T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T R A N S P O R TAT I O N A LT E R N AT I V E S T R A N S A LT.

O R G

VOLUME 25 | #2
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 3

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

New York’s Best Days Are Ahead

I
F WE HAVE NOT YET MET, PLEASE LET THIS BE city streets, from Central Park West to Willis Avenue to
our introduction. My name is Danny Harris. I am a Shore Parkway. Thanks to your support, it has been quite a
passionate urbanist, an avid cyclist, a stroller dad, remarkable year. And, we still have so much more to do.
a native New Yorker, and the new executive director of I am grateful to you, and the current and former staff at
Transportation Alternatives (TA). I am so honored to join TA, for building this incredible organization into what it is
this storied organization and fight alongside you for New today. As we move forward on our next phase of work, may
York’s future. we draw inspiration from the French author Antoine de
I grew up in the city, and at a young age I learned the Saint-Exupéry, who said, “If you wish to build a ship, do not
strict rules for children navigating car-filled city streets: divide the people into teams and send them to the forest
hold hands, always watch out for cars, and don’t play in the to cut wood. Instead, teach them to long for the vast and
street. Today, as I teach my children to navigate New York, endless sea.”
the lessons and restrictions are dishearteningly familiar. It Together, we must help more New Yorkers long for
has been more than three decades, but streets in this city what’s truly possible in the greatest city in the world—
still prioritize cars over people, limiting the potential of our streets filled with people, bikes, public transit, and most
city and our neighbors every day. importantly, opportunity, made accessible to every person
For 46 years, TA has been at the forefront of reclaiming in every borough. To do that, we need your support. As
city streets for people. Our work is driven by a vision of the year comes to a close, please consider renewing your
what New York should be—a world-class city, an equitable TA membership or making a tax-deductible end-of-year
city, a city that allows you to be your best self, and a city donation. Every dollar you donate before 12/31 will be
that you’re proud to call home. Thanks to tens of thousands matched by a local foundation, up to $600,000.
of passionate, dedicated TA supporters like you, this Our work ahead will be driven by hope for better days,
organization can advance these transformational ideas, a vision of a more equitable city, and an unflinching
rooted across the five boroughs, to help build a better New dedication to building that future. We will be challenging
York for everyone. long-held paradigms and reimagining the streets as they
Together with your support, in 2019, we launched lay. The work will not be easy, but this organization and
the 14th Street PeopleWay—a first-of-its-kind car-free its supporters have never shied away from big challenges
street, designed by TA, that will become a citywide model before.
for transportation efficiency. We fought for the Streets Like you, I believe that New York’s best days are ahead.
Master Plan, which will deliver hundreds of new bike With your support, we can manifest that vision. I’m excited
and bus lane miles as part of a massive streets-for-people to work with you to make it happen.
transformation. We also fought for the successful passage
of a deep stack of other laws—ones that will transform the Onwards and upwards!
DOT’s standards for street redesigns, create safer systems
for waste carting, and help protect delivery workers and
other e-bike users. We pushed Mayor de Blasio to launch a
holistic and aggressive response to the increase in cycling
fatalities, and his “Green Wave” plan will bring New York
City’s first bike boulevard and hundreds of new miles of
protected lanes. We secured congestion pricing, the first
step to reducing car-use in New York City, and ushered
in the world’s largest speed camera program to protect
children on their way to and from school. All the while,
we never lost sight of local campaigns across the five Danny Harris
boroughs, including bringing new protected bike lanes to Executive Director
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 5

CONTENTS
Winter 2019

9
9

Latest News
Milestones for New York City Streets

12 Stress and the Streets

Profile of Bike Commuter and Inventor
Arlene Ducao

16

Repeal Robert Moses
The Death and Life of Great American
Urban Highways

22

Breaking the Car Culture
Sit-Down with New York City Comptroller
Scott Stringer

27

Bike Races and Faces
Recommended Reading

28 Celebrating the Idle Kid

16
Street Photography by Cassandra Giraldo

30

Waste of Space
Bike Snob’s Last Word

31

Defense Against the Dark Arts
Lessons in Community Organizing

Vol. 25 | #2 of 2 2019
22
 VACCARO & WHITE
REPRESENTING INJURED CYCLISTS
AND OTHER CRASH VICTIMS

Adam White has represented New York

cyclists, pedestrians and other crash victims for
over twenty years, and has tried dozens of cases
to a jury’s verdict. Adam has been a Transportation
Alternatives member and donor since 1995, and
serves on the Legal Affairs Committee of the League
of American Bicyclists.  He has been an avid cyclist
for over 25 years and commutes regularly by bicycle.

