeated Lower Manhattan council rep Alan Gerson in one of several losses for incumbents yesterday. The biggest news from last night’s primaries has to be the ouster of no fewer than four sitting City Council members in a vote marked by low turnout. A fifth incumbent, Maria […]
Team Amsterdam Victorious in Bike Slam Design Battle
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Team Amsterdam’s concept for a bike and bus boulevard down Broadway. Team Amsterdam won running away at Saturday night’s New Amsterdam Bike Slam design battle, the two-team competition to devise the best plan for boosting bicycle modeshare in New York City. But Team New York could go home with their heads high — they presented […]
Can Livable Streets Activism Revive the Public Advocate’s Office?
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From a livable streets perspective, the race for public advocate is that rare contest with no clear-cut villains. After the quiet tenure of Betsy Gotbaum, the next public advocate will probably seek a higher profile simply to justify the continued existence of the office. Almost any topic is fair game for the public advocate to […]
The Comptroller Race: Who Will Stand Up for Transit?
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John Liu and David Yassky might be headed for a run-off in the comptroller race. We’ve got two more citywide elections to review on the eve of tomorrow’s primary vote — the contests for comptroller and public advocate. If you’re a little unclear about what these positions do, here’s the short version: The comptroller is […]
What Happens When Mom and Pop Shops Depend on Cars?
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A reader sent this photo to Streetsblog soon after we reported that Park Slope restaurateur Irene Lo Re had asked for the Fifth Avenue bike lane to be removed. According to Lo Re’s theory, which few other merchants seem to buy, the bike lane was causing delivery costs to rise. We saw this photo and […]
Which Bike Planning Team Will Reign Supreme?
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Tomorrow night, Paul White does his best Chairman Kaga. Tomorrow night’s the main event for the New Amsterdam Bike Slam, the weekend-long extravaganza hosted by Transportation Alternatives and Vélo Mondial. Two teams will face off Iron Chef-style to devise the most effective plan to raise cycling in New York City to Amsterdam-esque levels. I’m not […]
Wanted: Public Space Expert to Help Implement Next Gen NYC Streets
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We knew DOT wasn’t about to let its new Street Design Manual molder on a shelf. But it’s always encouraging to see signs that great designs on paper will translate into better streets and public spaces in the real world. Here’s a pretty big one spotted in the form of a job posting on DOT’s […]
The Race for District 26: Who Will Stem the Traffic Tide?
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Top to bottom: Deirdre Feerick, James Van Bramer, Brent O’Leary. Of all the City Council districts in New York, the one crying out the loudest for transportation reform might just be the seat vacated by Eric Gioia — District 26 in the southwestern corner of Queens. Gioia, after some wobbling, voted yes on congestion pricing […]