Clarence Eckerson Jr.
Clarence Eckerson Jr. is the Director of Video Production for NYCSR's StreetFilms and producer of bikeTV. He loves the color purple, chocolate chip cookies, and enjoys walking, biking, and taking transit. He has never owned a driver's license.
Recent Posts
America’s Love Affair With Great City Streets
| | No Comments
People crave interaction with other people. Given the choice, we’ll gravitate to places where we can socialize or just be in the presence of our fellow humans. It’s not in our nature to spend hours each day isolated inside a car, but for much of the 20th century we shaped our streets and cities to […]
Hey #bikenyc: Where Would You Put New York’s Next Protected Bike Lanes?
| | No Comments
At the September press conference where Bicycling Magazine named New York City the best American city for biking, NYC DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg committed to adding five miles of protected bike lanes per year “all over the city, not just in the core of Manhattan.” Since then, anytime I’ve been at bike events or out on the streets shooting video, […]
Zurich: Where People Are Welcome and Cars Are Not
| | No Comments
When it comes to smart transportation options and city planning, Zurich can credibly claim to be the global champ. This Swiss city has enacted a number of policies and practices that have produced streets where people come first. Getting around and simply experiencing the city is a pleasure. How did they do it? In a 1996 city […]
Counting Bicyclists on the Manhattan Bridge!
| | No Comments
Since this has been an such amazing year for NYC bike commuting (after all Bicycling Magazine says we’re the #1 bike city, right?) two dear friends of Streetfilms (Steven O’Neill & Brooklyn Spoke‘s Doug Gordon) who frequently ride the Manhattan Bridge bike path joined me this morning to count some bicycles. We spent 20 minutes during the morning […]
Mayor Bill Peduto Wants to “Leapfrog” Your City on Bicycling and Livability
| | No Comments
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto is putting the rest of the United States on notice. His city is on the rise, and he fully intends to keep it that way. For the first time in over half a century, Pittsburgh is expecting an increase in residents as the number of people moving back to the city grows. Complete streets […]
”Bikelash!” The Streetfilm
| | No Comments
Six months ago, Dr. Doug Gordon and Dr. Aaron Naparstek charmed audiences at the 2014 National Bike Summit with a great routine called “Moving Beyond the Bikelash,” sharing what they’ve learned from the pushback to New York City’s bike network expansion. So last week, while at the Pro-Walk Pro-Bike Pro-Place conference, I thought it would be interesting to ask advocates from […]
Need to Add a Bike Lane to a Bridge? Experiment Like Pittsburgh Did
| | No Comments
The Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place 2014 conference took place this week in Pittsburgh. Even though the Andy Warhol Bridge already has a nice shared bike-ped path on it, for one week the city decided to put bike lanes on its roadway. It’s the simplest design you can imagine, just two rows of small traffic barriers and a little […]
Sometimes #Sneckdown Dreams Come True!
| | No Comments
Ah yes, that’s the now-famous “Snowy Neckdown Redux: Winter Traffic Calming” Streetfilm above. As you may recall, I shot the video in my Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights a few years ago to demonstrate how we could extend our curbs further into the streets to slow drivers and shorten pedestrian crossing distances. Then the idea completely […]
Sunnyside Becomes a Bike-Friendly Business District
| | No Comments
Transportation Alternatives has been working all across NYC to foster goodwill for bicycling in the business community. Recently, TA has begun to award Bike-Friendly Business District designations in neighborhoods where local merchants support bicycling and safer streets. The first one outside Manhattan is Sunnyside, Queens. Come along on this group ride that toured six of […]
Copenhagen’s Latest Cycling Innovations
| | No Comments
Copenhagen just keeps finding new ways to make it easier and more convenient to bike. Recently I had the chance to take a tour with Mikael Colville-Andersen of Copenhagenize and see some of the innovations that have changed the city’s streets since I was there four years ago. First off, if you’ve seen my 2010 […]
Buenos Aires: Building a People-Friendly City
| | No Comments
Buenos Aires is fast becoming one of the most admired cities in the world when it comes to reinventing streets and transportation. Just over a year ago, the city launched MetroBus BRT (constructed in less than seven months) on 9 de Julio Avenue, which may be the world’s widest street. The transformation of four general […]
William H. Whyte in His Own Words: “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces”
| | No Comments
When I first got started making NYC bike advocacy and car-free streets videos back in the late-1990s on cable TV, I didn’t know who William “Holly” Whyte was or just how much influence his work and research had on New York City. A few years later I met Fred and Ethan Kent at Project for Public Spaces. I got a copy of […]