Watch the Dramatic Evolution of NYCs Broadway Between Union Square and Times Square (2005-2023) Streetfilms® 2023-09-26 | Whether you're an urban planner, streets advocate, historian or just lover of cities there is an abundant amount of information in this Streetfilm looking at the copious changes to the streets on NYC's Broadway thru our archives from the early 2000s thru to present day.Take in this fantastic walking tour put together by Open Plans with knowledgable tour guides and featuring pop-up special guest like former NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan who explains to us about how the corridor changed early on!There is simply no other historical archive of Broadway out there that features all of this insider knowledge to the process and over 30 before/afters of Broadway - most taken in precisely the same spots referenced.I hope you enjoy this and pass along to young and old and professors and historians use this. As a personal note, in some ways, this is a sort of test to see if there is the appetite to do a full feature Streetfilm looking at how NYC's changed from 2000 thru present day. If that does happen it would include dozens of interviews combined with footage that I have of NYC from late 1990s on.....let's call this "Streetfilms Legacy: Chapter One"
Streetopia: Reimagining NYCs West 72nd Street for People, Transit & Bikes Streetfilms® 2024-10-07 | The DOT is showing signs lately of getting more stuff done, and here's a proposal they should take a look at: remaking West 72nd Street into a people-first complete street connecting Central Park and Riverside Park.Streetopia Upper West Side's vision for West 72nd Street includes some core ideas that they believe should guide any changes DOT makes to the corridor. These include: • Limit through-traffic and give buses priority. • Explicitly connect Central Park and Riverside Park for pedestrians and cyclists. • Include a world-class, high-comfort, all ages and abilities cycle track. • Expand sidewalks and shorten crossing distances at every intersection. • Add mid-block crosswalks on every block. • Repurpose the curb lane to serve multiple uses in proportion to needs. • Plant a lot of trees.
Talking Concrete Protection for Bike Lanes with NYC DOTs Sean Quinn Streetfilms® 2024-09-05 | I recently got the opportunity to talk to Sean Quinn, NYC DOT's Associate Deputy Commissioner of Office of Livable Streets, about how there have been some very recent concrete upgrades in Queens on some major bike routes. We got to talk about some recent places systemwide where the department has been working (and plans to work) as they've been able to bolster concrete building capacity with the addition of more units capable of pouring concrete for NYC DOT.
Montreal has the Best Daylighting/Curb Extensions in North America Streetfilms® 2024-09-01 | While on a summer family vacation in Montreal for the 4th year in a row, I swore I wouldn't do much work or make a Streetfilm, but I did have my camera and my tiny gimbal so I just started recording because it seemed everywhere we went there was ample daylighting/curb extensions with almost always beautiful flower plantings or arrangements. So without much effort I crafted this nice montage of them.
Requiem: The Death of Outdoor Dining (Brought to You By NYC City Council) Streetfilms® 2024-08-15 | Yeah, it's ridiculously sad what is going on in NYC on its streets when it comes to outdoor dining. The city had a thriving outdoor dining program since Covid: many very elaborate, some beautiful and artistic, designs. Many with beautiful amounts of greenery. Some restaurants spent a lot of money to put them up.Sure, not all were winners or exquisite, and certainly a percentage became dilapidated and unused over the years. Last year NYC City Council decided to make the program permanent and impose more strict requirements. Some rules were very good and welcome, some were onerous, but the one completely unacceptable stipulation that passed was that the program would no longer be year-round.This put a huge burden on owners and restauranteurs to have to remove the structures every winter and store all of the equipment. As you can imagine in NYC this process is time-consuming but most of all EXPENSIVE. And thus as we approach the first year on rules in effect, a large majority are abandoning their outdoor dining. There may be a chance to amend the legislation before full compliance needs to happen. So I found some old footage of outdoor dining and showed what many outdoor parking spaces now look like. In one case (Negril in Brooklyn) just as we were finalizing this video they were in process of demolition. Sad. Just sad.
These Speed Humps Are Kinda Like Car Kryptonite (in Providence, RI) Streetfilms® 2024-08-09 | Okay. Yes, yes I have seen p-l-e-n-t-y of speed humps. But while on vacation in Providence, Rhode Island I stopped and observed this site on West Main Street where they have installed a series of these modular speed humps and they work really really well. I was amazed while there for 20 minutes or so to see that maybe only a handful of nearly 100 vehicles I saw hit them quickly, and even they slowed down.What was even more impressive is that the stretch of road they are on when they approach has most vehicles in the 20-30+ mph range. And seeing many of the cars fly up to the speed humps and then abruptly hit the brakes is fascinating. Is it the angle of design? The color? The fact that there are gaps between each? Who the heck knows, but seeing how cars commonly hit some speed humps in my NYC neighborhood at 20mph or faster while barely decreasing their speeds, I'd love to see more of these!
