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
Unsolicited Personal Image Advice for Jennifer Lopez: Film a Bike Ad
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Before Streetsblog goes offline for the Thanksgiving weekend, I’d like to reiterate my unsolicited advice for Jennifer Lopez: There is an easy and, I believe, highly effective way to control the damage from the revelation that you did not actually film this Fiat 500 Cabrio commercial on the streets of the Bronx. For those just […]
The NBBL Files: Weinshall and Steisel Manufactured Anti-Bike Coverage
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This is the sixth post in a series examining the tactics employed by the opponents of the Prospect Park West redesign known as “Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes.” Read the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth installments. One of the defining elements of the Prospect Park West bike lane saga was the inordinate amount of […]
Two Days Until the Annual Benefit for Streetsblog and Streetfilms
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Thursday the 17th is just two days away, and you know what that means. If you haven’t snapped up your ticket to our annual benefit, “Streets of the Future,” time is running out! Come to the new Bicycle Habitat in Park Slope, hear from Council Member Brad Lander, meet your fellow Streetsblog readers, and hang […]
Shelly Won’t Say Where He Fell Off His Bike
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Strange development in the Sheldon Silver bike fall story. Yesterday, through a spokesman, the Assembly Speaker explained bruises and cuts on his face by saying he hit a pothole while biking. But the location and time of the bike crash in question are a mystery, and Raymond Hernandez at the Times reports that Silver has […]
Sheldon Silver Bruised While Biking Over Rough Pavement
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Capital New York’s political reporter extraordinaire, Azi Paybarah, breaks this remarkable story: Half of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s face is bruised and purple, and there are stitches over his left eyebrow and a scab across his nose and the back of one of his hands. Silver sustained the injuries while riding a bicycle when he […]
Vacca: Want Safer Streets? Don’t Even Try to Join Your Community Board
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Does it get less democratic than this? The City Council Transportation Committee Chair, James Vacca, just told the New York Post that Transportation Alternatives shouldn’t help people join their local community boards. For the past few years, TA has held an annual event walking people through the process of applying for community board membership. The […]
You Can Finally Walk to Grand Army Plaza Without Fear
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Gathering at the new public space beneath the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch at Grand Army Plaza this morning, city officials and community leaders celebrated the reclamation of asphalt for people at the crossroads of Brooklyn. One of the borough’s iconic places is finally a destination that people can get to comfortably, thanks to a slate […]
Nine Days Until the Annual Benefit for Streetsblog and Streetfilms
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Just a quick heads up in case you’ve managed to resist clicking on the “Streets of the Future” banner at the top of Streetsblog NYC. The annual benefit for Streetsblog and Streetfilms is coming up on November 17, and we’d be thrilled to see you as we celebrate a successful year for our coverage of […]
Crucial Details Missing in NYPD Account of Crash That Killed Theauther Love
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On Friday morning, a traffic enforcement agent driving a marked NYPD vehicle struck and killed the Reverend Theauther Love, 87, as he was walking across Eastern Parkway in Brownsville. Police failed to notify the victim’s family this weekend, according to friends and relatives. But NYPD did issue their standard exculpatory response when the driver in […]
New Porsche Goes From Zero to 15 in 30 Seconds
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For your weekend amusement, a tutorial on how to take the lane (via an April post on Epic Fail)…
City Council Votes to Increase Oversight of Bike Lane Removal
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Yesterday the City Council passed Lew Fidler’s Intro 412 — the bill mandating community board notification about the installation of bike lanes — setting the stage for some showboating from Fidler, Speaker Christine Quinn and Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca. “Our legislation will ensure the Department of Transportation works with community boards and fully considers […]
CB 8 Committee Warms to Bike-Share, Sets Aside Bike Licenses
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Manhattan Community Board 8 has a checkered history when it comes to bike-friendly policies. In the past few years, the Upper East Side CB voted repeatedly to support protected bike lanes, but also put out resolutions drenched with anti-bike vitriol on more than one occasion (most recently this June, when the subject was establishing shared […]