Did you know that 25% of all New York City School children are affected by asthma? May 5th was World Asthma Day and Idle-Free NYC Day, and supporters gathered at City Hall to celebrate new legislation, Intro 631-A, that reduces the time a motor vehicle can idle in a school zone from three minutes to [...]
Archive for the ‘Quality of Life’ Category
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Idle-Free NYC
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The Search for the Zozo
Thanks to a marked improvement for pedestrians and cyclists in public spaces in NYC, Zozo's - purple, pleasant creatures who once roamed NYC's streets before the presence of the automobile but thought now extinct - are making a comeback. Watch our mockumentary as we go in search of the ever-elusive Zozo! Will we find it?
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L.A.’s East Hollywood ArtCycle & Block Party
The bike scene in Los Angeles is alive and well - and growing every day.
Streetfilms rode along with one of two ArtCycle tours of local studio spaces sponsored by the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council. Afterwards, we joined a block party in progress, arriving just in time to hear solid words of encouragement and promises [...] -
Seattle’s Bus Chick on the Rewards of the Riding Life
Carla Saulter, who lives car-free with her husband and young daughter, pens an awesome blog called "Bus Chick" on the Seattle Post Intelligencer's website. It's all about riding transit, chronicling her daily life doing it, and inspiring others to do it!
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Streetsblog Comes to San Francisco
While on the West Coast in October for the Railvolution Conference, the announcement went out that San Francisco would become the third chapter in the Streetsblog sisterhood. Hip Hip Hooray!
On Halloween morning, yours truly was invited out to do the person-on-the-street gig at the final Gas-Free Friday event being held by the San Francisco [...] -
An Alfresco chat with Jan Gehl
Every time we manage to snag an interview with Jan Gehl, it ends up being one of the coldest days of the Fall. But that didn't stop the Danish livable streets maestro from grabbing a table in New York City's new wonderful public space, Madison Square, to chat with Streetsblog's Editor-in-chief Aaron Naparstek.
It was [...] -
Sunday Parkways Chicago
Streetfilms contributor Nicholas Whitaker went to Chicago to see how thousands of Chicago residents learned what happens when streets turn into parks for Sunday Parkways on Oct 5th and 26th.
By closing down over three miles of parkways to cars for four hours, the event allowed people of all ages and walks of life to step [...] -
Summer Streets 2008 (NYC)
Feeling remarkably similar to Bogota's Ciclovia, the New York City Department of Transportation held its first Summer Streets event on Saturday by opening 7 miles of city streets to pedestrians and bike traffic only. From 7 AM to 1 PM, roads were car-free from 72nd Street to the Brooklyn Bridge along Park Avenue. It was splendiferous.
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Great Public Spaces: Pioneer Courthouse Square
According to the Project for Public Spaces (PPS), Portland, Oregon's Pioneer Courthouse Square is one of the Top 10 greatest public spaces in the U.S. & Canada. I couldn't agree more. Affectionately referred to as the city's "living room" the charming and versatile block was once slated to be an 11-story parking garage [...]
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Figment* 2008 on Governors Island
This weekend, FIGMENT 2008, a free, non-profit art project, drew upwards of 10,000 people to Governors Island for a three day festival of performance, music and participatory art. Partnering with Governors Island, the producers of FIGMENT hope to increase the enjoyment of art by placing it in an under-utilized public space just minutes from downtown. Streetfilms was there to cover the event and speak to one of the creators of what it is all about.
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Baltimore gets a Ciclovia!
Greg Cantori, Executive Director of the Marion I. & Henry J. Knott Foundation, has been trying to get Baltimore to put in place a Ciclovia for over two years. With the help of other organizations - and now called Sunday Streets - this October it will (read his entry on the Audacious Ideas blog.) This is great news and one of many U.S. cities where there is a movement to bring some sort of periodic street closures so residents can enjoy their streets; not just used as thoroughfares for cars.
And we remind you, please, if you are out there advocating the same, Streetfilms can help you do it! Our films are being used throughout the world to demonstrate how livable streets initiatives work. Quoting Mr. Cantori's e-mail to us:
....your film played a key role as we showed it to the city hall staff as part of our presentation. It was a hit! You can be very proud of the great work you are doing in creating changes in attitudes and behaviors. If a picture is worth a thousand words then imagine what thousands of pictures in a film can do.
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Lady Liberty Marries Mr. Transit
Rev. Billy Preaches Bikes & Transit at the NYC Auto Show in a performance with Transportation Alternatives.
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The Street Life of Havana
Ethan Kent from PPS takes us on a pictorial journey of his trip to the streets of Cuba.
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Ciclovia: Bogotá, Colombia
In Part 1 of our Bogotá trilogy watch as every Sunday & holiday, every week, the City of Bogotá, Colombia closes down over 70 miles of roadways to cars and let people bike, walk, talk, exercise, picnic, sunbathe, I could go on and on. Just watch the video, it's amazing.
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PARKing Day Redux in Park Slope! (2007)
Advocates take over a few parking spaces and enjoy the day in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
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PARK(ing) Day NYC 2007
In Fall 2007, T.A. & The Trust for Public Land organized a of group of motley advocates in liberating nearly two dozen parking spaces and turning them into open green areas for city residents to enjoy. Parking Day rules!
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Intersection Repair
In Portland, Oregon, City Repair promotes intersection interventions where hundreds of people take back their streets by painting street murals and creating community-friendly commons to gather and socialize.
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PSA: What Can Brown Do For You?
The StreetFilms crew was on Fulton Street in Lower Manhattan a while back and discovered this delivery truck eating up an already meager sidewalk. Pedestrians, many of whom were forced out into the street, seemed to regard the obstruction as a common occurrence. Just one example of the thousands of intrusions per day [...]
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Portland, Ore. – Festival Streets
Innovative thinking in Portland has produced a new street design which emphasizes community use.
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Public Space Transformations
These photo simulations from the Project for Public Spaces show how we can transform some of our misused intersections into amazing spaces full of life, commerce, and vitality.
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PSA-Cab in a Crosswalk
See how much disruption and danger one taxi cab stuck in a Times Square crosswalk can create.
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Fulton Street
Jeff Prant collects signatures on his petition to maintain Fulton Street's car-free hours.
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PSA-Pedestrian Density
Cars get more space than pedestrians do on the streets, which leads to overcrowded sidewalks.
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Car-free Central Park Rally
A Transportation Alternatives rally on the steps of City Hall demonstrates residents' support for a car-free Central Park.
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Jan Gehl in Times Square
Jan Gehl (Gehl Architects) and Mark Gorton discuss the potential for pedestrian-friendly changes in Times Square.
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Psychic Space
Mark Gorton, founder of The Open Planning Project, points out how parked cars and street use makes a difference in two streets just blocks apart in SoHo are felt by pedestrians.
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Parking Spot Squat
In June 2006, Transportation Alternatives volunteers staged a "Parking Spot Squat" in Brooklyn's busy Park Slope neighborhood. The volunteers "liberated" two parking spaces, providing amenities that allowed residents to sit and relax.
The demonstrations created a temporary, but much-needed public space.The event caused many to question traditional notions of the way public space is reserved for [...]
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Car-free Sunday on the Grand Concourse
In the early 1990s, three and a half miles of The Grand Concourse, a major arterial roadway in the Bronx, was closed to cars every Sunday from July thru November. The closures provided residents with much-needed open space to safely bike, walk, play and develop a sense of community with neighbors. Despite its popularity, New [...]
