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
Citigroup to Sponsor NYC Bike-Share at $41 Million Over Five Years
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The largest bike-share system in North America will be sponsored by one of the world’s largest financial institutions. At City Hall today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a $41 million, five-year sponsorship arrangement with Citigroup that will fund most of the cost of implementing NYC’s bike-share network. The system will go by the name “Citi Bike,” […]
In Honor of Jane Jacobs, Take a Walk This Weekend
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This weekend marks the sixth annual set of Jane’s Walks, walking tours about urban history and planning held in honor of the patron saint of 20th century urbanism, Jane Jacobs. In New York, the Municipal Art Society has catalogued more than 70 tours, all of them free, in all five boroughs. In most cases, there’s no […]
Bad News: Forest City Breaks Bike Parking Vow; Good News: Less Car Parking
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When Brooklyn’s Barclays Center opens with a Jay-Z concert this September, it will be one of the most transit-accessible arenas in the United States. But as Streetsblog has noted before, the transportation planning for the stadium is excessively car-oriented. Developer Forest City Ratner had been planning to build an 1,100-space surface parking lot, marring the pedestrian […]
Cuomo: Robert Moses Would Be Proud of My Transit-Free Tappan Zee Bridge
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Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Tappan Zee Bridge bears all the hallmarks of a Robert Moses project. Cuomo stripped popular transit elements from the original, publicly-conceived plan, leaving only a massive highway. Cuomo has shut down the public outreach process for the bridge entirely. He’s even moving to sign the contracts to build the bridge before answering […]
High-Stakes Testing: A Lesson in Texting While Driving
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Here’s a cool, funny, and genuinely effective public service announcement out of Belgium. According to Gizmodo, non-profit Responsible Young Drivers essentially pranked a bunch of people taking their drivers license exam. To pass, they were told, they’d have to show they could adequately send text messages while keeping control of the car. The results, all […]
Eyes on the Street: Summer Streets, May Day Edition
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New Yorkers got an unusual taste of what car-free streets feel like yesterday, thanks to the combination of Occupy Wall Street’s May Day march and the New York Police Department. To mark the labor movement holiday, thousands of people took to the streets of Lower Manhattan to protest economic inequality. According to the New York […]
In Small Transit Victory, Cuomo Grants MTA Bond Fee Waiver Worth $50M
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It’s not often that Andrew Cuomo is willing to spend a dime in support of mass transit, but the governor did offer the MTA a small respite yesterday. Currently, the state steals money from transit riders in one particularly insulting way. First, Albany leaves the MTA capital plan drastically underfunded, forcing the authority to take […]
Pricing Details Start to Solidify For July Bike-Share Launch
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The general shape of the pricing scheme for New York’s bike-share system — an annual membership cheaper than a monthly Metrocard, according to the early buzz from DOT — has been floating out there for a while. Now, with the system set to go live in July, the details are starting to get nailed down. Speaking at […]
MTA Reorg: Respected Exec Monheim Out, Cuomo Operative In
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A “shake-up” is underway at the top levels of the MTA, reported Crain’s Insider this morning. Two top executives, Charles Monheim and Linda Kleinbaum, are on their way out the door. Moving into the agency is Steve Morello, a political operative with deep ties to the Cuomo family. The departure of Monheim represents a loss […]
What’s the Secret to World-Class Transit Systems? Congestion Pricing
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Top transportation officials from three global cities — London, Singapore and Stockholm — shared their experiences in expanding the use of transit at a panel at the Regional Plan Association’s annual conference last Friday. Eyeing those cities, it’s easy for New Yorkers to get jealous. “I was, in many ways, salivating,” said MTA chief Joe […]
West Side Study Offers Lots of Little Improvements, No Transformations
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The Department of Transportation has completed a multi-year transportation study of the Upper West Side, and Wednesday night the agency walked local residents through the many proposed changes [PDF]. The suggestions for the area between 55th and 86th Streets, west of Central Park, include a number of valuable intersection-level improvements to pedestrian safety, but left […]
After Delay, More Improvements Coming For East Side Select Bus Service
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Since 2010, rapid bus service has been running on Manhattan’s First and Second Avenues. By nearly all accounts, it’s been a success. Bus speeds are up 15 percent. Faster trips mean that the M15 has defied the trend of sinking ridership on Manhattan buses, adding 4,000 more passengers per day. But the bus could be […]