Steve Vaccaro was described by the New

York Law Journal in 2016 as “perhaps New York
City’s best-known lawyer advocate for bicyclist and
pedestrian rights.” Steve helped win enactment of
the Right of Way Law, imposing criminal penalties
on careless drivers. Steve serves on the Advisory
Council of Transportation Alternatives, as Advocacy
Coordinator for the Five Borough Bicycle Club, and is
the founder and a Board Member of StreetsPAC, the
cyclists’ and pedestrians’ political action committee.

Proud Sponsors Since 1998 of the TA Century

Visit VaccaroandWhite.com or call 212-577-3040

to learn more about our representation and advocacy
for crash victims

Attorney Advertising— future results not guaranteed

 T R A N S A LT. O R G 7

WHAT WOULD
YOU DO WITH 30*
Our mission is to
reclaim New York
MORE MINUTES?
*Tearing down urban highways can transform cities in ways big and small, including
City’s streets from the making your commute faster, and giving you more time to live your life.

automobile, and to
advocate for bicycling, Better prepare for
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Walk the Brooklyn
my next community Bridge! (A daily
walking, and public board safe-streets Steve Hindy, Chair; Janet Liff, Vice-Chair; Tracey Capers, 30-minute walk
skirmish. Secretary; Daniel Kaizer, Treasurer; Curtis Archer, George can lower risk of
transit. H. Beane, Colin Beavan, Christine Berthet, Bahij Chancey, cardiovascular
Ken Coughlin, Doug Ellis, Mike Epstein, Alex Herzan, Mary disease.)
Beth Kelly, Andrew Lerner, Laurence Levi, Adam Mansky,
Richard B. Miller, Neysa Pranger, Jeff Prant, Thomas
Reardon, Shin-pei Tsay, Sarah Williams Willard, Howard
Yaruss

ADVISORY COUNCIL
Amy Kenyon, Co-Chair; Lee Altman, Co-Chair;
Marc Agger, George H. Beane, David Byrne, Bahij Chancey,
Joshua David, Michael Drinkard, Paul Gertner, Alex Herzan,
I would get more Self-improvement!
Karen Karp, Rich Kassel, Mary Beth Kelly, Janet Liff,
sleep. Take swimming
Stephen Lyle, Adam Mansky, Dennis Masel,
lessons at the
Linda Prine, Matthew Reich, Henry Rinehart, David
BedStuy YMCA.
Shephard, Michael Smith, Shabazz Stuart, Steve Vaccaro,
Lloyd Westerman, Adam Wolfensohn

