Noah Kazis
Noah joined Streetsblog as a New York City reporter at the start of 2010. When he was a kid, he collected subway paraphernalia in a Vignelli-map shoebox.
Before coming to Streetsblog, he blogged at TheCityFix DC and worked as a field organizer for the Obama campaign in Toledo, Ohio. Noah graduated from Yale University, where he wrote his senior thesis on the class politics of transportation reform in New York City. He lives in Morningside Heights.
Recent Posts
NYC DOT to Roll Out Smart Parking Tech in 2012
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New York City is moving forward with plans to use sensors to improve parking management, along the lines of San Francisco’s pioneering SFPark system. The program will be unveiled next year, Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan announced at a conference on transportation and technology held last Friday at Columbia University. For now, DOT is only dropping […]
Council Committee Endorses Residential Parking Permits Over DOT Objections
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A City Council committee took the first step toward bringing residential parking permits to New York City neighborhoods this afternoon. Details haven’t been worked out yet, but committee members signaled their desire to move forward on a system that would restrict a portion of curbside parking space to use by local residents. While most council […]
DCP’s Sheridan Teardown Analysis Based on More Than Just Traffic
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The Department of City Planning continues to display an openness to the possibility of tearing down the Sheridan Expressway. A slideshow prepared for a September public meeting, recently posted online, shows how the agency is applying a comprehensive approach to the question of what to do with the lightly-used, Robert Moses-era highway along the Bronx […]
Manhattan Borough Board Endorses Speed Enforcement Cameras
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The Manhattan Borough Board passed a resolution last Thursday endorsing the use of automated cameras to catch speeding drivers. Earning the support of 10 Manhattan community boards and four City Council members — with no votes in opposition — the resolution was a strong show of support for better traffic enforcement on New York City […]
New York Can’t Afford to Build a Tappan Zee Bridge With No Transit
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According to the State of New York, spending $5.2 billion on a new Tappan Zee Bridge is affordable, but spending another $1 billion for a 30-mile bus rapid transit corridor is a bridge too far. Affordability, of course, is subjective. If the state were truly broke, Governor Andrew Cuomo might decide he had to close […]
Eyes on the Street: “Bowtie of Death” Needs a New Nickname
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DOT has largely completed an overhaul of the complicated intersection of Broadway, Amsterdam and 71st Street, a year after presenting the plan to Community Board 7 (hat tip to the West Side Rag, which noted the new infrastructure last Thursday). Dubbed the “bowtie of death” by Borough President Scott Stringer and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, […]
Hudson Valley Elected Officials Blast Decision to Take Transit Off Tappan Zee
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After nine years of study and 280 meetings, New York State had reached the conclusion that the replacement for the Tappan Zee Bridge needed to include transit: both a Metro-North extension and a new cross-county bus rapid transit system. Up until quite recently, state agencies forcefully argued that only transit could improve mobility between Westchester […]
Celebrate Complete Streets at TSTC’s Annual Benefit
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The passage of New York’s complete streets law was one of the year’s biggest victories for safe and sustainable transportation. At its annual benefit next Thursday, Tri-State Transportation Campaign will celebrate getting the through Albany and honor three pivotal figures in that fight: Sen. Charles Fuschillo, the bill’s sponsor; Sandi Vega, whose daughter Brittany was […]
Tappan Zee Docs Rescued From Memory Hole Say New Bridge Needs Transit
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After a public outcry, New York State has restored the extensive library of documents generated by nine years of study and public outreach surrounding the construction of the new Tappan Zee Bridge. Hundreds of pages had disappeared from the project website following the decision by the state and federal governments to scrap transit from the […]
DCP Plan: Weaken Parking Policies With End Run Around Clean Air Act
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The Department of City Planning continues to send confusing signals about parking policy. Is the department looking to strengthen parking policies that limit traffic, or does it want to water down the rules already in place? While DCP is developing a solid package of reforms for parking regulations in the Manhattan core right now, it […]
Flawed DCP Studies Might Undermine DCP’s Own Parking Reforms
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What appears to be an internal rift within the Department of City Planning could disrupt attempts to reform the city’s parking policies for the Manhattan core, in the face of opposition from the powerful real estate industry. Streetsblog reported yesterday that DCP is preparing significant revisions to parking policies in the Manhattan core. Limits on parking […]
Tow Truck Driver Hit and Killed 86-Year-Old Woman on Upper East Side
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A tow truck driver struck and killed an 86-year-old woman walking on the Upper East Side yesterday morning. The driver was turning left from Fifth Avenue onto 65th Street at 9:30 a.m. when he hit the victim, who was walking north in the crosswalk, according to the NYPD. An NYPD spokesperson said that “no criminality […]