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
Eyes on the Street: NYPD Chivalry Is Dead on 34th Street
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The officers who parked here apparently aren’t the type to help old ladies cross the street. Photo: ddartley/Flickr Thanks to tipster ddartley for the latest chapter in NYPD’s ongoing mistreatment of bus riders on 34th Street. Yesterday, eight cruisers from northern Queens (precincts 110, 111, 112, 114 and 115) sat parked in the bus lane […]
Bay Ridge Mother Stirs Street Safety Awakening at Brooklyn CB 10
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Maureen Landers was walking to pick up her son Max from P.S. 127 in Bay Ridge last April when she was struck by a motorist turning onto Fourth Avenue. Her stroller — thankfully empty — was flattened. She was rushed to the hospital but did not sustain major injuries. As for the driver, he didn’t […]
Google Bike Routes — The Wait Is Over
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Bike directions from the Empire State Building to City Hall on Google Maps. After much anticipation, bicycle directions are finally live on Google Maps. At the National Bike Summit in Washington, DC today, Google announced that its mapping tools can now provide bike directions in 150 American cities. The software provides routes that point cyclists […]
A Fresh Look at American Sprawl
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There’s only one Concrete, WA, but concrete and asphalt are the welcome mats for towns across America. Image: Gord McKenna/Flickr. American advocates for livable streets know that our addiction to the automobile is almost without peer. We know that we’ve given our land to driving lanes and parking lots and our air to exhaust fumes. […]
Bus Cams on the Table in Gov’s Budget
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If New York were allowed to install bus lane enforcement cams, bus riders wouldn’t be slowed so much by illegally parked delivery trucks. Tucked into an otherwise bleak state budget, there’s one piece of good news for transit riders. One of Governor Paterson’s amendments to the state budget would authorize New York City to keep […]
Building an App to Help Neighbors Ride Together
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Of all the ways to improve your bike commute, riding with a friend might be the simplest. Not only do you have someone to talk to at red lights, you also become more visible and therefore more safe. With that in mind, Transportation Alternatives is working on a new tech solution called Bike Buddy to […]
Billyburg’s “New Domino” Mixes Parking Disaster With Bike-Ped Benefits
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The New Domino development proposed for the Williamsburg waterfront made headlines last week when a Brooklyn Community Board 1 committee voted against enabling its construction. This privately financed project is worth a close look because it exemplifies how developers can embrace certain livable streets goals while ignoring the big picture of traffic. It’s the kind […]
MTA Blame Game: Lowlights From Queens
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The MTA roadshow is in full swing, with raucous public hearings on service cuts drawing hundreds in Queens and Staten Island last night. Some press outlets are questioning whether the hearings actually get anything accomplished. It’s a good question to chew on, since the MTA Board’s options are limited by the agency’s massive budget gap. […]
DOT Plans to Bring NYC’s First Separated Busway to 34th Street
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What the 34th Street transitway might look like between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Image: NYCDOT When DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan hinted last Tuesday that bolder ideas were on the way for bus rapid transit in New York City, she apparently meant "next week." The DOT website now displays an updated plan for the next phase […]
National Survey: Driving Down in 2009, Sustainable Transport Up
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NHTS data from 2001 and 2009 shows a major increase in sustainable transportation. Image via Mobilizing the Region. Between 2001 and 2009, the share of trips that Americans made in cars dropped by more than four percent, with walking, bicycling and transit use picking up the slack, according to new data from the U.S. Department […]
The Truth About Student Fares: MTA a Huge Bargain for State and City
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The state and city spend about 58 times more per student on yellow school buses than what’s on the table for student MetroCards. Image: manyhighways via Flickr. A new round of MTA Board hearings gets started this week, and the biggest flashpoint is sure to be the student MetroCard program. New York City school children […]
Community Benefits Agreements: What Do They Mean for Livable Streets?
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A rendering of the CBA-mandated walkable development slated for the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis. Image: UrbanWorks Architecture. Last week, Comptroller John Liu announced plans to convene a task force to study and issue recommendations about community benefits agreements in New York. While details on the task force are still forthcoming, the renewed public attention on […]