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
Cardboard Cuomo Sends His Regrets to Transit Riders for Shortchanging MTA
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In October, Governor Cuomo pledged to allocate $8.3 billion in state support for the MTA capital program, which maintains and upgrades the region’s transit system. But when Cuomo released his executive budget a few months later, it contained no new money for the capital program. Instead, the state now says it will only deliver its funding until the MTA […]
Austin: The Most Bike-Friendly City in Texas
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I was in Austin a few months ago for the NACTO Designing Cities Conference. While in town I was able to put together this look at what the city is doing to improve bicycling, including the dazzling 3rd Street curb-protected bikeway. Also captured on camera: many bike paths along the Pedernales River, car-free nights on 6th street, and the ridiculously long […]
The Transformation of Queens Boulevard, Block By Block
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For many years, New York City’s Queens Boulevard was known as the “Boulevard of Death.” The street cuts through the heart of the Queens, expanding at some points to a chaotic 12 to 16 lanes of traffic — which makes it extremely dangerous for human beings. From 2003 to 2013, 38 pedestrians and cyclists were killed and 450 suffered severe injuries. Last year, the New York […]
The Randall’s Island Connector Is Finally Here
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This spring, the Highbridge re-opened between the Bronx and Manhattan, the first car-free crossing linking the two boroughs. Now the second one in less than a year is open with the debut of the Randall’s Island Connector. The project has been in the pipeline for what seems like forever, and on Saturday it opened to the delight of many South Bronx […]
Can We Get Some of These DC Protected Bike Lane Features in NYC?
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A few days ago I was in Washington, D.C. for a shoot. After leaving Union Station with my gear I made a beeline to check out the newest improvements to the 1st Street bike lane that runs adjacent to the station. I’d heard it was pretty fab, and upon close inspection, it really is. The separation […]
Gabe Klein Talks About Getting Sh*t Done in His New Book, “Start-Up City”
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Streets can be tough to change. Between institutional inertia, tight budgets, bureaucratic red tape, and the political risks of upsetting the status quo, even relatively simple improvements for walking, biking, or transit can take years to pull off — if they ever get implemented at all. But a new generation of transportation officials have shown that it doesn’t have […]
20’s Plenty: The Movement for Safer Speeds in the UK
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Five years ago, Streetfilms was in the UK town of Warrington to talk with the great folks behind 20’s Plenty For Us, a largely volunteer group trying to get speed limits reduced to 20 mph. The first film drew broad interest in the 20’s Plenty movement, and on a recent trip I caught up with them again. Founder Rod King MBE […]
Central London Streets Transformed: A Walking Tour With Iain Simmons
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While filming an exciting Streetfilms update about the progress of the “20’s Plenty” campaign in the UK, I got to interview Iain Simmons, assistant director of city transportation for the City Of London. What was originally supposed to be a few short clips for that piece turned into an unexpectedly generous two-hour walking tour of central London! I seized […]
The Queens Boulevard Protected Bike Lane Celebration Ride
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If Queens Boulevard can get a protected bike lane, you can probably put one on almost any street in the country. Yesterday, the Transportation Alternatives Queens Committee hosted the first of what it hopes are many celebratory bike rides down Queens Boulevard, trying out the first 10 blocks of the bike lane installed this month by NYC […]
Hamburg’s Quest to Get Bicycling Up to 25 Percent of All Trips
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Hamburg, a city of nearly two million people in northern Germany, has a 12 percent bike mode share and regularly ranks among the world’s most bike-friendly cities (Copenhagenize currently has it in 19th place). Nevertheless, many cyclists and advocates in Hamburg believe their government should be doing much more to build safer bike lanes and encourage cycling. Guest Streetfilms journalist Joe Baur was […]
Cambridge: Britain’s Cycling Capital
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In the city of Cambridge, just about an hour’s train ride north of London, you’ll find lots of people bicycling. In fact, the official bike mode share is 22 percent, but advocates believe it’s even higher and could comprise up to 50 percent of all trips in the city center. More than protected bike lanes, the key to Cambridge’s success has been the […]
Fort Worth Turned Two Parking Lots Into Sundance Square Plaza
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While in Dallas for the CNU23 conference this May, I wanted to explore. It was my second time there in less than a year, and I wanted to see if Fort Worth was much different than the tough-to-be-a-pedestrian conditions I was experiencing in Dallas. I spoke to some folks at Project for Public Spaces (PPS) […]