NYCs Summer Streets 2024: More Hours, 20 Miles & Even More People! Streetfilms® 2024-08-05 | The excellent announcement by NYC DOT that 2024's version of Summer Streets would be expanded until 3pm spurred me to do a real coverage of the event for the first time in over 10 years.I was there nearly the entire time and despite the heat, the streets were crowded all day long. In fact, many of the people I spoke with along the route wanted it even longer and to last the whole weekend!Also: for this implementation the Park Avenue Tunnel is open if you are traveling north on Park Avenue by bicycle. Get out to the other events which will be Saturday Aug 10 & 17!
NYCs Washington Bridge Gets A Much Wider Crossing for Bicyclists, Multi-modal Users & Pedestrians. Streetfilms® 2024-07-30 | I used to cross the Washington Bridge maybe once a year. It always sucked! It was cramped, dirty and way too narrow. As narrow a ped/bike crossing I have ever taken (okay, maybe tied with the tunnel between Oakland & Alameda, CA)In 2021 when I profiled Luclia Deng from The Bronx, she took me across the Washington Bridge and I hadn't been in a few years since bicycling really started booming. We had to dismount or stop a 1/2 dozen times to negotiate safely with other people pushing strollers, walking, biking, etc. What a demeaning way to denizens of the city just trying to live their lives and get around.But all that has changed thanks to Transportation Alternatives volunteers in The Bronx who pushed NYC DOT to include a better bikeway when their re-design of the bridge went thru. Now it is a breeze crossing, with no stress. Peds and runners still need to use the narrower part, but without wheeled devices it's not as big a deal. Check it out.
CargoB: Boston Has Cargo E-Bike Share and We Got to Try It! Streetfilms® 2024-07-08 | While on vacation in Boston, Dorothy Fennell & Zack DeClerck (co-founders of CargoB) invited my family to try out their new cargo bike rental system thru the streets, bike lanes and parks in Boston. ridecargob.comWe had a great time for nearly 3 hours and visited some historic sites we have never been to, some old favs downtown and briefly checked out one of the newest fully built out protected bike lanes on Tremont Street, which is definitely a huge winner for beauty of design and width.
See How Ghent Is Making Streets Safer For Children To Bike & Walk Streetfilms® 2024-07-01 | At the Ghent 2024 Velo-city event, Streetfilms went along on a technical visit "Cycling Through School Areas" to see some of the road treatments the city does for kids and families to help get them to schools in a safe environment. Here is a little of that tour to inspire your city to do the same!
The Velo-city 2024 Bike Parade (Ghent, Belgium) Streetfilms® 2024-06-20 | Come watch the riders, sound, sites, festive atmosphere & creative fun that was the annual Velo-city bike ride, this year in Ghent!
Stockholm: Look at How Great a City Can Be With Congestion Pricing Streetfilms® 2024-06-19 | Stockholm is a wonderful city to walk, walk & walk! But nearly everything else is great too, the public space, the shopping, the transit and - wow - bicycling there is just getting more & more enjoyable. Now on nice non-winter days, about 32% of the downtown city center use the bike to get around and to work!
NYCs Congestion Pricing Crisis: Riders Agree Gov. Kathy Hochul MUST Start June 30th Streetfilms® 2024-06-09 | Today Rider's Alliance held a rally way out in the center of Brooklyn at Broadway Junction in Bed Stuy. About 200 or so people were on hand to let know Governor Kathy Hochul that her attempts to stop NYC Congestion Pricing law on June 30th are illegal and unethical.We talked to numerous riders and volunteers (sorry to all of those that didn't make the cut) and followed the after parade to the newish park abutting the transit hub.
