John Surico
@JohnSurico
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Cities and their discontents. Prof-alum @nyu_journalism . Senior Fellow for Climate and Opportunity @nycfuture . Working on a book @StreetPlans . @31stAveOS chair.
Queens, NY
Joined September 2010
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Pinned Tweet
Rats with
@tortoise
, new climate reporting class at
@nyu_journalism
, latest on 31st Ave amidst City Hall's chaos, and the ever-eternal work of
@almeidavore
, this time on improving active shooter drills.
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One crazy paradigm I think about a lot is the one where older people constantly talk about how they used to play in the street all the time, but then are unable to connect the dots as to why that's not a thing anymore.
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This is particularly significant b/c that street play is inexplicably connected to generational nostalgia, and, ultimately, happiness. They're always positive memories, and not having them now is casted off as this modern error. Which it is—but not for the reasons they think.
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EVERY CONVERSATION ABOUT CONGESTION PRICING I'VE HAD ON LONG ISLAND:
Person: Did you hear they're going to start charging people to enter Manhattan?
Me: Yes, it's called congestion pricing.
Person: That's unbelievable!
Me: Do you drive into Manhattan?
Person: Oh, never!
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Folks, Fifth Ave in Manhattan shut down to traffic for the holidays is *such* a sight.
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A very American phenomenon: restaurants that put up photos like this of pedestrianized streets in Europe, even though they’re fought tooth and nail when suggested here.
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So out of *everything* in NYC's budget, you had to cut the program that gives low-income New Yorkers the opportunity to ride public transit at half cost, in the middle of a severe recession?
Really? There was nothing else? Honestly just curious.
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There’s this insane phenomenon happening on New York’s streets right now where loads and loads of more people are cycling and walking, but the cars are getting bigger and more reckless, and those two patterns are colliding in just jaw-dropping ways.
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Libraries should be open every day of the week. There should be one in each borough that's open 24/7. There should be an expansion of educational programs, especially ESL and tech training. And there should be more—not less—branches, and every one should be ADA-accessible.
NYC's public libraries will face Saturday closures, restricted weekday hours, cuts to educational programs and a freeze on new branch openings under cuts proposed by Mayor Adams.
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The greenway from 21st St. to Vernon Blvd in Queens used to be one of my favorite bike paths in the city. Here's a photo I took riding it in 2018. Now it looks like this.
@CMJulieWon
,
@NYC_DOT
,
@NYCParks
and
@NYPD114Pct
- how did it get to this?
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New York City has a successful pedestrianized street that can still get deliveries during AM hours and can still have emergency access. And instead of scaling it, it’s a one-off affair in the Financial District.
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The speed cameras in NYC turning off at nights and weekends was something I literally didn’t believe when my friend told me for the first time. I then went and verified it, and then still didn’t believe it. And most people don’t when you tell them.
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One notable facet of Hidalgo’s push to pedestrianize Parisian streets is how unremarkable the spaces are. No huge capital project, redesign, mural, or fanfare. Just a metal swing gate with some No signs and an icon of kids, and you 👏 are 👏 good.
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“Speeding dropped 96 percent on Houston Street in Manhattan.”
THE RESULTS ARE IN: First year of 24/7 speed cameras leads to declines in speeding, injuries, and fatalities during expanded hours:
⬇️ Speeding down average of 30%
⬇️ Fatalities down 25%
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Sort of stunned by how much this tweet has taken off. I'm getting replies with calls to pedestrianize main strips in places like Ireland, Trinidad & Tobago, and Germany. If New York leads like this, people take notice.
Folks, Fifth Ave in Manhattan shut down to traffic for the holidays is *such* a sight.
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Folks starting to realize that one of the biggest culture wars these next 10-20 years will be about cars.
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You heard a lot about how crime was ravaging NYC. But you hear a lot less about how it's dropping. Which is really how it always goes, right?
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Drivers see car traffic, they get angry. Cyclists see bike traffic, they see progress!
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Advocates praying for Pelosi to use her Bene Gesserit power to reverse the pause on congestion pricing.
Pelosi seems to hold visible disdain for Kathy Hochul. She blamed the 2022 House losses on the "gubernatorial race" and, when asked, said she had not discussed the 2024 races with Hochul. She says she's only spoken to the "future speaker of the House," Hakeem Jeffries.
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Any infrastructure bill that maintains the 80-20 divide in transit funding (80% for highways; 20% for public transit) is not an infrastructure bill befit for this age.
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Here's where Naadhun Dolma, 7, was killed by an SUV that didn't see her, less than a day later. Still a car parked passed the stop line, blocking the line of sight. Still an unfinished crosswalk, because this is so common.
