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
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The first few months of 2011 have kept us on our toes here in NYC. The frivolous lawsuits are flying, the tabloid columnists and TV journos are on a mission to thwart anything that makes life better for pedestrians, cyclists, or bus riders, and a few City Council members and the Public Advocate seem to […]
Eyes on the Street: Another Curb-Jumping Motorist on the UWS
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Another day, another motorist barreling onto a New York City sidewalk. Reader Liz Patek sends this shot of the crash aftermath at Columbus and 72nd Street yesterday evening, where a van driver, apparently heading east, jumped the curb and crashed into a light pole. The tally on CrashStat reveals that 20 pedestrians and eight cyclists […]
Dov Hikind Threatens to Sue the Safety Off Fort Hamilton Parkway
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Assembly Member Dov Hikind is stooping to a new low, even by Albany’s standards, to ensure that traffic keeps on menacing pedestrians to the fullest extent possible on NYC streets. The central Brooklyn rep announced today that he’s trying to force the Department of Transportation to remove pedestrian refuges from Fort Hamilton Parkway, threatening what […]
Angie Schmitt Goes Toe-to-Toe With Northeast Ohio Sprawl Boosters
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Angie’s on sabbatical this week attending the Knight Digital Media Center’s News Entrepreneur Bootcamp in Los Angeles. To help tide you over until she gets back, here’s a clip from a northeast Ohio radio show she recently appeared on called “The Civic Commons.” Inspired by a post Angie put together a few weeks ago (headline: […]
Cyclist Assaulted on Hudson River Greenway
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A cyclist was injured after a man kicked in the front wheel of his bike on the Hudson River Greenway near 24th Street yesterday evening. The victim, Michael Mandiberg, was hospitalized with cuts and bruises before being discharged later last night, according to his Twitter feed. Several people witnessed the unprovoked assault, and the assailant […]
How to Write a New York Post Anti-Bike Screed
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At the beginning of this week, the newsroom at the New York Post lobbed a grenade at NYC’s bike-share plans, and right on cue, the editorial staff followed up with more bike-share-bashing today. Say what you will about the Post’s factual accuracy, they can churn out the bikelash content with mechanical efficiency. Here’s how they […]
Here They Are: DOT’s “Don’t Be a Jerk” PSAs
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After a few months of intense build-up and anticipation, NYC DOT made the big reveal today and launched its “Don’t Be a Jerk” cycling etiquette campaign. We’ve been fiercely debating these PSAs on Streetsblog since before we ever saw them, but I’m going to take a pretty boring position. Yeah, it rubs me the wrong […]
Introducing “Vacca Watch”
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When Streetsblog interviewed City Council Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca a year ago, he was fresh off a press appearance with AARP calling for complete streets legislation in Albany. The Ninth Avenue protected bike lane was the backdrop. During our conversation a few weeks later he came across as someone who took street safety seriously […]
Eric Ulrich’s Cure for BQE Potholes: Stop Building Public Plazas
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Transportation Committee Chair James Vacca convened a hearing this afternoon on NYC DOT’s plaza program, a sequel of sorts to the bike policy hearing where opponents of the Prospect Park West bike lane got a big media moment and several council members laid out their windshield perspective on bike lanes for all to see. Today, […]
NYPD Still Won’t Ticket Their Own
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With the release of Transportation Alternatives’ new report on parking placard abuse and the introduction of City Council Member Daniel Garodnick’s bill to add scannable bar codes to official placards, the push is on again to curb the flagrant exploitation of parking privileges. Despite the substantial reduction in official placards by the Bloomberg administration in […]
Eyes on the Street: Times Square, May 2, 2011
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Ten years ago, after the attacks of September 11, New Yorkers came together in places like Union Square, holding candlelight vigils and creating impromptu memorials to the victims. Following the news late last night that American forces had killed Osama bin Laden, people again flocked to New York’s iconic public spaces. This time the mood […]
Ten Things NBBL Doesn’t Want You to Know
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If opponents of an effective street safety project repeat dishonest distortions about it often enough, does that make their position true? Apparently, the Daily News editorial board thinks so. An opinion piece they published over the weekend on the Prospect Park West bike lane might as well have come straight from the desk of Gibson […]