Stephen Miller
In spring 2017, Stephen wrote for Streetsblog USA, covering the livable streets movement and transportation policy developments around the nation.
From August 2012 to October 2015, he was a reporter for Streetsblog NYC, covering livable streets and transportation issues in the city and the region. After joining Streetsblog, he covered the tail end of the Bloomberg administration and the launch of Citi Bike. Since then, he covered mayoral elections, the de Blasio administration's ongoing Vision Zero campaign, and New York City's ever-evolving street safety and livable streets movements.
Recent Posts
NYPD Crash Data Now Easier to Use and Updated Daily
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The city went live with a major upgrade to NYPD’s crash data today. Information about traffic crashes was previously released via difficult-to-use monthly updates posted on the police department’s website. Now it’s available through a standardized feed updated daily on the city’s open data portal, allowing the public to sort crashes by time of day, […]
Vance Brings Rare Murder Charge Against Driver Who Killed Man on Sidewalk
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Last June, according to prosecutors, 33-year-old Shaun Martin, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, got behind the wheel of a Nissan Altima and began speeding down Second Avenue in the East Village. At 4th Street, he veered across three lanes of traffic, jumped the curb and slammed into four people, including florist Mohammed Akkas Ali, […]
De Blasio Calls For Vision Zero Apps. How Much Data Will He Release?
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BigApps NYC, EDC’s four-month competition to develop mobile and web applications using city data, is set to launch tomorrow with a mission from Mayor Bill de Blasio to build tools for Vision Zero. The more data the city opens up to developers, the better these apps will be, so the question now is how far City Hall […]
Eyes on the Street: Jackson Heights Triangle Turns Into a Plaza
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Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a big difference. Manuel de Dios Unanue Triangle provides a speck of green along Roosevelt Avenue in the packed Jackson Heights neighborhood, but for years, there was nowhere to sit. Even the brick wall surrounding the trees was topped with two spike strips to discourage people from resting for […]
After Jill Abramson’s Powerful Traffic Violence Piece, What Now for the NYT?
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Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a powerful piece by executive editor Jill Abramson about recovering from injuries sustained on city streets, based on her own experience and those of three other Times employees. Their stories, along with accompanying maps of New York City’s most dangerous intersections, conveyed the widespread and profound impact of traffic […]
Queens Blvd Gets “Slow Zone” Label, But Speed Limit Remains the Same
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Yesterday, DOT announced that Queens Boulevard, one of the city’s deadliest streets, would be part of its arterial slow zone initiative that reduces speed limits from 30 to 25 mph. But unlike other streets in the program, Queens Boulevard would have its limit dropped from 35 to 30 mph. Trouble is, the speed limit on […]
Eyes on the Street: Whole Foods Takes the Whole Bike Lane (and Sidewalk)
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The huge surface parking lot and inward-facing, suburban-style design were bad enough. Now the Gowanus Whole Foods Market is taking over the Third Avenue bike lane and sidewalk as a private loading zone. Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke snapped a photo of a Whole Foods forklift and piles of pallets using the Third Avenue buffered bike […]
NYC Will Roll Out Nine Additional Arterial Slow Zones by September
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Over the past three weeks, DOT has been rolling out its 25 mph arterial slow zone program to high-crash streets one by one: Atlantic Avenue, the Grand Concourse, McGuinness Boulevard, and this morning, Broadway in Manhattan. Now, the initiative will expand to nine more streets across the city by the end of August, with 12 […]
Traffic Violence Victims’ Families Tell Their Stories at City Hall
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Before the big City Council hearing on street safety legislation this afternoon, elected officials joined families of traffic violence victims outside City Hall to push for speed camera and speed limit bills in Albany, along with more traffic enforcement and better street designs from the de Blasio administration. Three weeks ago, 22-year-old Kelly Gordon was struck and killed […]
NYC Set to Get Safer Streets After Senate Passes Speed Cam Bill, 49-11
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Two days after the Assembly passed legislation to expand the number of speed cameras in New York City from 20 to 140, the Senate followed suit this afternoon in a 49-11 vote. Since Governor Cuomo has signaled support for the bill, it is almost certainly bound to become law. The main question is whether a […]
Questions Linger Over Cuomo’s Tappan Zee Transit Plans
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On Monday, Governor Cuomo announced that the state would provide $20 million for transit service across the new Tappan Zee Bridge, and is applying for a federal grant as well. While this first step is welcome news, there are still more questions than answers about what this money will pay for and how the rest of […]
Atlantic Yards Could Become Much Less Car-Centric
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Off-street parking for the Atlantic Yards project, which sits near one of the world’s great confluences of transit lines, was once projected to include space for as many as 3,670 cars. Now the number of parking spots could get chopped down to 2,876 or, in one scenario, a significantly less car-centric 1,200, according to a […]