What is Daylighting? (And How This Intersection Adjustment Saves So Many Lives!) Streetfilms® 2024-06-05 | I have been making Streetfilms about Daylighting for over 15 years. Around that time period Streefilms put together the first film ever on the topic: 2010's "Daylighting: Make Your Crosswalks Safer" (vimeo.com/12796910) featuring a number of prominent New Yorkers on the topic.I have always tried to work in daylighting into everything I can. It just makes sense to not have cars parked all the way up to crosswalks (or in some cases right up until the intersection!). By eliminating cars being parked from the first 10 to 15 feet (in some places they use 20!) you create a safer environment for drivers to not only see peds & bicyclists but OTHER drivers.During a meeting after I had assembled together a blog post for Open Plans on some of the work I had done over the years (openplans.org/blog/streetfilms-daylighting) we talked about coming up with a new version for 2024. And so the idea was born and we got a dozen folks to talk to us about daylighting and the really cool movement from NYC Community Boards now passing resolutions asking the Mayor & NYC DOT for #universaldaylighting!Oh, and this video features prominently Emily Chingay who really made this video come alive with her enthusiasm and great script she penned! Enjoy and please circulate and use it wherever you can. Though it is NYC based, it provides a model for other cities & communities to make daylighting happen.
Talking Congestion Pricing in Stockholm Under a Toll Gantry with Jonas Eliasson! Streetfilms® 2024-05-13 | Gersh Kuntzman from StreetsblogNYC interviews Stockholm Congestion Pricing expert Jonas Eliasson under a noisy tolling gantry where a once-traffic choked spot along a highway now run relatively smoothly for drivers thanks to Congestion Pricing which was instituted in 2007.
There Are Many Reasons Why Stockholm Is So Pleasant to Walk In. Heres One! Streetfilms® 2024-05-06 | Okay. Before we dive in. Yes. Yes. These indeed these signs ARE ALL OVER Europe. I've probably seen them in this style in a dozen countries. But when you walk & bike around Stockholm, they really are ubiquitous. One reason is that pedestrians really do have the right of way in many situations. In fact, there is no law that a pedestrian can ever be ticketed for crossing the street ANYWHERE! And drivers always must yield. If they do not it is a $300 fine. And we are told the police do write some (in NYC in 33 years I can only recall seeing that happen ONCE!)Additionally, the more miles you put in walking (I did 11 miles the morning I landed) you can see that at least in this Swedish city, they try not to put in traffic lights. Many intersections consist of no stop signs and pedestrian right of way at all corners. It all leads to drivers being more careful and civil. The central city is so walkable and stress-free. My visit in 2017 it felt more walkable than any place I have ever been. And it feels even more amazing in 2024. After all, it is the birthplace of Vision Zero.
Utrecht Redux: Bicycle Dutch Shows Us the Restored Canal, Busiest Cycle Path & Much More! Streetfilms® 2024-04-29 | So as you may already know, one of Streetfilm's most successful videos of all-time was our 2019 trip to Utrecht to make the film "Utrecht: Planning for People, Not For Cars", which surpassed 1 million views faster than anything we've ever produced.I was visiting The Netherlands with my family for the first time and we decided to meet up with Mark Wagenbuur (Bicycle Dutch on Youtube) in Utrecht. He took us on a great tour of all the amazing things happening around the train station including many bike improvements, open space initiatives and we even visited the absolutely amazing Railway Museum which is definitely one of the tops in the world.I filmed it all for fun and made this great keepsake of the day. There's lots to see and you will enjoy watching in real-time how our day went. Thanks so much to Mark for not only being our guide but also for tagging along to the museum where we would have missed some really cool things if it wasn't for him.
Bicycle Dutch Rides Some NYC Crosstown Bike Lanes With Us! Streetfilms® 2024-04-15 | First things first: so thrilled Mark Wagenbuur (Bicycle Dutch) came to NYC this week. We've both made over 1,000 transportation films and he has become a good friend. It was so much fun to ride around with him and amazingly I'll be joining him to do the same in Amsterdam in about a week!!We did a 20 mile loop of the city and I tried to show off some of the best stuff we have here. It was a rainy, cold & windy trip but I think what he saw on 1st Avenue, the new East River Midtown Greenway, one of our best 2-way cycle tracks on Crescent Street in Queens, the magnificent 34th Ave Open Street, the Kosciusko Bridge path and several other NYC DOT projects he really quite enjoyed. He was filming while he made his way around NYC and hopefully he will post some of his thoughts on the Bicycle Dutch Youtube.But I saved my grimmest, bicycling pet peeve for the end of the ride: bicycling New York City crosstown. It was a Saturday and I thought it wouldn't be as bad as during the week, but it proved to be horrible as usual. Believe it only not we only did about 10 minutes of riding and this is just a portion of what we saw!NYC needs to really upgrade what we are doing for crosstown bicycle lanes, especially from the Village thru Midtown. The protected lanes we have are not truly protected. They need to be wider. Safer. Hardened with immovable barriers. If you have lanes that frequently look like this it's really not encouraging people to jump on a bike. Drop me a line as I am going to be covering crosstown lanes throughout 2024.
