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
Actually, If You Build It, They Will Bike
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The emphasis of this year’s “State of New York City’s Housing and Neighborhoods” report from NYU’s Furman Center is the housing market and foreclosure rates, but if you dig deep, you’ll find a table of Census data on citywide commute rates broken down by mode of transportation. While the authors make no comment on bike […]
Would You and Your Kids Bike on PPW Without Physical Separation?
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Clarence posted these clips from yesterday’s family ride on Prospect Park West, asking us to imagine the street as bike lane opponents would have it — with only a striped, un-protected lane to separate cyclists from traffic. I can’t really picture families biking on such a street. Can you? Speaking of yesterday’s ride, the absence […]
Sunday: Moms, Dads and Kids Ride the Prospect Park West Bike Lane
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If you read the Streetsblog headlines every morning, you already know there’s a family ride happening this Sunday on the Prospect Park West bike lane. Here are the details straight from the organizers if you’d like to participate: Kids and parents: Show your support for the new Prospect Park West bike path by riding it […]
Jim Brennan Wants to Get Rid of the Prospect Park West Bike Lane
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After Assembly Member James Brennan released the results of his telephone survey on the Prospect Park West bike lane last Friday, the assessment in the press was unanimous. WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein headlined her post on the poll results “They Like It. They Really Like It.” Gersh Kuntzman at The Brooklyn Paper began his story: “The […]
Ratner Arena Will Include 400 Satanic Bike Parking Spots
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Well, this doesn’t make up for the eminent domain abuse, inexcusable subsidies-slash-dealmaking, crappy urban design and extensive surface parking acreage, but the Wall Street Journal’s Jason Gay reminds us that the Brooklyn basketball arena financed by Bruce Ratner, Mikhail Prokhorov, and the taxpayers of New York State will include 400 bike parking spaces. Gay’s report […]
This Is What Gibson Dunn Lawyer Jim Walden Wants to Sue Out of Existence
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This weekend brought some gorgeous early spring weather to NYC, and the Prospect Park West bike lane was full of people riding bicycles — many of whom probably needed parental permission to go ride on the street. There are dozens of pictures posted on Flickr from yesterday afternoon, and we’ve got a few highlights here […]
PPW Bike Lane Opponents Have PR Firm Spinning For Them
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Wondering how the members of bike lane opposition group Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes manage to get quoted so much in the papers? It helps when you have a public relations firm working the press for you. Linda Gross of LCG Communications confirmed to Streetsblog that the plaintiffs suing the city, the groups known as […]
Jim Brennan Poll Finds 3-2 Margin of Support for PPW Redesign
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Assembly Member Jim Brennan’s office released the results of a telephone survey on the Prospect Park West redesign this afternoon [PDF], and the topline numbers echo the results of the web survey conducted last year by Council Members Brad Lander and Steve Levin and Community Board 6. By an overall margin of 48 percent to […]
Vote for Streetsblog
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Apologies for a little bit of self-promotion, but there are only about ten hours left to vote for Streetsblog in Treehugger’s Best-of-Green awards. We’re up for Best Transportation Website, and we stand out a little because Streetsblog is all about transit, biking, and walking, while the other worthy contenders are all largely about hybrid, electric, […]
Chuck Schumer: America Needs More Streets Like Prospect Park West
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Senator Chuck Schumer broke his long public silence on the redesigned Prospect Park West in dramatic fashion this morning, leading members of Congress on a two-wheeled tour of the physically separated bike lane that runs past his Brooklyn home. Schumer used the occasion to announce that he’ll be introducing new legislation to promote investment in […]
Help Streetsblog Tell the Political Story Behind the Prospect Park West Fight
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Thanks to some rescheduling, we’ve got nearly two months until the first court hearing on the Prospect Park West lawsuit. Flimsy as the plaintiffs’ case may be, they now have a long time to run their smear campaign against DOT and the neighborhood advocates who put in years of organizing to make this street safer. […]
Bike Lanes Still Controversial to Michael Grynbaum, Opinion Poll Be Damned
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If a bike lane gets striped and no one is there to report on it, would it still be “controversial”? Less than two weeks after a Quinnipiac poll revealed that 54 percent of NYC voters support the expansion of the bike network, New York Times transportation reporter Michael Grynbaum led off a story in today’s […]