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
The 2016 NYC Streetsies, Part 3
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If Streetsblog was Jeopardy!, the third and final round of Streetsies would be called "Potpourri."
The 2016 NYC Streetsies, Part 2
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When Andrew Cuomo rings in the new year claiming credit for the Second Avenue Subway, it will be hard for transit advocates not to gag.
The 2016 NYC Streetsies, Part 1
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This installment is all about tangible wins -- the best improvements for walking, biking, and transit in New York City in 2016.
Cast Your Vote for the 2016 NYC Streetsies
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We've got a strong batch of street design and bus projects up for a vote in the Streetsies this year. They're a testament to the tangible improvements that city officials and advocates can make in people's lives.
It’s Not Too Late to Fix Cuomo’s Awful Uber Bill
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A bill that Governor Cuomo wants to enact in a special session presents a perfect opportunity to refine how New York regulates for-hire vehicles, but leaked details suggest the administration is about to let it go to waste.
Welcome to the New and Improved Streetsblog
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For the first time in nearly nine years, we're debuting a sitewide redesign of Streetsblog.
Streetsblog NYC Is Moving Over to NYC.Streetsblog.org
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For Streetsblog NYC readers, it’s time to change your bookmarks, your RSS feeds, and your mental image of the URL to visit. The NYC site is moving over to nyc.streetsblog.org.
NYPD and the Paranoid Narcissist’s View of Change on NYC Streets
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Police park for free everywhere and observe the city through their windshields. They think most New Yorkers share this point of view, but they're badly mistaken.
![Covering every corner of NYC with bike-share stations may not pencil out, but this service area covering dense, walkable neighborhoods should be very achievable. Map: DCP [PDF]](https://old.nyc.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/bike-share-map-2009-920x1024-e1481040566930.jpg?w=202)
The Bike-Share Map NYC Should Be Aiming For
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The goal of providing good bike-share service to many more New Yorkers would be better served by adopting a more specific framework than five-borough bike-share, which would be expensive to build out and difficult to operate.
Steve Bannon Would Love to Team Up With Chuck Schumer on Infrastructure
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Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are making a grave mistake when they line up to help Trump implement his infrastructure plan.
Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Are Falling for Infrastructure Propaganda
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We're going to see a lot of stories about Donald Trump and infrastructure in the next few months, and this reporting will be heavily influenced by a message that has been honed and perfected by the American Society of Civil Engineers. It will be important to see through these arguments and view the Trump infrastructure plan with clear eyes.
Looking to Quito’s BRT as a Model for Milwaukee
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With Milwaukee looking to implement a BRT system connecting downtown to the suburb of Wauwatosa, Ken Smith of Urban Milwaukee was eager to get a look at how BRT works in Quito, when he was in the city for the recent UN Habitat III summit. The system impressed him, and Smith wonders if Milwaukee will be able to duplicate […]