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
Bike Lanes More Popular Than God
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New York City’s bike lanes are now officially more popular than God. So here’s a helpful tip to ambitious New York City politicians: it might just be time to get on board with bike lanes. The latest survey of New Yorkers by the nationally respected Quinnipiac University Polling Institute shows support for new bike lanes […]
Hudson River Greenway Closure Forces Cyclists Onto Unmarked Detour
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The Hudson River Greenway is the most heavily used bike path in the United States, carrying roughly one-seventh of all cyclists entering Manhattan below 50th Street. In Upper Manhattan, where there are fewer bike lanes and much less on-street protection for cyclists than further south, it is truly the backbone of the bike network. Despite […]
Confirmed: DOT Studying More Car-Free Time in Central Park
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Last week, automated traffic counters were seen popping up on the loop drive in Central Park. That led many to believe that the Department of Transportation was gathering data to set a baseline for future changes to the hours cars are allowed into the park, a fact which has now been confirmed. Wrote Manhattan DOT […]
MTA Identifies $2 Billion in Savings — Now Comes the Hard Part
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Jay Walder’s surprise resignation announcement last week overshadowed some important news about the MTA’s finances: The agency has identified $2 billion in savings in its capital program [PDF], which maintains and expands the transit system, but expects $1 billion less in federal assistance. That brings the total gap in the five-year, $26 billion capital plan […]
Eyes on the Street: Public Space Upgrades for Allen and Pike in Progress
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Crews are currently at work turning the new pedestrian plazas and protected bike lanes on Pike Street and Allen Street into more attractive, long-term fixtures of the Lower East Side. The new construction will add landscaping and higher-quality materials, helping the local community achieve the vision developed for Allen and Pike Streets in a multi-year […]
To Study Sheridan Teardown, City Pulls Back the Lens
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When the state Department of Transportation studied removing the lightly-used Sheridan Expressway, it considered two scenarios. One predicted conditions with the Sheridan kept as is. The other imagined closing the highway to traffic without making any other changes — simply fencing off the 1.25 mile structure. Making a decision about the Sheridan’s future by comparing […]
Manhattan Borough Board Unanimously Endorses Car-Free Central Park Trial
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Though Mayor Bloomberg has ruled out the possibility of implementing a car-free Central Park trial this year, opting for further data collection instead, public support for the proposal continues to grow. At a meeting of the Manhattan Borough Board yesterday, the car-free trial picked up support from still more community boards and new City Council […]
Walder Praised After Resigning; Successor Will Be Thrust Into Era of Scarcity
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In his relatively brief time at the helm of the MTA, Jay Walder earned widespread plaudits for introducing technological innovations while guiding the agency through increasingly perilous financial straits. His departure comes at a critical moment for the transit agency. With a $9 billion deficit facing the MTA’s capital program at the end of this […]
New York Rightfully Takes Over Top Spot on Walk Score
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Step aside, San Francisco! Walk Score, the website that ranks locations, neighborhoods and cities based on the number of amenities within walking distance and the pedestrian-friendliness of the street network, has come out with its first new city rankings since 2008. Based on updated listings and new Census data, New York City has taken over […]
High-Tech Midtown Traffic System Will Ignore Pedestrians and Buses
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The Department of Transportation is rolling out a response to Midtown traffic congestion that is as high-tech as it is intellectually outdated. Microwave sensors, video cameras, and E-ZPass readers will gather traffic information in real-time and beam the information to the DOT’s Queens command center, where engineers will instantly adjust the traffic lights as needed […]
NYPD: Curb-Jumper Hit Senior While Parking, “No Criminality Suspected”
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We have an update from NYPD on the curb-jumping motorist who struck and injured a pedestrian in Midtown this morning. Police said the driver hit a 73-year-old woman on the sidewalk while attempting to back into a parking space on 58th Street. The victim was sent to New York Presbyterian Hospital with serious head injuries, […]
Mayor William J. Gaynor Owes New York City $31 Billion, and Counting
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What transportation projects would you build with $31 billion? That’s how much would have been raised had the tolls on the four city-owned East River Bridges not been removed 100 years ago today. “We would have a subway that runs on Second Avenue from the Bronx to the Battery,” said Sam Schwartz, the former city […]