Painting Paseo: 26 Blocks of Joy (on NYCs 34th Ave Open Street) Streetfilms® 2024-04-09 | The first weekend in April saw the 34th Avenue, the 1.3 mile open street in Jackson Heights, Queens begin transforming the granite traffic-calming blocks at the head of most streets from uninspiring grey to vivid designs of fun & nature from a diverse group of Queens-based artists who had applied and submitted their ideas in the Fall.The Alliance for Paseo Park initiated the project nearly a year ago with funding from Council Member Shekar Krishnan and a committee first spent months getting permission from the NYC DOT. They then selected 26 Queens-based artists (many living right along the open street) and over the winter chose a universal color palette each composition had to utilize.In addition, most of the artists had no experience in painting granite and luckily, shortly after their deployment in 2022, Jackson Heights neighbor Grace Alejandra brought out some paintbrushes and expressed herself on a few of the blocks to beautify the open street. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive and she was recruited as a mentor and advice giver to those needing tips in painting granite.
Queens Childrens March: 750 People Have Died in Queens Since Vision Zero Launched in 2014 Streetfilms® 2024-03-23 | Friday a sobering march/vigil for the recent tragedy of 8-year old Bayron Palomino Arroyo who was killed walking with his family in a crosswalk with the light by an aggressive, dangerous driver with a history of bad driving including 4 prior arrested for unlicensed driving.The march was attended by a dozen elected officials and over 200 marchers who walked thru the streets of Corona to draw attention to current legislation in Albany, NY that if passed could allow cities to set their own speed limits, extend & expand the expiring red light camera program. In addition, speakers called on Mayor Adams to do more traffic calming - such as "universal daylighting" and the NYPD to do more far more aggressive enforcement.
Paris School Streets: Safe for Children, Safe for Everyone Streetfilms® 2024-02-21 | For many years now advocates and communities around the world have been focussed on Paris School Streets not only because they make streets safer on those blocks for kids but by the swift and ample number of the high quality implementation of them.In the last 4 years there have been many thousands of social media photos of the school streets in action, presentations by academics & safe streets advocates and even a few video clips and an occasional news report from Paris on them, but there hasn't been anything on the scale of even a short film. So I set out to change that interviewing some people that could give a good amount of background on Paris School Streets. (And even two folks from the U.S. who frequent Paris I interviewed in NYC on some of our nicer places.) I didn't get everyone I wanted on film, one of my prime interviews came down with Covid(!!). But I hope you enjoy this. It is truly remarkable.
Adventures in Paris 12th Arrondissement: School Streets, Car-Free Spaces & More Green Plazas Streetfilms® 2024-02-04 | After giving us an awesome interview about School Streets, City of Paris Urban Planner Priscilla Benedetti offered to take me on a tour of the 12th arrondissement and since I had some time before my next meet up I happily agreed. What she showed me in the next hour or so blew my mind away - not only due to the quality of the transformations but also the speed at which Paris is doing things.And this is only a small section of the arrondissement, remember citywide Paris is undertaking big changes to its streets both physically but also policies! Nothing was more than a mile away from the school street I filmed her at (a small tease to our next Streetfilm is given at the head of the film). If you think your city cannot do it due to funds, that is simply not the case. All cities can re-prioritize safer places for people and do this kind of work - it just takes the "will" and "guts" like Gil Penalosa loves to say!
NYC Broadway: Before & Afters That Will Leave You Astounded! Streetfilms® 2024-01-10 | A lot of people have watched my previous 20+ minute epic on the dynamic street changes on NYC's Broadway over the past 20 years. Many did ask if there was a way to excerpt just the actual before & afters so they could use it as a tool in presentations or to show their cities.So I excerpted quite a few of them here (about 15 pairs) so you can showoff the dramatic changes. If you want to watch the original with interviews featuring many New York experts including NYC DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, I highly recommend it: youtube.com/watch?v=7GgtmW-W9QY
Biking to Work with Actress Amy Hargreaves ! Streetfilms® 2024-01-01 | I've been lucky to hang out or ride along with some famous New Yorkers who are bike riders and actors over the years! Including: "The Ethicist" Randy Cohen, Kate McKinnon, Michael Musto, George Hahn, David Byrne and others. Today you get to see my fun commute with actress Amy Hargreaves, who has been a star of stage, screen and television for over 30 years!Come along on our fun ride from her Yorkville home base thru Times Square for the play "Till Death" at Theater Row (note it has since finished it's run) as we discuss all sorts of great urban topics like WIDE bike lanes, congestion pricing, safety for riding at night, Citi bikes and how she chooses what mode of transport she will use (she also does not own a car, but will occasionally rent one - wait until you hear THAT story!)It is an eclectic journey featuring her path thru the Upper East Side (we stopped to ride a few blocks of the new Third Avenue bike lane!) then via a dark and sparsely populated Central Park lower loop which leads us to directly into Times Square using 7th Avenue or as Amy says, "the belly of the beast"! All along hear how she says the ride to the stage helps her relax and prepare for her role and the ride home allows her to recoup energy and decompress.One of my favorite ride alongs ever!
