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
NYC Has Laws Restricting Big Trucks on City Streets. Are Companies Obeying?
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The death of Bronx high school student Renee Thompson, 16, on the Upper East Side Wednesday evening was the latest in a string of fatal crashes involving large trucks. Thompson was at least the seventh pedestrian killed by a semi-truck driver in New York City in the past year. While there are laws on the […]
Cuomo Signs Speed Cam Bill Into Law
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Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed the speed camera bill into law, enabling New York City to use automated enforcement technology to deter speeding in school zones. The law lets the city operate 20 mobile speed enforcement cameras in school speed zones when school or after-school activities are in session, plus a short buffer of time […]
Caption Contest: Putting the “Flare” in Madison Square
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Via Gothamist, this van went up in flames at Madison Square at around 11 a.m. No one was hurt, apparently, though it looks like a lot of people will have to go search for an inferior lunch spot on a beautiful day. Captions?
Three People Killed in Traffic This Weekend. What Will NYC’s Next Mayor Do?
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In the span of little more than 24 hours, drivers killed three pedestrians in New York City this weekend. At 4:45 a.m. on Saturday, Latrisha Been, 31, was struck and killed by a northbound truck driver on a Van Wyck Expressway service road in Jamaica. The driver fled the scene and was charged with manslaughter […]
Eyes on the Street: Bike Contraflow Over the Gowanus
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Reader Keith Williams, who blogs at The Weekly Nabe, recently got a few shots of the brand new contraflow bike lane in progress on Union Street. This project will add a sorely needed westbound bike connection across the Gowanus Canal — part of a route that jogs from Degraw, down to Union, then back up […]
Eyes on the Street: Another Crash at Dangerous Jackson Heights Corner
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Clarence came across this crash scene on Northern Boulevard at 80th Street in Jackson Heights yesterday at 7:00 p.m. This is the same intersection where a dump truck driver ran over and killed 11-year-old Miguel Torres the morning of December 28. If the traffic pole hadn’t stopped this car from barreling down the sidewalk, the […]
Eyes on the Street: The Columbus Avenue Bike Lane, Part Two
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The Columbus Avenue protected bike lane won’t be a disconnected stub much longer. DOT is striping extensions of the bike lane south from 77th Street and north from 96th Street this summer, following a supportive vote from Manhattan Community Board 7 in February. Streetsblog publisher Mark Gorton sent in this shot looking south from 76th […]
After Eight Weeks, NYC Bike-Share Usage Already Comparable to London’s
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NYC Bicycle Share recently posted about ten days’ worth of new Citi Bike user stats, and it looks like the heat wave isn’t putting a damper on bike-share trips. Less than two months after launch, Citi Bike now has more than 60,000 members. And with the heat index in Central Park consistently breaking the 100-degree […]
Congratulations to Sheldon Baker, Our Dahon Bike Winner
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A belated thanks to all the loyal readers who contributed to Streetsblog’s spring pledge drive. Your donations raised nearly $30,000 for reporting and commentary in support of livable streets. Our grand prize winner, who took home a Dahon folding bike, is Sheldon Baker. Sheldon is an urban planning grad student living in Brooklyn who had […]
The Bill Perkins Flip-Flop on Better Bus Service for 125th Street
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Well, this takes a lot of chutzpah. After blocking measures that would have sped bus trips for tens of thousands of people on 125th Street every day, State Senator Bill Perkins now claims he supports Select Bus Service. Following the initial workshops and public meetings for 125th Street SBS held by NYC DOT and the […]
Flashback Friday: ReMOOOve the Barricades!
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Clarence has been unearthing old footage from the Streetfilms vault this summer in preparation for Transportation Alternatives’ 40th anniversary bash. This week’s installment takes us back to the end of 1997, when the Giuliani administration and NYPD erected pedestrian barricades in Midtown, preventing people from crossing major avenues to make way for turning traffic. TA’s […]
Weiner on Bike Policy: Small Talk, Small Stick
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Yesterday, riders at the sixth annual Tour de Queens got a preview of Anthony Weiner’s proposal to introduce new city tax breaks for businesses that help employees bike to work. It’s one of the meager transportation proposals in his policy book, “Keys to the City.” There are already plenty of financial incentives to bike — walking […]