STAFF
Danny Harris, Executive Director; Marco Conner, Co-Deputy
Director; Ellen McDermott, Co-Deputy Director;
Vivian Aliu, Data Services Assistant;
Do everything or Go for a daily run
Vicky Bisogno, Development Director;
nothing with my with my (new) wife
Eric Burghoffer, Events Consultant; Dulcie Canton, Brooklyn
wife and kids. and doggo.
Organizer; Jocelyn Carlisle, Digital Production Coordinator;
Joe Cutrufo, Communications Director; Thomas DeVito,
Senior Director of Advocacy; Erwin Figueroa, Senior
Organizer; Em Friedenberg, Executive Assistant; Kaylie
Gazura, Partnerships and Events Associate; Amril Hamer,
Bronx Organizer; Ashley Kawakami, Communications
Associate; Amy Klein, Events Manager; Jeffrey Lee, Data
Services Assistant; Hsi-Pei Liao, CRM Coorinator; Nate
Knowing me...play Make it home in
Lynch, Marketing Coordinator; Donna Matthew, Human
video games. time for family
Volume 25 | #2 of 2 2019 Resources Manager; PJ Mead, Finance Manager; J Oberman, dinner and to play
Art Director; Alicia Perre-Dowd, Operations Coordinator; handball with my
ISSN #1524-1912 Juan Restrepo, Queens Organizer; Max Robb, Development son.
Published biannually by Transportation Alternatives. Operations Coordinator; Jessie Singer, Senior Editor and
Subscriptions available for $40/year, $50 (outside Communications Strategist; Justin Strauss, Special Projects
U.S.). Reclaim by Transportation Alternatives is Associate; Rose Uscianowski, Staten Island Organizer; Chana
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Widawski, Families for Safe Streets Organizer; Chelsea
NonCommercial 4.0 International License (except
Yamada, Manhattan Organizer
graphics). All interviews have been edited for clarity
and readability.
ACTIVIST COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP
Make a soufflé and Cecil Brooks, Bronx Chair Ride my bike,
PUBLISHER: Danny Harris
contemplate the Blythe Austin and Katherine Willis, Central Brooklyn ideally on a former
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Jessie Singer
universe as I watch Co-Chairs highway.
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Ashley Kawakami
it slowly rise. Philip Leff, North Brooklyn Chair
PROOFREADER: Ken Coughlin
DESIGNER: Sarah Lang Joby Jacob, Eastern Queens Leader
PHOTOGRAPHER: Scott Heins Ryan Smith, Manhattan Chair
Laura Shepard, Western Queens Chair
COVER ILLUSTRATION: John Tomac Karen Lund, Staten Island Chair

FAMILIES FOR SAFE STREETS STEERING COMMITTEE

Transportation Alternatives Raul Ampuero, Rita Baraveccio, Amy Cohen,
111 John Street, Suite 260 Robin Middleman Filepp, Ellen Foote, Rachel Jones, Debbie
New York, NY 10038 Kahn, Judith Kottick, Hsi-Pei Liao, Irma Rosenblatt, Hindy
Tel 212-629-8080
Schachter, Devan Sipher
info@transalt.org
transalt.org
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 9

MILESTON E S

Latest News

Bike Lanes for Queens extension of the Skillman Avenue bike Master Plan for City Streets
New space for cycling is coming to lane into the heart of Court Square are City Council Speaker Corey Johnson’s
Queens’ nascent bike network, cor- both on the wish list. Streets Master Plan bill passed and
recting a historic inequity in the city- was signed into law this fall with sup-
wide distribution of bike lanes. From port from TA. The new law will sig-
a protected bike lane network in Long Response to a Die-In nificantly increase bike and bus lane
Island City to traffic calming in Sunny- This has been the deadliest year for mileage, along with one million square
side, the tireless organizing of Trans- New York City cyclists in two decades. feet of new pedestrian space, as part
portation Alternatives’ Queens Activ- In response, TA and Families for Safe of a massive plan to build streets for
ist Committee is getting borough-wide Streets organized a massive “die-in” people and help end New York City’s
results. Local City Council members protest that drew over 1,200 cyclists to dependence on the automobile. It is
have endorsed plans for a protected Washington Square Park for an act of clear that the era of piecemeal street
bike lane on Crescent Street in Astoria peaceful civil disobedience. The tragic improvements is in decline and the age
to link the Queensboro and Triborough death toll and the organized protest of systemic reimagining has begun.
bridges, as well as activists’ demand for of cyclists furious with government
pedestrian access to the South Outer inaction pushed Mayor Bill de Blasio to
Roadway of the Queensboro Bridge. create Green Wave: A Plan for Cycling Lawsuits Dismissed
A new bike network in Flushing is 95 in New York City. It will raise protected Angry drivers took to the courts this
percent installed, and another network bike lane installation targets, increase year with a stack of frivolous lawsuits
is coming to Jackson Heights, Corona, targeted truck enforcement, and imple- in response to new bus and bike lanes
Scott Heins

and Elmhurst. Road closures on Thom- ment new innovations, like the city’s that TA advocates recently helped
son Avenue in Long Island City and an first bike boulevard. secure in Queens and Manhattan.
10 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

Luckily, judges have proven to be MILE STON E S

more enlightened than those seek-
ing to hold up progress. A lawsuit 2019 in Review
against the 14th Street PeopleWay
THANKS TO YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT, TRANSPORTATION
was denied this fall, and the car-free
Alternatives transformed New York City in the past year. With your
busway launched days later. This
continued support, New York’s best days are yet to come. Help reclaim
spring, a judge tossed out a lawsuit
our streets and build a city where everyone can thrive.
against a protected bike lane along
Central Park West. When another transalt.org/donate
judge dismissed a lawsuit against
a bus lane on Fresh Pond Road in
Ridgewood, Queens, he invoked the
hopeful future that TA fights for: “It’s
not about a narrow group of people
who use the roads anymore. You have
car drivers, truck drivers, bus riders,
pedestrians, and cyclists—and every-
body has to share the road.”