See Many of Paris Newest Bike Lanes (And a Whole Lot More!) Streetfilms® 2023-12-20 | I was in Paris in November. I wanted to make just a short follow-up on what's happening with bike lanes as my chief reason for going was to document school streets (film coming in early January!) but when I met up with a few people and was out around the city all you see is road construction going on. I wish this much bike construction happened in NYC!So I got the drop on some of the newest installed lanes and one new car-free space! Check them out here. This film stretched to twice its length and still had to leave lots of great footage out. In one instance I literally was heading to interview Derek and I immediately said, "Hey, didn't the bike lane here used to be on the other side of the street?" And my recollection (even though I was only there a few minutes on my last trip) was they did improve the street.Paris does have the Olympics coming so it's all hands on deck. The entire city is mobilized to make the transportation system work as efficiently as possible to move the athletes, visitors, city officials and residents around during that month. But even with that being true it is stunning to see the building going on.
Greening Paris: 3 Neat Ideas All Cities Should Try Streetfilms® 2023-12-14 | Before departing for Paris this wasn't even on my radar of video ideas. However, while walking about and interviewing many people I kept capturing these little impromptu shorts and things I would ask about since I'd love NYC to invest in similar ones.. I packaged the three bits together here in this short I hope you enjoy!
NYC Improves 3rd Avenue with Safe Double-Wide Bike Lane, Bus Lane & Daylighting Streetfilms® 2023-12-11 | THIS IS A MUST WATCH!There are a couple of before and afters in this video that will show you the stark contrast with NYC's 3rd Avenue which was a dangerous traffic sewer with 5 car moving lanes and nothing in the way of safety for those outside a car to what NYC DOT changed it to now: featuring double-wide bike lanes, a brand new bus lane which features off-set crossing, daylighting and actual obstacles to prevent drivers from parking in this most dangerous places on the Avenue.On Saturday I got to check out the full implementation and met up with about 20 riders to have a happy jaunt up the nearly new 2 miles of installations (it's hoped it will eventually extend the entire Avenue).This is certainly now Manhattan's safest stretch of bicycling on any street running north and south. It has real protection and room for people to pass, pedestrians to be able to cross the Avenue more safely and bus riders to benefit faster speeds for buses with new red lanes (hopefully cameras to come shortly!)
See the Paris Metro Station thats also a Mini-Museum Streetfilms® 2023-11-28 | I have about a dozen short films I shot impromptu fashion on my Paris trip. The two big ones will be looking at new bike lanes and school streets, but I was so fascinated by many things. The Metro is a thing of beauty with fast trains, clean stations and frequent service (plus subway gates on the platforms!) The Louvre stop near my hotel though was super cool.
What Paris Uses its Curbs for Besides Car Parking! Streetfilms® 2023-11-15 | Just back from Paris. There will be at least a 1/2 dozen Streetfilms looking at everything from school streets to the brand newest of bike lanes. I had a 2 hour window after landing before heavy rains were due. So I immediately went out and started shooting some reflections and observations. This was one of them. I usually don't put myself front and center but my interviews were later in my trip (all excellent!) so I did an audit and some analysis of Paris curb use - and daylighting - to show how Paris continues on its quest to repurpose 50% of car parking spaces by 2026 to other better uses.Much more to come after Thanksgiving.
Brooklyns Berry Open Street: Upgrading for Safety & Permanence Streetfilms® 2023-11-02 | About a month ago I was riding down Brooklyn's Berry Street and unexpectedly saw the street undergoing a long-gestating transformation by NYC DOT. I took a few photos and got in touch with some volunteers of the North Brooklyn Open Streets. They let me know that the conversion would be mostly done by the end of October and that a perfect time to stop by might be during their Berry Spooky Halloween Event. So since it didn't rain on a Saturday for the first time in 7 weeks I went over with my family and did a brief stop to look at what's going on.A few things stand out: 1) NYC DOT painted a good deal of intersections with a "coral" coloring to emphasize heightened awareness of all modes. It is the first use of its kind in NYC. 2) Most intersections have now implemented impressive daylighting treatments with rock boulders, Citibike stations, beautiful flower pots, bike parking & more to keep visibility. 3) Many of the street directions for cars (which should be traveling about 5mph) reverse direction almost every other block. Keeping thru traffic off. 2-way bicycle/micromobility is still retained through signage and street markings.All in all another good example of NYC DOT attempting some innovative things on open streets and bike boulevards in the city.
