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
DOT Study Rejects Residential Parking Permits For Stadium Neighborhoods
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The Department of Transportation has rejected neighborhood demands to implement residential parking permits around the Barclays Center and Yankee Stadium, according to a DOT report released last Friday. DOT cited the availability of on-street parking spaces during Yankee games, the large number of non-residents parking on the street for purposes other than visiting the stadium, […]
Even a Paltry $150M For Tappan Zee Transit Is Too Much For Andrew Cuomo
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Earlier this week, Streetsblog reported that Governor Andrew Cuomo is dishonestly overstating the cost of building Tappan Zee Bridge transit. Cuomo has repeatedly said that building a 30-mile bus rapid transit system would cost $5 billion, and that the state can’t afford to spend that much. But that number is inflated by the inclusion of […]
Midtown Rezoning Would Let Developers Buy Height With Ped Improvements
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Transit-oriented development is a virtuous circle. New transit infrastructure makes it easier and faster to get to a place, and then that place grows. New development in turn leads to demand to justify better infrastructure, and more tax dollars to pay for it. That, in a nutshell, is the story of how Manhattan grew into […]
State Reports Belie Cuomo’s Claim That Tappan Zee Transit Will Cost $5B
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At the beginning of the week, Governor Andrew Cuomo launched a media offensive to defend his decision to halt all work on building new transit infrastructure across the Tappan Zee Bridge. “The bus system would roughly double the cost of the bridge,” Cuomo told radio host Fred Dicker. But according to recently released state documents reviewed […]
NYC’s Hottest Commercial Districts Are Awash in Livable Streets
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Which parts of Manhattan have seen the healthiest commercial real estate markets since the economic collapse of 2008? It’s the Meatpacking District and the area around Broadway between Union and Herald Squares, according to a new report by broker Janet Liff [PDF], covered by Crain’s last week. Notably, says Liff, both of those neighborhoods have […]
Jackson Heights Embraces 78th Street Play Street and Makes It Permanent
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“It’s just a street. It’s asphalt. It doesn’t look like anything,” said Jackson Heights resident Donovan Finn of the block of 78th Street between Northern Avenue and 34th Avenue. “But it feels like something.” Finn’s neighbors, it seems, agree. Two years ago, Jackson Heights residents and City Council Member Daniel Dromm won a hard-fought battle […]
DOT Moving Forward With Safety Plan for ACP Boulevard [Corrected]
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Safety improvements on deadly Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard could be in place by September, the New York Times reported yesterday, despite continued resistance to the redesign from the local community board. Three people have been killed while walking on Adam Clayton Powell this year; 12 were killed by drivers since 2006. The road’s wide, straight […]
Eyes on the Street: Bike-Ped Improvements on 6 1/2 and Eighth Avenues
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Safer streets are taking shape in Midtown, with work underway to create new paths through the heart of the city for pedestrians and cyclists alike. Crosswalks and street signs are in place for one of the Department of Transportation’s most original projects, a pedestrian thoroughfare designated as 6 1/2 Avenue. Thanks to a 1980s zoning provision, a […]
Cuomo Admin Makes Small First Move to Improve Transit on Tappan Zee
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Last night Hudson Valley commuters got their first taste of good news when it comes to building transit across the Tappan Zee Bridge. As reported by the Journal News’ Khurram Saeed, the Cuomo administration now says it will allow buses to use the “emergency access” lanes it intends to build on both spans of the […]
With Teardown Off Table, Residents March Out of Sheridan Meeting in Protest
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“I say my people! I got a story! We tell the TIGER team that this is our territory!” Cheers supporting the removal of the Sheridan expressway rang out during a mile-long march from Hunts Point to a community meeting last night about the future of the Robert Moses-era highway, as roughly forty protestors chanted, clapped […]
Actually, People at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Are Excited to Use Bike-Share
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Attention Scott Stringer: The anti-bike share NIMBYs of Turtle Bay don’t speak for everyone who uses Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. I spent about an hour in Dag Hammarskjold this afternoon, talking to neighborhood residents and workers who had flocked to the plaza to enjoy their lunch break or shop at the Greenmarket. Citi Bike operator Alta […]
The Tappan Zee Questions Cuomo Won’t Answer and the Times Won’t Ask
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After reporting yesterday that the Westchester and Rockland county executives have the power to put the brakes on Governor Andrew Cuomo’s plans for a new Tappan Zee Bridge built without transit, Streetsblog received an email from Cuomo spokesperson Matt Wing. Wing, who has in the past told us that we were not to contact the […]