New Rules for Cars and

E-Bikes
New legislation to protect people
walking and biking is on the books
at the state and city level, or on-deck
for passage soon thanks to Families
for Safe Streets’ advocacy in the City
Council and State Legislature. Coun-
cil Member Brad Lander introduced
his Reckless Driver Accountability
Act with TA support. The bill would
impound vehicles that rack up five
14th Street PeopleWay LAUNCHED
or more red-light or speed-camera
violations. Council Member Antonio A car-free street to shorten bus commutes and create
Reynoso recently passed his Com- more public space
mercial Waste Zones bill, which will
create a new zoning system for pri-
vate waste haulers, the most deadly
vehicles on city streets. TA worked
for five years with a coalition of envi-
ronmental and labor organizations
to see the bill made law. Also, after
years of work, TA managed to clarify
the city and state’s vague definitions
of electric biking. Pending Governor
Cuomo’s signature, most e-bikes and
e-scooters will soon be legal, helping
countless New Yorkers get around
and protecting delivery workers from
Konstantin Sergeyev, Scott Heins

police harassment.

Streets Master Plan PASSED

A massive streets-for-people plan to build hundreds more
miles of bike and bus lanes
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 11

Speed Cameras SECURED Vision Zero Street Design Standard PASSED

The world’s largest program to protect schoolchildren, A street design benchmark to mandate safety for cyclists
with 2,000 cameras and pedestrians

Protected Bike Lanes INSTALLED Commercial Waste Zone Reform PASSED

Miles of safe and accessible bike lanes from Central Park A law to protect pedestrians by controlling how dangerous
West to Willis Avenue to Shore Parkway garbage trucks use city streets
Stephanie Keith, Jeff Reed, Konstantin Sergeyev, Michael Appleton, Scott Heins

Green Wave Plan ANNOUNCED Congestion Pricing PLANNED

A citywide strategy to protect bicyclists, including the The nation’s first program to reduce traffic and support
city’s first bike boulevard public transit
COMMUTER PROFILE

Stress and the

Streets

CREATIVE ENGINEER ARLENE DUCAO

commutes by bike. As a researcher at
uct is a small wearable device with an
electroencephalogram (EEG) module
The right of way
MIT, she invented MindRider—a wear- inside. The EEG tracks and records as we organize it
able device that tracks how your bike brain wave patterns, which feeds
ride engages your mind, document- data into an app that Ilias created, in the law bears
ing moments of stress or relaxation, called Multimer. This, along with your
and coding them to specific locations phone’s GPS, creates a map of your out in the data of
on the street. Reclaim sat down with stress and relaxation points on your
Ducao to talk about bike commuting bike ride. An earlier version of Mind-
our minds.
and its intersection with brain science. Rider was built into a bike helmet, and
instead of recording data on an app,
First off, let’s talk bikes. How did you projected your stress or relaxation to
become a bike commuter? drivers using colored lights.
I started cycling seriously in New York
City around 2005. My main collabora- How did your bike commute inform
tor, Ilias Koen, and I both worked at your invention? there are so many types of transporta-
the American Museum of Natural His- A few ways. The idea for the initial tion modalities: taxis, buses, pedes-
tory and he started to ride his bicycle design, when MindRider was a helmet, trians, and cars. That’s basically how
about ten miles round trip every day came because, in New York, when I MindRider was born, because I was
from Brooklyn to the Upper West Side would attach things to my bike, like a interested in devices that would help
and persuaded me to ride as well. After light or a bell, they would get stolen. So with communication between cyclists
that, I rode my bike everywhere. Now I started attaching these things to my and other users of the streetscape.
my commute is short, from where I helmet. When I got to MIT, I had the In time, though, we found that there
live to where I teach and do research at opportunity to experiment with some wasn’t a lot of practical application in
NYU’s campus in Downtown Brooklyn. of the new consumer-grade EEG devic- broadcasting your mental state while
es on the market. As a cyclist, I felt that you’re cycling, so we shifted to really
Along the way, you invented signaling clearly and communicating understanding what we could learn
MindRider. What exactly is it? with other users of the street was very from the mental picture—how your
Scott Heins