How To Start A Bike Bus! Streetfilms® 2023-10-26 | In NYC at the 10th anniversary Vision Zero Cities Conference, hosted by Transportation Alternatives, one of the sessions was an outdoor bike excursion where bike bus organizers Sam Balto, Megan Ramey and Emily Stutts inspired attendees with anecdotes and advice with their individual tales on how they got started on their bike bus rides.And actually all three of their origin stories are intertwined. Megan started her Bike Bus on October 2020 during the midst of the Covid outbreak in Hood River. Along with Barcelona's mega popular Bici Bus, Sam cites her rides as his inspiration for first trying his out in Portland on Earth Day 2022, which has now become an internet sensation with millions of views on his video clips. And Emily saw Megan on John Simmerman's Active Towns Youtube podcast (youtube.com/watch?v=f20qkKua1Bo) which motivated her to try out a ride down dense and hectic Brooklyn's Bergen Street.Oh, and along the ride while interviewing Megan she gave unexpected credit to Streetfilms for introducing her to the concept via a 2010 video where I rode along with Portland's Beach Bike Train (see that film here: youtu.be/DNNxwF1BPKE?si=arrX4v8q8f4JM9aV&t=167) which she said she "stole" to craft her first event.You'll hear over and over from these three amazing individuals while we cruise through Brooklyn while they talk with conference attendees and navigate the streets.
People Over Parking! (2 Parking Spaces = 1 Studio Apartment) Streetfilms® 2023-10-23 | As part of this weekend's Open House NY 2023 event in Williamsburg, the team from Open Plans converted 2 garage spaces for vehicles into a comfy studio apartment demonstrating that "People Over Parking" is a better use in cities where parking minimums in effect.Parking mandates are an outdated, complex, and costly policy that requires new buildings to dedicate valuable space to storing private vehicles.Parking mandates are zoning rules that require a certain amount of off-street parking to be built in new apartment buildings or offices. As unbelievable as it seems, as a law, in most of New York City, the government requires developers to include parking spaces, regardless of whether New Yorkers actually want or need them. They have been part of the city’s Zoning Code for decades and haven’t been reformed citywide since John F. Kennedy was president.Parking mandates:- Raise the cost of housing by reducing the number of units that each building can rent or sell- Cater to and encourage car ownership by making it easier to own and use a car in New York- Create a less livable and walkable city by increasing the number of cars on the road- May replace street-level retail opportunities, negatively impacting streetscape, safety, and economic growth- Mandate the construction of parking lots on land that could be used for more housing, parks, or other valuable public uses
Hundreds of NYC Bike Riders Demand Mayor Eric Adams Make Streets Safer! Streetfilms® 2023-10-12 | Transportation Alternatives organized a critical mass of human beings to demand Mayor Eric Adams commit to making streets less deadly for bike riders and to fully implement current and new projects without compromising safety.Somewhere between 400 and 500 riders turned out to ride from Union Square to City Hall. I was able to put this up a few hours after the event after riding over 10 miles to get home.
What Was That Thing On The Street That Just Passed You? Streetfilms® 2023-10-10 | When it comes to the seemingly dozens of kinds of devices you might see in NYC's bike lanes and city streets, the average resident usually makes mistakes, even the NYPD and FDNY, as to what-is-what. StreetsblogNYC attempted to remedy the situation a bit when last year they published "The Field Guide to Urban Mobility in New York City", which explained the classifications of bikes, e-bikes, scooters & mopeds (and also showed some completely illegal modes).Our charming guide, Gersh Kuntzman, editor-in-chief of StreetsblogNYC, gives us a breakdown of the major users you will see and some of the issues and consequences of having so many types of speed and mobility using bike lanes and the city streets.
Mayor John Bauters shows us some of Emeryville’s Best Streets Streetfilms® 2023-09-21 | People on Twi(X)ter of course have watched the account of biking advocate and outdoor healthy Mayor John Bauters explode over the past few years.We have had the pleasure of riding with Mayor Bauters prior (see here in NYC: ) but I happened to be on a Bay Area trip and got to join him for a fun, short trip to see some of what he posts about on social media. The city has lots more great plans. It is so good to see such a great mayor (we are slowly getting more and more) but Bauters is certainly at the top!
