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
Did NYC Bike Commuting Decrease in 2009? That’s What The Census Says
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The Census Bureau released the numbers from the 2009 American Community Survey earlier this week, offering a detailed look at how Americans get to work. As Angie noted on the Streetsblog Network, some unexpected cities like New Orleans and Honolulu jumped up the chart on bike commute rates. Here in New York City, believe it […]
City Council Embraces Car-Sharing, But Parking Requirements Remain
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Attempts to expand car-sharing in New York City got a big boost yesterday when the City Council passed a measure intended to help companies store shared cars. The near-unanimous vote opens the door for businesses that have been shown to reduce car-ownership and driving in other cities. Neither the City Council nor the City Planning […]
Report: Want to Ease Commuter Pain? Highways and Sprawl Won’t Help
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Imagine two drivers leaving downtown to head home. Each of them sits in traffic for the first ten miles of the commute but at that point, their paths diverge. The first one has reached home. The second has another twenty miles to drive, though luckily for her, the roads are clear and congestion doesn’t slow […]
DiNapoli’s Press Release Obscures Biggest Source of MTA Budget Woes
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Earlier this week State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli came out with his latest report on the MTA’s troubled finances [PDF], and if you take a look at the numbers, the big takeaway is pretty stark. Without funding for the $9.9 billion hole in the agency’s capital program, MTA debt will soar even higher. If legislators don’t […]
Driver Kills 72-Year-Old Pedestrian in Bayside, Queens
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Another senior citizen walking the streets of New York has been killed in traffic. This morning at 6:00 a.m., a driver heading eastbound on Northern Boulevard struck a 72-year-old man crossing at the intersection of 212th Street, according to NYPD. The victim was taken to New York Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The driver […]
69-Year-Old Man Killed Walking Across Cross-Bronx Exit
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A 69-year-old Hispanic man was struck and killed at 4:02 this morning on the Amsterdam Avenue/Major Deegan exit of the Cross-Bronx Expressway, according to the NYPD. The man, who has not been identified, was walking westbound along the exit ramp when the driver struck him and was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver fled […]
NYCEDC Building a Park(ing Lot) for Downtown Brooklyn
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If you’ve ever wished you could dodge more cars and inhale more exhaust on your way to the park, Downtown Brooklyn’s next green space is for you. It will be built on top of a garage with nearly 700 underground parking spots. Last Thursday, the city’s Economic Development Corporation released a request for proposals to […]
New York Transportation Officials: We’re Broke
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The state’s top transportation officials delivered some tough news to the construction industry Friday: Public agencies are so cash-strapped they don’t even have enough money to maintain existing infrastructure. With budgets battered by rising maintenance costs and recession-ravaged revenues, an industry-sponsored conference offered little prospect of further expansions to the state’s transportation system beyond the […]
Riders Want Faster Buses Across Q’Boro. Are Bus Lanes Coming?
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NYC DOT is studying how to speed buses across the car-clogged Queensboro Bridge, and data the agency collected over the summer [PDF] show just how great the need is. Buses are crawling and riders are fed up. Relieving the bottleneck for riders could make transit a far more attractive option for Queens residents. One potential […]
The Financial Foolishness of Christie’s ARC Gambit
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Two weekends ago, construction on New Jersey’s most important transit project was called to a temporary stop by Governor Chris Christie. He declared a thirty-day review period for the ARC tunnel project, which would build a new rail tunnel below the Hudson and double commuter rail capacity from New Jersey. Many worry the review is […]
It’s Opening Day for the Newest Stretch of Broadway’s Green Ribbon
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One of Manhattan’s premier public spaces is now safer, roomier, and livelier. DOT officially opened its improvements to the Union Square area today, including new pedestrian plazas and a continuation of the Broadway bike lane into a contraflow lane on the north side of the square. Several pieces of the re-design were already in heavy […]
Central Park Administrator Pushes East-West Bike Routes, Car-Free Park
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Central Park Conservancy head Douglas Blonsky wants his park to get a lot more bike-friendly, he revealed at a meeting of Manhattan’s Community Board 7’s parks committee last night. Not only is he working to create shared use paths that would allow cyclists to cross the park east-west safely and legally, he repeatedly announced his […]