MindRider tracks how you “feel” when important to me—especially because cycling experience can support better
you ride your bike. The actual prod- traffic is so dense in New York, and streets. Our team has a background
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 13

in data analysis and visualization, so

we began to map cyclists’ neurophysi-
ological data onto the street.

Since then, you have created

extensive maps of how cyclists feel
riding in Manhattan. What did you
find?
One of the places where the data was
a surprise, and changed my view of
cycling, particularly in Manhattan,
came out of some of our earliest stud-
ies. We found that much of Midtown
was relatively relaxing for a number
cyclists, particularly in the areas where
there are no more cars. This is true
even if there are lots of pedestrians,
like around Times Square. The fact
that so much of Broadway in the Times cycling lanes should be considered ity, and socialization. And then we are
Square area is car-free made the rides as part of the street redesign. In that back to Nairobi, again with UN-Habi-
more relaxing to cyclists, contrary to study, the data quantitatively high- tat, where Multimer is going to be used
the common notion that biking in areas lighted the rough road conditions that for the very first time with children.
like Times Square is extremely stress- are the most stressful for cyclists. We There’s a researcher at the United
ful. also worked with UN-Habitat as part Nations who has been studying chil-
of the World Urban Forum in Kuala dren, activity, and obesity in London,
Even in crowded, chaotic places, Lumpur in 2018. The timing was good and now wants to do some of that work
removing cars reduces stress? because it coincided with the opening in the slum areas of Nairobi, with Mul-
Absolutely. We also found strong dif- of Kuala Lumpur’s very first dedicated timer used to support that research.
ferences between professional career bike lane. The most active cycling That study should happen soon.
cyclists versus folks who just use a bike group in Kuala Lumpur recruited
to get around—commuting cyclists a dozen cyclists to ride on the new Of all these studies, does one finding
and casual novice cyclists. The notion cycling lane, and then for those who stand out?
of attention is very different between felt comfortable, ride off the cycling I’ve been thinking about this, since I’m
professional cyclists who cycle at least lane as well. Biometric data showed a not in the United States right now, and
eight hours a day and need to cycle clear difference in cyclist experience one of the things that I miss about the
fast, versus other kinds of cyclists. For on the dedicated cycle track versus US is that the slower your transporta-
the professional cyclist, high levels of nearby roads that have minimal or no tion modality is, the more right of way
attention don’t necessarily indicate cycling infrastructure, and higher lev- you have. So, pedestrians have the right
stress, whereas for the commuter, it els of attention near sharp turns in the of way, then cyclists, then motorists.
usually does indicate stress and a more cycling route. That data was delivered What I love is that the data bears that
complex traffic situation. High levels to the city government to be used for out. In pedestrians, you see signs of
of attention for the career cyclist are planning their next dedicated cycling stress around areas that are complex,
more frequent, a little more normal, so lanes. and are high-traffic areas for cyclists
to speak, and may be more of an indica- and motorists. And then with cyclists,
tor of productivity than anything else. What’s next for you and your you see signs of stress in highways or
invention? areas that are motorist-friendly or
Have you experimented with Mind- The Multimer app has expanded its use cater to high-speed motor vehicles in
Rider outside New York? beyond transport analysis. We’re work- tight movement, but not with pedes-
I’ve done a lot of work with the mobil- ing with a number of architectural trian traffic. The right of way as we
ity unit of UN-Habitat, which is head- firms focused on workplace design and organize it in the law bears out in the
quartered in Nairobi. In one study, we experience, comparing similar rooms data of our minds.
collected cycling experience data along where one has natural light and one
proposed Bus Rapid Transit routes for doesn’t, or one has soft furniture and
Scott Heins

the major arteries in Nairobi to dem- one doesn’t, and trying to understand
onstrate that in addition to bus routes, how that impacts creativity, productiv-
ADVERTISEM ENT

Bike Law 101

F
or more than
20 years, lawyers
Steve Vaccaro and
Adam White have
been representing New
York City cyclists and
pedestrians in
court—defending New
Yorkers’ right of way and
right to safe passage.
Reclaim asked the Law
Offices of Vaccaro and
White to answer a few
common questions about
cycling and the law in
New York City.

