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
MAS Survey: Bike/Ped Projects Popular; Many Neighborhoods Lag in Livability
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The Municipal Art Society’s second annual survey on livability, released today, provides still more opinion data showing that New Yorkers want to see more bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. They’re more conflicted, however, when it comes to new, large-scale development. The MAS poll, a survey of 1,000 residents performed by the Marist Institute, found that a […]
Bike Lane Made Columbus Avenue Safer, and UWS Residents Noticed
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The Columbus Avenue bike lane is both safe and popular, according to two assessments released at a meeting of Community Board 7 last night. Representatives from the Department of Transportation presented data showing that the street redesign reduced the number of crashes on the street by 34 percent, while 73 percent of Upper West Siders […]
CB 2 Committee Voices Support for Bike-Sharing as System Details Emerge
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Committing to a “very intensive participatory planning process,” top DOT officials provided a wealth of detail about the city’s plans for bike-sharing at a meeting of Manhattan Community Board 2’s transportation committee last night. Members of the board and local residents in attendance voiced strong support for the initiative. When DOT selected Alta Bikeshare as […]
CrashStat Upgrade Provides Interactive, Up-To-Date Street Safety Data
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Transportation Alternatives launched an updated version of its CrashStat website today, providing a wealth of new data about street safety in New York City and where pedestrians and cyclists are most at risk. The upgrade adds four years of geo-coded data about traffic injuries and fatalities, a smoother interface, and a wealth of interactive features. […]
Will Cuomo Scrap Transit on the Tappan Zee and Just Widen the Highway?
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For nine years, the state of New York has been studying how to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge. The bridge, which is more than 50 years old, requires ever more expensive repairs to stay structurally sound and was never intended to carry the volume of traffic that pours over it every day. Since 2002, […]
The NBBL Files: Bike Lane Opponents Knew Their Lawsuit Lacked Merit
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This is the second installment in a series of posts examining the tactics employed by opponents of the Prospect Park West redesign. Read the first post. When they filed their lawsuit this March, opponents of the Prospect Park West redesign had little chance of succeeding in court. As NYU Law Professor Roderick Hills, Jr. told […]
UN Deal Clears Way to Close East River Greenway Gap Over Next Decade
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The signing of an agreement to close the East River Greenway gap between 38th Street and 60th Street is big news for people who want to enjoy the waterfront on Manhattan’s open space-starved East Side. There’s finally a realistic plan in place to build a continuous route to walk, run, or bike along the water. […]
West Side Protected Lanes Get Thumbs Up From CB 4
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By a vote of 26 to 10 Wednesday night, Manhattan Community Board 4 endorsed DOT plans to extend the protected bike lanes on Eighth and Ninth Avenue from 34th Street to 59th Street. The bike lanes will improve safety for all users on some of Midtown’s most chaotic streets, which pass by Penn Station, the […]
Bus Bulbs Will Boost Nostrand Avenue Select Bus Service
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With Select Bus Service speeding trips and boosting ridership on Fordham Road and First and Second Avenue, the next route slated for an upgrade is Brooklyn’s Nostrand Avenue. The B44 bus runs over nine miles from the Williamsburg Bridge to Sheepshead Bay. It attracts 41,000 riders a day, making it the seventh busiest route in […]
The NBBL Files: Weinshall Got Randy Mastro Before the Paint on PPW Was Dry
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Last week, opponents of the Prospect Park West redesign moved to appeal Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Bert Bunyan’s decision to reject their complaint against the city. If the community board’s approval of the bike lane and the data showing its effect on speeding and safety didn’t persuade them not to sue in the first place, […]
Local Data Confirm: NYC Bike-on-Ped Injuries Declined as Cycling Rates Rose
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When Hunter College professors Peter Tuckel and William Milczarski released a report finding that 1,000 pedestrians were injured in collisions with bicycles each year in New York state, Streetsblog noted that the injury trend was downward. Even though bicycling is booming in New York City, fewer New Yorkers seemed to be getting injured each year. The […]
Design For Permanent Times Square Plazas Released
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By taking out a troublesome diagonal from the Manhattan grid, the Green Light for Midtown program improved street safety and retail business while creating new public space at one of New York City’s most iconic locations. Pedestrian injuries are down 35 percent and injuries to motorists are down 63 percent, even while traffic is flowing […]