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
Feds Reject Loan Application for Cuomo’s Transit-less Tappan Zee Bridge
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In a major rebuke to the Cuomo administration’s plans for a transit-less Tappan Zee Bridge, the federal government rejected New York State’s application for a low-interest federal loan yesterday. The loan, which would have been made under the popular TIFIA program, was an important component of Cuomo’s plans to finance the new Tappan Zee. Demand […]
Brooklyn Driver Kills 75-Year-Old Pedestrian, No Charges Filed
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A driver struck and killed an elderly woman crossing the street in the Homecrest neighborhood of Brooklyn this morning, according to the NYPD. The driver, a 36-year-old male, was turning left from E. 15th Street onto Avenue S when he hit a 75-year-old woman crossing north on Avenue S. She was declared dead on arrival […]
On Congestion Pricing, Cuomo Plays the Pundit, Not the Governor
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Andrew Cuomo knows he’s the governor of New York, right? You couldn’t tell from this exchange about congestion pricing yesterday, via Transportation Nation: Q: Have you seen Sam Schwartz’s revised congestion pricing plan? Do you support it? A: I have not seen it. We’ve talked about congestion pricing for many years. We’ve tried to pass […]
Hoboken 2012: Bike Lanes Everywhere, Cycle Track and Bike-Share to Follow
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By the end of this year, it’s going to be very, very easy to bike around Hoboken. Thanks to an ordinance unanimously approved by the Hoboken City Council last year, the city is now at work implementing ten miles of new bike lanes. That number might seem small, until you realize that Hoboken only has 32 miles […]
Eyes on the Street: Neighbors Get Better Bike Lane
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Somehow we doubt it’s going to make Iris Weinshall, Norm Steisel and Louise Hainline feel any better (what with the threat of another lawsuit), but construction is now underway on pedestrian islands along the Prospect Park West bike lane. Once complete, the islands will provide easier crossings for pedestrians — who have already benefited from shorter […]
Bronx Teens Win Ped Safety Improvement After Three Years of Activism
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Thanks to three years of dedicated activism from middle- and high-school students, one Bronx intersection is getting a little bit safer. The Bronx Helpers, a community service organization run by the New Settlement Apartments, has successfully lobbied the city to daylight the dangerous corner of E. 172nd Street and Townsend Avenue. Until last week, drivers […]
On MTA Board, David Paterson Could Be a Force for Transit Funding
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As first reported by the Daily News this morning, Governor Andrew Cuomo has nominated former Governor David Paterson to serve as the newest member of the MTA board. Paterson is an unusually high-profile pick for the board — he will have nominated some of his fellow board members — and it’s not yet clear what […]
Bike-Share Is Going to Be Huge at NYC Transit Hubs
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The Department of Transportation is currently going around to community boards and presenting preliminary maps of bike-share locations. While the map for the full service area isn’t finished yet, the details that have come out so far are pretty exciting. One of the big questions we had about station siting concerned the bike-transit connection. Namely, […]
East River Plaza Parking Still Really, Really Empty, New Research Shows
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East River Plaza, the big box mall designed for Massapequa and placed in East Harlem, still has a thousand-space parking garage. And given its location in one of the lowest car-ownership neighborhoods in the country, the garage is still as empty as when it opened, despite big subsidies for parkers. Thanks to new research from […]
Eyes on the Street: Small Touches Make for Safer Windsor Terrace Crossing
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An enthused Windsor Terrace resident sends this photo of an upgraded intersection at the corner of Prospect Park Southwest, Terrace Place, and Windsor Place. Over the last week, DOT has touched up what was once a widely-disregarded traffic island comprised of faded white paint. Now the island has been repainted with a high-visibility surface and […]
Chicago Passes Huge Speed Camera Bill, So Why Can’t New York?
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Yesterday, Chicago’s Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance that would allow speeding enforcement cameras to blanket up to half the city. Here in New York, Deborah Glick’s bill to allow up to a mere 40 speed cameras remains stuck in Albany limbo, with 24 co-sponsors in the Assembly but none in the State Senate. Can […]
Willoughby Plaza, Already a Hit, Gets a Capital Upgrade
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Downtown Brooklyn’s Willoughby Street plaza, located just off Adams Street, was the forerunner of New York City’s current efforts to reclaim roadways as pedestrian spaces. Built in 2006, before Janette Sadik-Khan took over the city Department of Transportation, the city used now-familiar ingredients — concrete planters and folding chairs — to close the block to […]