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
In Attack on Sadik-Khan, the Daily News Can’t Get Its Facts Straight
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It looks like the Daily News could use some fact checkers for their weekend editorials. While the Daily News editorial staff has done some bravura work on transit funding, their DOT hit job this Sunday is riddled with more errors than a paranoid rant from the keyboard of Steve Cuozzo. In a bid to discredit […]
What Happens When Senator Chuck Schumer Doesn’t Like the New Bike Lane?
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United States Senator and Prospect Park West resident Chuck Schumer opposes the two-way, protected bike path in front of his home and has spoken privately with City Council members to discuss “what they’re going to do about [this and other] bike lanes,” the Post’s David Seifman reported this weekend. The Seifman report is the first […]
This Is How Marty Markowitz Shows the World He’s Not Anti-Bicycling
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Via Gothamist, here’s the video of Marty Markowitz making his entrance to the State of the Borough address last night. The Borough President, who parks his SUV on the pedestrian plaza of Borough Hall and uses lights and sirens on local streets when he’s late for press events, is perfectly comfortable riding a trike on […]
Markowitz Speaks Against Safer Streets in State of the Borough
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Earlier this week, friends and family members of traffic violence victims wrote to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, asking him to stop standing in the way of street improvements to make walking and biking safer. They had lost loved ones and seen lives disrupted by crashes that could have been prevented by better street design. […]
Garodnick Proposes Bar Code Scanners to Curb Parking Placard Abuse
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City Council Member Dan Garodnick has introduced a bill that could cut down on the abuse of fraudulent parking placards. The bill would require that city-issued placards be equipped with bar codes that traffic enforcement agents can scan to verify. If enacted, it should cut down on one form of placard abuse: the use of […]
Victims’ Families Ask Marty Markowitz to Get Serious About Street Safety
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In the past year, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz has made several outspoken appearances against proven, life-saving traffic-calming projects. On the local news and in front of the City Council, he’s called for the removal of pedestrian safety measures and speciously claimed that the popular Prospect Park West bike lane was imposed against public will. […]
First Look: Transit Money Getting Shuffled Around in Cuomo’s Budget
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Governor Cuomo is coming out with his draft budget today, and some sort of transit funding raid is expected to be included in the package. The press release from his budget office includes these details about MTA funding: The Executive Budget also provides a modest increase in cash operating support for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority […]
CBS2 Must Stop Reporting While Driving
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The local news promo you’re watching was broadcast on CBS2 last week to tout their “amazing new technology” — Mobile2. What is Mobile2? According to the promo, it’s “a fleet of units covering the entire Tri-State area” so that viewers at home can literally get the windshield perspective on what’s going on outside. Basically, CBS2 […]
East Side Coalition Unveils Its Vision for Safer, Transit-Friendly Streets
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Earlier this week, Laurence Renard was killed as she crossed First Avenue when a dump truck driver turned into her path from 90th Street, hitting her from behind. Renard was one of at least six pedestrians and cyclists who have lost their lives in traffic crashes on East Side streets since last August. People are […]
Conflict-Hungry Press Ignoring New Yorkers With Street Safety Expertise
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The latest bike story ricocheting around the local media is Mayor Bloomberg’s reaction to a crowd in the Rockaways that reportedly booed the mention of bike lanes. David Seifman at the Post ran with it yesterday. Adam Lisberg at the Daily News picked up on it today. And NY1 managed to work it into a […]
Norman Steisel, Traffic-Calming Denier
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The Brooklyn Paper has the quote of the day, from Norman Steisel, opponent of the bikeway in front his house his neighborhood and denier of the data showing that the new Prospect Park West is safer: “We’re skeptical,” said Steisel, whose group is called Neighbors for Better Bike Lanes. “They’ve been opportunistic about the way […]
Bloomberg Speaks on Bike Lanes
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Mayoral pronouncements on bike policy are rather rare, so this Bloomberg quote buried at the end of a Daily News story on women’s public safety seemed worth pulling. The News reports that the mayor and Queens DOT Commissioner Maura McCarthy got a frosty reception out in the Rockaways when they mentioned plans for new bike […]