Montreals Magnificent REM Light Metro Montage (Metropolitan Express Network) Streetfilms® 2023-08-31 | So while on vacation in Montreal we naturally were drawn to ride the new REM (Réseau express métropolitain) metro line that opened its first five stations last month (21 more under construction!). It was glorious. Beautiful. Definitely one of the best skyline views of a city from a transit perspective and also to see train yards below for many Canadian companies. I really wasn't planning on posting anything, didn't even bring my camera for the ride. But did have my iPhone and figured I would be getting some photos and a few clips of video. However, I was unprepared for how spectacular it would be.When I got back to the hotel I watched a half dozen popular REM videos and most had the same vibe: stick a camera in the front window and watch the real time station travel loop. Not saying that is a bad thing, it's certainly cool to watch that unadulterated, uninterrupted travel. But looking at my own small compilation of shots I thought there lacked much variety, artistry and really getting see what you saw out the windows.So I decided to make my own in the end with a musical montage tribute to Montreal's REM. I hope you like it.
Montreals Fabulous Bike Infrastructure Continues to Expand Its Very Wide Lane Network! Streetfilms® 2023-08-29 | Take a very quick ride with us on this tour of Montreal's latest expansions of the Montreal's Réseau Express Vélo (REV). We had a small group of riders get together to do about 10 miles on a loop where we basically NEVER LEFT WIDE protected bike lanes. And after being so astonished most of our riding partners responded along the lines of "Oh, we could do 3x that length if we really tried!"
Montreal Revives Critical Mass (and Newlyweds Celebrate By Riding It!) Streetfilms® 2023-08-27 | I always seem to get lucky. While vacationing in Montreal with family I got a message asking if I was doing the monthly critical mass. It was supposed to be very rainy which never came to happen, making Mathieu and Jaclyn happy who got married and then rode with hundreds of friends, neighbors and strangers to celebrate that and to nudge the city to improve cycling even faster.
San Francisco Has Some of the Most Impressive Street Transit Priority in the United States Streetfilms® 2023-08-23 | If you are in downtown San Francisco, it seems just about every block you walk on has a red-painted BUS ONLY lane. And that's good because SF only paints red lanes if they are in effect 24-7.Streetfilms met up with Michael Rhodes the Transit Priority Manager for SFMTA to give us some quick highlights of the system. They have big things planned for the city with 30 more miles scheduled for the near future. In fact, they aim "to be the Copenhagen of bus transit priority".
Summer Streets 2023 Goes to Harlem Streetfilms® 2023-08-12 | The 2023 edition of Summer Streets in NYC now extends to events in all boroughs and the Manhattan route goes all the way up to 125th Street in Harlem! Here is a very quick montage so you can get a feel and taste of the route.
Celebrating Car-free JFK Promenade and Great Highway Park Streetfilms® 2023-08-04 | All I can say is: this is one day I will never forget. Being able to bike car-free along a beach with so many nice people....thank you everyone for welcoming me. I feel honored you all came out!
Bay Area City of Alameda Goes All in on Bikes Streetfilms® 2023-07-31 | As Streetsblog Editor Roger Rudick began with his recent post, "Nestled on the extreme western end of Alameda, bikewise the new development is like something transported from Europe". And it is.Since Streetfilms was visiting the Bay Area, I had to see it for myself. And The Point Development site certainly qualifies among the best places to bike in the area. It's an old Navy base at the western flank of the city that is in the long process of being converted into new uses for every day living and residences. Connectivity is the big deal as the Cross Alameda Trail brings riders directly to the Point Development bike network and then continues on a few minutes later to a a beautiful park and ferry landing which transports to San Francisco's Ferry Building in just 20 minutes.For lots more information, please check out StreetsblogSF's article: sf.streetsblog.org/2023/06/27/eyes-on-the-street-alameda-point-development-first-in-bay-area-to-do-bike-lanes-right
Touring Denver’s Newest Protected Bike Lanes Streetfilms® 2023-07-19 | To see what is going on in Denver all you gotta do is look at the poster frame for this Streetfilm which features four different types of protection for bike riders: concrete curbs, plastic bollards with rubber stoppers, bus islands/planters and large modular concrete slabs - among other strategies in the video. But all have one BIG thing in common - they have protected riders by moving car parking out from the curb.During the NACTO conference I got to go out and ride a few tours and also take individual rides with a few others. The result is this nice look at the evolving infra and testing that the city is doing to see what strategies and materials they consider best.
