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
Team Ratner Unveils Brooklyn’s Most Exhaust-Filled Public Space
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Yesterday Forest City Ratner released images of the temporary public plaza slated for the triangle between Flatbush and Atlantic, and you’ve gotta appreciate the spin coming from the developer and his design team. Wedged between two epic traffic sewers, without much noticeable provision for shade or shelter, it will become, in the words of Bruce […]
The Dangers and Indignities of Riding the East River Greenway
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Above 34th Street, the East Side of Manhattan is unforgiving for cyclists, without any real provision to ride safely and quickly. The one dedicated path for bicycling, the East River Greenway, is barely usable for practical trips — the gap between 38th Street and 63rd Street being the most prominent of several flaws. On a […]
Joan Millman Shows Why Pols Should Be Banned From Fare Hike Hearings
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The MTA fare hike hearing circus is wrapping up, and while the first event in Manhattan was relatively free of political grandstanding, the Brooklyn Heights blog reports that the scene was different in Brooklyn Tuesday night. Assembly Member Joan Millman, a long-time incumbent who cruised to victory in her northwest Brooklyn district on primary day […]
S.I. Advance: Capodanno Plagued By Speeding, So Get Rid of the Bike Lane
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Earlier this week the Downtown Express injected some common sense into the public discussion about the value of bike lanes. With protected lanes on Ninth and Eighth Avenue now a valued safety improvement after facing some pushback at first, the paper predicted that initial complaints about the new lanes on the East Side will subside […]
Safety Fixes Slated for One of Manhattan’s Most Dangerous Intersections
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The long history of violent traffic crashes where Broadway, Amsterdam and 71st Street converge is about to take a turn for the better. This intersection was the site of 19 pedestrian and cyclist injuries between 2004 and 2008. Earlier this summer, in the course of a few hours, two people were injured in separate crashes […]
Imagine a Better Gateway to Walk and Bike to Prospect Park
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The entrance to Prospect Park at Third Street in Park Slope was closed off to car traffic in April 2009. Since then it’s been graced by these barricades. With the completion of the Prospect Park West re-design, there’s even more reason to make this a welcoming entrance for people walking and biking to Brooklyn’s flagship […]
Saturday: Vigil Ride for Cyclist Jasmine Herron
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Earlier this month, Jasmine Herron was killed while cycling on Atlantic Avenue, after a driver opened her car door and knocked Herron into the path of a bus. She was 23 years old. There will be a vigil ride for Herron this Saturday, the 25th, starting at 8:00 p.m. at the corner of Atlantic and […]
A Proposal for NYPD: Protect New Yorkers From Jerks on the Road
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The state of pedestrian-cyclist relations got some ink in the Times this weekend, in a piece the headline writers chose to run under the banner “The Cyclist-Pedestrian Wars.” That’s a pretty inflammatory choice of words, especially when you consider that the Times style guide still calls for using the non-confrontational “accident” to describe traffic collisions […]
Park(ing) Day, After the Storm
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On a day when street trees all over Brooklyn and Queens have been ripped out of their pits, shorn of their limbs, or cracked in two, “Alternate Side Mulching is in Effect Today!” seems like the right choice to kick off our Park(ing) Day photographic coverage. This installation on Vernon Boulevard between 48th Ave and […]
Brooklyn-Queens Vortex Open Thread
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The extreme weather event that ripped through parts of Brooklyn and Queens early this evening has left an impressive trail of destruction on sidewalks, streets, and yards — felling trees, crushing cars and probably bending a few bike frames. Service on the 7 train and the LIRR from Penn Station had to be suspended. I […]
Eyes on the Street: Union Square Chairs, Slow Speed Zones, PS 36’s Batcave
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Construction season seems to be peaking with a lot of changes underway on the streets. Here’s a sample of what readers have posted to the Streetsblog Flickr pool and sent to our tips account during the past week, starting with some scenes from Union Square’s public space makeover and the extension of Broadway’s “green ribbon.”
Three Transit Villains Exit the Stage in 2010 Primaries
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The votes have been counted in the 2010 primaries, humbling three of the state legislators who killed major transit funding initiatives the past few years. Richard Brodsky, ringleader of the anti-congestion pricing contingent in Albany, vacated his Assembly seat in a bid for Attorney General. He lost convincingly last night. Bridge toll obstructionist Pedro Espada, […]