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
Bike-Share NIMBYs Suing to Prevent a Rise in Their Property Values?
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Setting aside the sheer entitlement it must take to sue the city over a public amenity installed on the public right of way, let’s just appreciate the irony of the complaints coming from anti-bike-share litigants. Apartment owners at 99 Bank Street and a few other tony buildings are under the impression that locating a public […]
Tonight: Tell CB 2 Why Bike-Share Belongs in SoHo and the Village
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There is nothing exceptional or interesting about the sight of cars parked in front of a New York City residence. But I’m running this dull photo anyway, because this is basically the same condition that has irritated some residents in downtown Manhattan neighborhoods about bike-share. Instead of cars going in between the traffic lane and […]
Check Out the Reaction to Bike-Share Installation Once the Novelty Is Gone
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With NYC’s bike-share system in the delicate period where new stations are going in but people can’t yet use the bikes, the city’s press corps is gorging on stories about conflict. The reporters at the Post and CBS2 better enjoy it while it lasts, because once people get used to seeing bike-share in action, these […]
Give to Streetsblog – You Could Win a Dahon Folding Bike
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Here we are with a few weeks to go before bike-share launches in NYC, and the volume of nonsense floating around is staggering. The tabloids think public bikes are a menace to life on Earth, and the respectable press barely has a better grip on reality. Thank goodness there’s Streetsblog, right? Today we’re launching our […]
Eyes on the Street: A Bike-Share Station With Bikes in It
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Over the weekend, @KyleGiunta posted this tantalizing photo of a Citi Bike station with bikes in it on Front Street in DUMBO. The bikes were docked for a photo shoot, not the imminent launch of the system (installations have reached as far up as the NYU area, the last we checked — still a lot […]
The Embarrassing Laziness of Ginia Bellafante’s Bike-Share Kvetchfest
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I wish I could say I was surprised that the Times published Ginia Bellafante’s collection of stereotypes and gripes about bike-share in the Sunday edition. But it’s exactly the kind of shallow kvetchfest I’ve come to expect when the Times tries to encapsulate the state of bike-related public policy. Mostly I’m just embarrassed, as a New Yorker […]
Dear Streetsbloggers: How Do You Handle Alt-Side Parkers in the Bike Lane?
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Christine Bush, editor of the neighborhood blog South Slope News, writes in with this question about when painted bike lanes and alternate side parking collide: We just had our snazzy new bike lanes pop up on 14th and 15th Streets in South Park Slope last weekend, but when I left to take my son to […]
Eyes on the Street: Driver Shatters Storefront on Lafayette
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We’re still filling in the details on this one, but here’s a look at the Gold + Williams furniture storefront on Lafayette and Kenmare in SoHo this afternoon. It looks like the driver kept going straight on westbound Kenmare, even though the street ends. This block is very close to Streetsblog HQ and gets a […]
DOT Deploys “Street Safety Managers” to High-Volume Bike Routes
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Wondering what’s up with the people holding stop signs in the bike lane today? NYC DOT’s press office just sent out this explanation: New York City Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan today announced that DOT Street Safety Managers (SSM) are assigned to key bike and pedestrian corridors and bridge paths in Manhattan to […]
Last-Minute Venue Change for Fort Greene/Clinton Hill Bike-Share Meeting
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This just in: Council Member Tish James has moved the location of tonight’s neighborhood forum about bike-share. The meeting starts at 6:30 and the new location is: Sacred Heart Church, 30 Clermont Avenue between Flushing and Park.
Eyes on the Street: Fresh Stripes in the South Slope
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Over the weekend, crews finished striping new bike routes on 14th Street and 15th Street in Brooklyn, creating a safer east-west connection between Prospect Park West and Third Avenue on the southern end of Park Slope. These are painted, unprotected lanes, except for the westbound stretch between PPW and Eighth Avenue, which is sharrows. Reader […]
Speak Up If You Think Bike-Share Belongs in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill
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Remember the Fort Greene residents who complained last year that bike-share stations don’t belong in their historic, landmarked neighborhood — even though you can find cobalt-blue Volvos and banana-yellow, late-model Beemers taking up the curb on those same blocks? Well, they apparently haven’t been convinced that public bikes belong on the street as much as […]