All These New NYC Open Streets & Spaces Have Turned Manhattan in to a Ghost Town! Streetfilms® 2023-06-20 | For about the 13,428th time since the pandemic I have seen articles and apoplectic Twitter folk proclaiming that NYC is dead, especially Manhattan.And one of the most frequent reasons cited by critics is all the pedestrian plazas, open streets, bike lanes, restaurant dining, etc (add your own here). Well on Thursday I went out to collect footage for a film I am working on and I have two hours worth. And all I saw everywhere I went in midtown by foot, bike and transit was a thriving Manhattan. But more peaceful thanks to all the streets improvements.So here is my ode to the "End of New York City". The doom and gloom armageddon that has hit it and has turned Broadway and places like it in to a miles long ghost town inhospitable to human life and activity. The NYC that will never recover that's limping along and might as well give up if its streets look like this going forth. Every day we get closer to Will Smith, Charlton Heston or Vincent Price driving down the streets wary of zombies and evil beings trying to take back the city. BEWARE!
The Case for Widening NYC Bike Lanes Streetfilms® 2023-05-26 | Streetfilms has been at the forefront for making the case that NYC bike lanes need to be wider. Today we put forth an even more bold statement versus just presenting traffic counts.
Portland, OR Uses Innovations to Keep Bike Riders Safer Thru Intersections Streetfilms® 2023-05-24 | Say what you will about the great bicycle cities all over the world, but in the United States every time I visit Portland, OR I see during my visit interesting attempts at trying to optimize safety at intersections for bicyclists (and pedestrians).My latest visit I got taken on a short tour by Jonathan Maus from Bike Portland to see just a few things implemented since the last time I was there. The intersections PBOT attempts to remedy often have unusual geometric challenges. Here you will see only a few since you can only fit so much in one Streetfilms.Two projects which finished since my last visit are Portland's new crossings such as the hilariously named Ned Flanders Crossing and the Earl Blumenauer Bike & Pedestrian Bridge. Both bridges are not only great additions to the cycle network, but you will see the approaches from both directions have been well thought out and implemented. In particular the Flanders Crossing downtown where the blocks leading up to it on both sides have been made extremely car-light with traffic calming and limited car-access.As you watch this if you live in North America think about ways in which your city could use some of these traffic strategies. For me, NYC has a lot of great bike lanes now, but often our intersections or links between them are not the greatest. We could use some of these in their tool kits (and some new crossings!!)
Denvers ¡Viva! Streets is 3.5 Miles of Outdoor Joy Streetfilms® 2023-05-15 | Denver had the first of four of its inaugural ¡Viva! Streets program. It was a real awesome time and I posted this video just 5 hours after it ended.
NYCs Vanderbilt Avenue: The Nexus of Open Dining, Open Streets & Safe Bicycling Streetfilms® 2023-05-11 | When I was out covering NYC's Vanderbilt Open Streets this weekend, I chance met up with Patrick Fromuth, Shift Captain of the Branded Saloon who was essentially the perfect ambassador for open streets, open dining & bicycling programs in the city. His Brooklyn restaurant is the embodiment of neighborhood in NYC featuring wonderful Cathedral, seating, art, greenery and plants and nods to LGBTQ history. And it all ties in together with the fun going on in the streets.Sit back and listen to this short tour and his remarks. And remember this happened completely organically - a happy impromptu meeting in the streets - as New York City as it gets.
Future Streets Rally: See Vanderbilt Avenue and why Open Streets Need to be Fully Funded Streetfilms® 2023-05-08 | NYC's successful open streets program is very popular. A rally was held on Saturday, May 6th attended by many neighborhood leaders asking for the mayor and NYC DOT to fully help fund the largely volunteer effort across the five boroughs.
Portlands Alameda Bike Bus Turns One: The Joy of Kids Biking to School Streetfilms® 2023-04-19 | On Earth Day 2022, Physical Education teacher Sam Balto - inspired by Barcelona's Bici Bus - decided to attempt to start his own at his school in Alameda neighborhood of Portland. The initial Wednesday effort was highly successful with about 75 riders.Realizing he tapped an incredible desire for kids and families to have a more fun, healthy and peaceful to get to school, it became a regular Wednesday event and inspired other neighborhoods in Portland and around the world. Some rides have come close to 200, with one-third of the school participating.I was in Portland but not there for the ride. Still I wanted to meet up with Sam to let him tell his story and thanks to Sam's footage and Bike Portland's incredible opening day video use, I was able to edit this great story celebrating one year!