Her death wasn't an accident; it's a product of design.
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Yells into the void: THERE IS NO EXCEPTION FOR THE THEATER DISTRICT. THERE IS NO EXCEPTION FOR THE THEATER DISTRICT. THERE IS NO EXCEPTION FOR THE THEATER DISTRICT. THERE IS NO EXCEPTION FOR THE THEATER DISTRICT. THERE IS NO EXCEPTION FOR THE THEATER DISTRICT. THERE IS NO EXCEPTI
Hochul on congestion pricing says a $15 toll was too steep and points to a gradual ramp up of the charge in London and an exception for the theater district.
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Most Long Islanders I know from my 18 years of living there haven't driven into Manhattan in years—and it's largely due to the high stress and cost of parking. Most take the train. And most will only benefit, not suffer, from congestion pricing.
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This is a Trader Joe’s.
(Bonus points if you can guess what this architect also designed.)
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Spent the evening in Hoboken. What a masterclass in daylighting. Everywhere you look: bollards, bulb-outs or full extensions. It’s such a normal part of the streetscape here, it’s almost hard to imagine streets without it by the end of the night.
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Did my entire planning dissertation on these suburban 'hubs' at commuter rail stations... and lemme tell you: folks just drive even more.
Kirsten Gillibrand is on
@BrianLehrer
pitching alternatives to congestion pricing's clean-air benefits, suggests 20 years to build "hubs" outside the city where people could park their cars & take the train, a concept more popularly known as "parking lots at train stations"
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Lemme make sure I've got this right: this business owner's concern is that *too many people* are going to Vanderbilt Ave Open Street on weekends, and not enough people are going to Washington Ave?
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No wonder roads and subway tunnels are flooded. NYC is currently experiencing exactly the sort of storms that the climate crisis will exacerbate — fast-moving, rapid pours that totally shock the system. And they'll get worse and more frequent as the years go on.
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Hochul is speaking more vocally than normal about transit-oriented development in her budget speech right now.
"We spent all of this $ on these stations and trains... and what's next to the station? A parking lot? Rundown factories? Abandoned shops? We can do better than that."
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A tweet about traffic safety featuring a cop car parked illegally on the sidewalk is almost like performance art at this point.
Speeding endangers the lives of everyone around you. Your 114 Precinct Traffic Safety Officers are out holding aggressive drivers accountable for their actions in order to make the community safer.
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If we’re really taking subway crime seriously, then there should be a concerted effort to reopen every single storefront in the NYC subway system. Most are shuttered or abandoned, largely due to high rents, when they could help drive foot traffic and keep a friendly presence.
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Going out on a limb here, but I think the architecture in Albany is super overlooked.
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Every metro station I visited in Berlin had a public bathroom outside. It was 0.50 euros to use it, and accepted contactless/cash. Even if the price is an equity piece, just saying we can’t do it because of funds is telling of our priorities.
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Articles about e-bikes often cite their no-sweat appeal and thrill. Great! But I think that overlooks what, to me, is their most important aspect: that they challenge the fact that nearly half of all car trips are under 3 miles.
In the
@nytimes
today:
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Sense I'm getting from convos is that fate of congestion pricing hangs on the thread of:
- Albany refusing to pass any alternate $$$ source;
- MTA board voting down a pause or refusing to even take it up as a vote.
Both situations then leave Hochul in a political corner.
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It's sometime difficult to translate what 'car culture' means, when I'm writing about—or teaching—it. But I just witnessed a horde of SUVs beep a disabled man for not crossing the stoplight at 23rd Street and 1st Avenue fast enough. And that, I believe, is car culture.
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This is low-key one of my favorite designs I’ve seen for a bike lane in New York City, in Sunnyside. And what I like most about it is that it could be in every strip mall and office parking lot across America tomorrow.
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So I did the math. The
@MTA
says it's losing $500 million a year from fare evasion. That's around $1.4M a day. Or ~500,000 swipes, at $2.75. If we just apply that to the subway, we're really closer to 4.2 million riders a day, or 75% of pre-pandemic ridership. Who knew!
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Stumbled upon the new Clean Curbs pilot yesterday in Brooklyn Heights. Nice unintended side effect is that it acts as a traffic safety measure, making it easier to see if cars are coming. 💯 should be everywhere.
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In Paris, the city has decided to keep parks open at night so people can cool off from the increasing temps.
In NYC, we do this.
Cops are once again parked at Tompkins running their lights extra bright, efficiently clearing out the few dozen people milling around under this tree. One officer says it’s “an order” from the precinct “to let the community know we’re here” (then rolls the window up)
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There is one NYC transit system that has surpassed pre-pandemic ridership:
The ferry system.
