Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Bill de Blasio

Who’s in Charge of Streets at City Hall?

By Ben Fried | Sep 16, 2015 | 27 Comments

A few things we learned today about how important decisions regarding streets and public space get formulated in the de Blasio administration: The whole flap over removing the Times Square plazas was the result of Police Commissioner Bill Bratton acting freelance. Bratton told the Wall Street Journal he planned his plaza outburst to the word (“to smoke people out”) […]

Turn Times Square Back Into Traffic Hell? Tell Bratton and de Blasio: No Way

By Stephen Miller | Aug 28, 2015 | 1 Comment

Since Mayor Bill de Blasio won’t rule out the threat of removing the Times Square plazas, first raised by Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, it’s time to take action. Two petitions are circulating to urge the mayor not to give Times Square back to cars. One petition organized by the Design Trust for Public Space and backed by the Municipal […]

One Year Later, Bratton’s NYPD Rarely Enforcing Key Vision Zero Law

By Brad Aaron | Aug 24, 2015 | 13 Comments

Last weekend marked the one-year anniversary of the Right of Way Law, also known as code Section 19-190, which made it a misdemeanor for motorists in New York City to harm people who are walking and biking with the right of way. The law is a legislative centerpiece of Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative. It […]

De Blasio Has Yet to Say Traffic Is More Dangerous Than Painted Breasts

By Ben Fried | Aug 21, 2015 | 41 Comments

Mayor de Blasio had a chance today to quell the uproar over his suggestion that the city may rip out the Times Square pedestrian plazas. Instead he equivocated and didn’t take the idea off the table: Here’s what Bill de Blasio told NY1 today about the Times Square pedestrian plazas pic.twitter.com/kKQpF4OJlC — Mike Grynbaum (@grynbaum) August […]

Construction Begins on First Phase of Transforming Queens Blvd

By Stephen Miller | Jul 23, 2015 | 1 Comment

The redesign of Queens Boulevard, long one of New York’s most notorious death traps, is underway. “Queens Boulevard is tragically legendary. We all became used to the phrase ‘the Boulevard of Death,’” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference this morning marking the start of construction. “That is a phrase we want to banish from the […]

NYC’s New Budget Fails to Fund More Low-Cost Vision Zero Street Redesigns

By Stephen Miller | Jul 7, 2015 | 11 Comments

It’s July, which means the city’s new fiscal year 2016 budget is in effect. This spring, the de Blasio administration touted early funding for street repaving and reconstruction of four arterial streets under the “Vision Zero Great Streets” program. But the final budget the mayor’s office negotiated with the City Council fails to beef up the city’s […]

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