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
Harlem CBs Dither on Pedestrian Safety While SI Board Begs for Bike Lanes
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Last week, Staten Island Community Board 1 passed a resolution asking DOT to install bike lanes, while in Manhattan, a community-requested plan for a road diet and pedestrian islands continues to be delayed by two Harlem community boards. After months of organizing by Transportation Alternatives — resulting in more than 260 petition signatures and 22 partners signing onto a […]
Eyes on the Street: Safer Crossings From Corona to Citi Field
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People looking to get from North Corona to Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Citi Field, and the Flushing Bay Promenade have to navigate the confusing intersection of 34th Avenue and 114th Street, find a small, poorly-maintained path, and cross a high-speed ramp from the Grand Central Parkway without even a crosswalk. Now construction has started on […]
Tonight: Community Boards Weigh Harlem and Staten Island Traffic Calming
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Last week, DOT presented a plan to calm traffic on Morningside Avenue in Harlem [PDF] with a road diet and pedestrian islands. Community Board 10’s transportation committee, which has a track record of dithering on and opposing livable streets projects, asked DOT for more data. Tonight, the action shifts to adjacent Community Board 9, which also covers […]
Ride Citi Bike? TA Wants to Know What You Think
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Transportation Alternatives has launched a series of surveys asking Citi Bike riders what they think of the bike-share program. The aim is to better inform TA’s activism and introduce the advocacy group to bike-share users who may not already be familiar with ways they can help improve cycling in New York. “We don’t want this to […]
After 100 Days, Architects of NYC’s Bike-Share Success Take Stock
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By the numbers, Citi Bike has been a huge success, taking weeks to build the substantial ridership that other systems took years to achieve. With the instant popularity have also come growing pains: Ensuring a balanced supply of bikes across the system remains an ever-present challenge, and plans to expand remain just over the horizon, […]
DOT Proposes Filling the Gap in Second Avenue Protected Bike Lane
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If you ride on the Second Avenue protected bike lane through Kips Bay, you know it can get a little hairy on the way downtown: The section between 23rd Street and 14th Street has no physical protection. On this stretch, the barrier of parked cars yields to a narrow painted buffer, creating an opportunity for […]
CB 1 Committee Endorses DOT Plan for Tribeca Bike Lanes
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The Tribeca committee of Manhattan Community Board 1 passed a resolution last week in support of a DOT proposal to add bicycle lanes on Church Street and West Broadway [PDF]. The plan was modified from an earlier version to expand pedestrian space on the triangle between Sixth Avenue, Church Street, White Street, and Franklin Street. The new plan […]
Morningside Avenue Traffic Calming Awaits Support From Two Harlem CBs
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From 116th Street to 126th Street, Morningside Avenue is known as a speedway between Harlem’s residential streets to the east and Morningside Park to the west. A traffic calming plan from DOT [PDF] now waits while Community Boards 9 and 10 weigh in. Transportation committees of both boards received presentations from DOT, followed by question-and-answer […]
Priority Number One Under Joe Lhota’s DOT: Sync the Stop Lights
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On his radio show this morning, John Gambling asked Joe Lhota what he thinks about congestion pricing and transportation issues generally. Lhota spent the next three minutes (starting at 8:25) explaining that under his administration, DOT would focus on its “core competency.” Bus lanes didn’t make the cut. Bikes? Forget about it. “You’ve got to […]
MTA Planning Chief: NYC’s Next Mayor Needs to Stick Up for Bus Lanes
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After a presentation on regional transit ridership trends at NYU’s Rudin Center this morning, William Wheeler, the MTA’s planning director, said the city’s next mayor needs to firmly support the reallocation of street space for dedicated bus lanes, and should not back down in the face of opposition to changes that take away real estate […]
Bill Thompson Rents Ads-by-Bicycle to Woo Borough Park Voters
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Here’s an ironic twist for the mayoral candidate who all but ignored bicycling and walking in his transportation platform: Bill Thompson has rented mobile advertisements-by-bike, with yellow-vested, red-helmeted riders pedaling around Borough Park with Yiddish-language advertisements for his campaign. Despite Thompson’s anemic transportation policy, it’s a step up from the last time around. In 2009, he made […]
Bed-Stuy Cuts the Ribbon on Marcy Plaza, Celebrating Reclaimed Space
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More than 100 people joined local leaders and city agency chiefs this morning to cut the red ribbon for Marcy Plaza, a new pedestrian space carved from what used to be an extra-wide stretch of asphalt next to a one-story Burger King in Bedford Stuyvesant. The plaza, part of a larger $20 million streetscape upgrade […]