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Wait, so the big car is ticketing the small scooter? In a park?
The NYPD are pulling over escooter and ebike riders in Prospect Park this morning because it’s now illegal to ride any device with e-assistance. How does this make any sense?
@prospect_park
@BKBPReynoso
@ShahanaFromBK
@NYCParks
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There should be a disclaimer attached to all articles written like this, as good journalistic practice: "Street parking is publicly owned, and does not belong to anyone."
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Oxford took one of their most historic streets — Broad — and turned into the “Broad Meadow,” a green plaza with no traffic or parking.
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News alert: Long Islanders have been saying this since I was born.
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We took my dad to this, because he said one of his biggest complaints when we were growing up is how much the honking took away from the holiday spirit. This blew my mind.
Folks, Fifth Ave in Manhattan shut down to traffic for the holidays is *such* a sight.
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Most companies bake in the cost of parking tickets into project costs. This will be no different—and they may even incur less parking tickets, since there will be less cars. (And hopefully more loading zones.) But worth noting: biz didn't stop in London, Stockholm and Singapore.
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"This is a toxic airborne event!" - says city that routinely allows thousands of cars to sit and idle for an hour and a half so a little brush boat can come waddling down the street
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Do we have a figure on the # of teachers who drive into Manhattan's Central Business District (59th St and below) each day?
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It's like New York City needs at least one rainfall each year to remind us of how woefully behind we are in facing down the climate crisis.
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Just a reminder:
Parks = <1% of New York's budget.
Libraries = <1% of New York's budget.
Cultural affairs = <1% of New York's budget.
Youth & community dev = >1% of New York's budget.
Vets' services = <1% of New York's budget.
Aging = <1% of New York's budget.
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What kind of question is that? lol
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New York City’s in this weird space rn where some folks are saying it’s going down the tubes, others are saying it’ll emerge a stronger city from COVID, and then every day you get an email that’s like, ‘Here are 25 Michelin-starred restaurants that just opened in Brooklyn.’
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Group at DeWitt Clinton Park said they'll start marching down 12th Avenue "as far as they can go." They're six blocks from the Intrepid.
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Opening day of new Wegmans in Manhattan felt like a real 2023 consumer moment. What I imagine first days at dept stores felt like: shoppers just in wonder, of products and prices. And here I am, asking the employee why they're not using the entrance to the Astor Place 6 train.
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The more I reported on cities these last few years, the more it became obvious that business groups were leading some of the most ambitious public space redesigns in the U.S.—a major shift, to say the least.
So I wrote about the phenomenon for
@CityLab
:
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I do have several friends who drive commercial vans/trucks asking me what to do. There will be a lot of that in the months to come. I told them to use that time to figure it out—or, like in London's case, start to think of the cost as the price of doing business in New York.
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Never seen this many parties in the street for Halloween in all of my years living in NYC. Trick-or-Streets = an instant tradition.
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No, I’m just visiting. Yes, I live in New York - the “city.” Yes, I know it’s expensive to live there. No, I don’t live in constant fear of crime. Yes, taxes are high. No, I don’t drive. Yes, let me know if you visit. No, I don’t see celebrities every day.
^ Thanksgiving break
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I love the fake cycling aesthetic of so many Long Island coffee shops, in towns where not one bike lane exists.
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Lots of folks at JFK who seemingly didn’t know you needed to be vaccinated to travel to Europe.
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Been published in
@nytimes
print countless times, but today, when I showed this to my partner at a bodega, an older woman looked over and said “Is that you?! How wonderful!” And that was a pretty special moment.
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For those keeping count, here is a running list of NY Democrats who have been criminally investigated by other NY Democrats:
- Andrew Cuomo (Former gov)
- Eliot Spitzer (Former gov)
- Sheldon Silver (head of Assembly)
- Eric Schneiderman (Former AG)
Who else? I'm missing some.
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New TOD proposal from Gov. Hochul: all municipalities in New York with a train station will rezone the area within a half mile for more housing within the next three years.
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We don't talk enough about how a good chunk of the 1.5 million missing riders from the NYC subways in 2023 are people who flipped to cycling during the pandemic, and may never look back.
"Out of the 100 largest US metropolitan statistical areas, New York City led the pack with 97% growth in bike trips from 2019 to 2022, reflecting a lasting shift towards cycling by commuters who previously relied on subways" via
@citylab
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All six community boards in Manhattan's Central Business District — community boards; some of the most notoriously pro-car, NIMBY bodies out there — are united in support of congestion pricing. That is something, wow.
