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
Report: Older Pedestrians Remain Most Threatened By Traffic
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Pedestrians over the age of 60 are particularly at risk when walking on the streets of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, a new report from the Tri-State Transportation Campaign shows. According to “Older Pedestrians at Risk,” an updated version of similar research from last year, the pedestrian fatality rate for those over 60 is […]
CB 10 Committee Latest Unanimous Vote For Car-Free Central Park Trial
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Another day, another unanimous show of support for a summertime trial of a car-free Central Park. Last night, the transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 10, representing central Harlem, voted seven to zero in favor of the car-free trial, with one abstention. The list of Manhattan community board votes supporting the trial period has grown […]
Maimonides Hospital, FDNY: Boro Park Ped Islands Don’t Slow Response Times
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Here’s something Marcia Kramer, Dov Hikind, and Marty Markowitz forgot to mention in all their accumulated lawsuit threats, media events, and TV coverage on the Fort Hamilton Parkway pedestrian refuges: FDNY and Maimonides hospital report that the project has not affected response times. In opposing the pedestrian islands, designed to calm traffic and provide a […]
Advocates: Ethical Standards Demand Zero Tolerance for Traffic Deaths
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Traffic deaths need to be treated as an ethical imperative to save lives, said representatives from Transportation Alternatives, the Drum Major Institute, and the medical community today at the public release of the new report, “Vision Zero” [PDF]. “It is simply unacceptable for people to die in traffic,” said T.A. Executive Director Paul Steely White, […]
Why Did Vincent Gentile Boot Pro-Bike Member From Community Board 10?
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The Department of Transportation has made it a de facto policy not to implement major changes to the streets without a favorable vote from the local community board. The idea is to defer to a group perceived as representing the will of the entire neighborhood. But these bodies are only as representative as the borough […]
Despite Biased Meeting, CB 6 Committee Endorses DOT Bike Lane Plan
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NYC DOT’s proposed design for bike lanes from 34th Street to 57th Street along First and Second Avenues, which call for a protected lane on First Avenue from 34th to 49th Streets and shared lanes everywhere else, earned the endorsement of Community Board 6’s transportation committee last night. The 7-5 vote in favor of DOT’s […]
‘Local Spokes’ Coalition Brings Grassroots Bike Planning to LES, Chinatown
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In Chinatown and the Lower East Side, a new coalition is showing how grassroots, community-based bike planning can be done. Formed six months ago, the nine-member Local Spokes coalition is surveying local residents and workers, holding public meetings, and training youth ambassadors in preparation for the creation of a new bike plan for those two […]
Will Two CB 9 Members Be Enough to Derail Car-Free Central Park Trial?
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Despite the impressive shows of support from three Manhattan community boards over the last two weeks, the effort to take cars off of the Central Park loop for a summer-long trial hit a major snag last night. In a resounding vote of two to one with two abstentions, the transportation committee of CB 9 voted […]
Vacca Watch: At Budget Hearing, Council Calms Down, Focuses on Potholes
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Call it the case of the missing demagoguery. Yesterday’s City Council transportation budget hearing was less notable for what was said than what wasn’t. Attacks on the city’s proposed parking meter rate increase were largely absent, and the scapegoating of bike lanes and pedestrian plazas that has dominated recent hearings in James Vacca’s committee failed […]
Upper East Side Joins Chorus of Car-Free Central Park Supporters
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The momentum is growing for a summer-long trial of a car-free Central Park. Two weeks ago, the transportation and parks committees of Manhattan Community Board 7, representing the Upper West Side, voted unanimously to support such a trial. Last week, the proposal passed the transportation committee of Midtown’s CB 5, again unanimously. And last night, […]
Ped Improvements Will Ease Transit Access in East New York, Port Richmond
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In two low-income neighborhoods, DOT is planning to make it easier and safer for residents to reach transit. In East New York [PDF] and Port Richmond [PDF], features like curb extensions, new sidewalks, and improved pedestrian ramps will be installed by next year. While both neighborhoods have rich transit options — that section of East […]
Bloomberg in São Paulo: A Glimpse of the Green Mayor
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When it comes to sustainable transportation, Michael Bloomberg is saving his strongest words for an international audience. While the mayor’s rhetoric on transportation now tends to focus on safety, when transportation is on his agenda at all, at a meeting of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group in São Paulo Bloomberg brought back some of […]