Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Car-Free Parks

“There’s Nothing Legal About the Cars in Prospect Park”

By Ben Fried | Aug 1, 2008 | 28 Comments

August is here, and while New Yorkers are enduring another summer of rush-hour traffic whipping through the city’s flagship parks, some excellent advocacy is bolstering the case for going car-free. Look at the work being done by the Prospect Park Youth Advocates, high school students who are spending their summer vacations gathering data and putting […]

Business Honchos Lobby Bloomberg for Car-Free Parks

By Brad Aaron | Jun 26, 2008 | 29 Comments

It seems elitist "green" types aren’t the only ones who think city parks should be reserved for people. A passage from this week’s New York Magazine feature "Who Owns Central Park?" reveals that regular Joe business execs recently warned Mayor Bloomberg of the economic consequences of a city so dominated by cars. Last April, about […]

Streetfilms: The Glory Days of Car-Free Park Rallies

By Ben Fried | Jun 13, 2008 | 21 Comments

If you’ve ever wondered how Aaron Naparstek and Clarence Eckerson whiled away the hours before the advent of Streetsblog and Streetfilms, here’s your answer. They donned cheeseheads and Hummer suits while role-playing in support of a car-free Prospect Park. Clarence has been hanging on to this proto-Streetfilm for some time (it was shot in 2002), […]

T.A.: Car-Free Central Park Would Ease Neighborhood Congestion

By Brad Aaron | Jun 12, 2008 | 24 Comments

A study released this week by Transportation Alternatives undercuts the claim that closing Central Park’s loop drive to cars would increase traffic on the streets of Harlem. To the contrary, findings indicate that loop entrances on 110th street at Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Boulevards "act as traffic magnets," drawing vehicles onto neighborhood streets […]

Ken Coughlin, Leading Car-Free Park Activist, Suffers Heart Attack

By Aaron Naparstek | May 13, 2008 | 19 Comments

Ken Coughlin, occasional Streetsblog contributor, long-time coordinator of Transportation Alternatives’ Car-Free Central Park campaign and all-around mensch suffered a heart attack on Saturday. T.A. board member Jeff Prant and executive director Paul Steely White visited Ken at St. Lukes Roosevelt on the Upper West Side on Sunday. They say he’s in relatively good spirits and […]

Car-Free Parks: Now More Than Ever

By Ken Coughlin | Apr 21, 2008 | 5 Comments

It was on last year’s Earth Day that Mayor Bloomberg unveiled his far-reaching plans to make New York City more sustainable, with congestion pricing as one of the centerpieces. For some reason, making Central and Prospect Parks car-free did not make the list of 127 announced initiatives. With congestion pricing off the table for now […]

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