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Someone who promised to put a bike lane on *every* street in a major global capital by 2024 just won half of that city’s vote.
Annne Hidalgo has been re-elected as mayor of Paris, with 50.2% of the vote in today's election.
Her closest rival, the Republicans' Rachida Dati, got 32%
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Gov. Phil Murphy saying it’s not the time for congestion pricing, but instead the time for widening highways, seems largely out of step with where his party and most climate experts are at right now.
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I ordered Instacart for the first time yesterday; I was wiped, and curious. Everything came in a plastic bag; even 1 tomato. And it was transported via an old SUV.
Thought that this is happening at scale in cities right now is chilling from Earth's POV.
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When cranky trolls on Twitter complain about NYC and the good ol’ days, I just want to add: “you mean when the G ran all the way to Forest Hills???” (Seen at the Kingston Trolley Museum.)
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We’ve hit what we call the “community saturation” point with the 31st Ave Open Street. Neighbors expect it, regulars show up every weekend, and it gets busy like this the minute the barricades are set up.
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This entire op-ed fixates on a study of cities conducted during the first and second waves of a deadly pandemic (2020-2021). Oof.
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We still have no verifiable data/experts saying that outdoor dining led to more rats.
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Imagine being a party who continues to support unpopular wars, has no coherent immigration policy, has no effective comms strategy with major victories on climate + infrastructure—or anything,
really—and then thinks it’s congestion pricing that’ll do ‘em in at the ballot box.
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A native resident of Mulberry Street from multiple generations of Italian-Americans calling for the pedestrianization of the block and getting business owners to agree is *Italian chef's kiss*.
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I personally don't see Hochul flip-flopping the flip-flop.
Instead, I see a condition where there's nobody left on her side, politically, and she gets a call from Schumer (only person higher than Jeffries) telling her to back off.
Sense I'm getting from convos is that fate of congestion pricing hangs on the thread of:
- Albany refusing to pass any alternate $$$ source;
- MTA board voting down a pause or refusing to even take it up as a vote.
Both situations then leave Hochul in a political corner.
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Just a brutal accounting underway right now at the MTA's board meeting of the impact that congestion pricing's pause will have on elevator installations, new cars, signal work, and so much more. It takes what we've been reading in headlines and really airs it all out.
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Everyone here ragging on the city’s tacky new smoke shops, but they’ve done more to activate my block than a real estate office or brunch spot.
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Another school year, another four-lane pile-up filled with honking and exhaust waiting for kids.
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Whispers are now full-blown conversations I’m hearing amongst advocates and operators about when, not if, Adams will be indicted, and what to do on Day One of an Williams mayoralty.
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Long Island’s most read newspaper coming out in favor of denser development around transit hubs is a big deal.
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Watched Fox 5 News this morning with my dad before work, and it's basically just Rosanna Scotto bad-mouthing congestion pricing every other segment. And tons of Long Islanders are watching this everyday. That's the correlation, folks.
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This is what, like, half of the crosswalks look like in New York City — an insane thing I haven’t seen anywhere else in the world.
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A newsletter where I visit every park in New York City. Thoughts?
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As someone who works quite often in lower Manhattan, it's sort of incredible to me that a pedestrian-friendly design like doesn't already exist // is hard to swallow — esp. considering that this area was quite literally made for no cars at all.
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Can we just pedestrianize Broadway already? For god’s sake, there’s a trattoria on it now.
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Lisbon’s Open Streets, stamped with the slogan “The street is yours.”
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Thinking a lot about this today. Based on conversations I'm having and what I'm reading here, Hochul just lost *a ton* of the downstate voters who got her barely elected — and perhaps gained a few, who probably still won't vote for Democrats come November.
Never seen a politician so instantly and enduringly jettison all good will they had among core supporters.
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“Paris now has more cycling trips in rush hour than car trips.”
Interesting learnings "Cycling in Paris" yesterday. Paris now has more cycling trips in rush hour than car trips! Strategy: Every street provides for cycling: separated bike lanes on busy roads and low car traffic volume + 30km/h speed limit in all other streets.
@sara_stace
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As a native New Yorker who studied transit planning in London, I've been thinking a lot about how congestion pricing will differ for NYC in 2024 vs. LDN in 2003, and what that means for the policies put into place between now and next year. A few thoughts:
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We're about an hour and 15 into this debate, and Trump has still not offered a specific and clear policy proposal.
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Much love to Astorians for taking the new
@NYC_DOT
portal to report double-parked cars (for loading zone planning) and really running with it. This is just one avenue.
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