I got a bike summons. Should I fight it? equipped within 24 hours, and then bringing that documen-
Assuming you committed the violation, it was written up tation to court. If you didn’t commit the violation, can’t pay
correctly, and you have the money, you should pay the ticket. the fine, or any information on the ticket is incorrect, plead
If it is a violation you commit often, consider it payment for not guilty. Then give us a call at (212) 577-3040 for five min-
a year’s worth of violations. But make sure that you don’t utes of free legal advice. Call us again a week or so before the
pay the $88 motorist-only surcharge on the fine! All bike hearing, which will take place a year or more in the future,
tickets (except for tickets for running red lights) should be and we’ll spend a few more minutes talking you through
$50. For equipment violations, like a bell or bike light, you what happens next.
may avoid having to pay by fixing the violation, asking your
local precinct to certify in writing that your bike is properly
I got into a crash. What should I do next? What are my basic rights on the road as a
Getting the license plate of the vehicle and identifying cyclist? What are my responsibilities?
information about the driver is critical. Unless you need to Cyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as driv-
go to the hospital for immediate medical attention, stay at ers with three types of exceptions: rules that apply only to
the scene until the police arrive. At the very least, wait 15 bicyclists, like the requirement to use bike lanes if safe and
minutes before deciding that your injuries do not require available; rules that apply only to motor vehicles, like the
treatment and a police report. While you wait, take photos requirement to not be intoxicated or use your cell phone
of the entire scene—not just close-ups of a damaged bike while driving; and rules that cannot apply to cyclists by their
or a dented fender. You are looking to record how the crash nature, like the requirement to wear a seatbelt. Cyclists now
occurred, which can be determined from the respective have the right to use leading pedestrian intervals (the head-
positioning of the vehicles within the scene as a whole. If the start given to pedestrians with a walk signal that appears
driver flees before you get the plate, you must wait for police. before motorists traveling in the same direction get a green
You will lose valuable health insurance and other rights as a light) and can proceed into the intersection on the walk sig-
hit-and-run crash victim if you don’t stay at the scene until nal, as long as they yield right of way to pedestrians.
police arrive. Most importantly, remember that if you come
upon another person’s crash, be helpful. Stop, take photos of
the license plate and the scene, and counsel the crash victim Why are drivers often not sent to jail for killing
to wait for police. Of course, in some circumstances, a crash someone with their car?
victim has good reasons to not wait at the scene for police, Our criminal justice system traditionally focuses on crimes
in which case they should photograph both the license plate of intent, but allowing motor vehicles to roam dense urban
of the vehicle and the driver’s face. If they seek legal advice streets full of cyclists and pedestrians guarantees unin-
promptly, that may be evidence enough for the victim to get tended deaths in numbers that outstrip intentional killings.
all of the benefits to which they are entitled. Classifying traffic deaths as “accidents” is just a way of
shifting the costs of traffic violence away from drivers and
onto their victims. It is little consolation to the loved ones
Do New York laws really protect cyclists? of these victims that the driver did not intend to kill. From
Protected bike lanes and greenways, to the extent that the a legal perspective, we have laws that could impose serious
law can keep motorized vehicles out of them, are a form of consequences on drivers who kill, if only they were applied
legal protection that can prevent harm, but that’s about it. in a straightforward manner. But virtually every area of US
The default rule is that if you want to be protected, you need law is warped by an exception made for cars, and this is so
armor. Otherwise, the law is there to provide remedies to the consistent, running through almost all areas of the law, that
unarmored after they have been harmed. After a crash, for it has become invisible to most lawyers and judges. The civil
any person injured, there should be a minimum of $50,000 and criminal justice systems refuse to treat harm done with
in medical and lost earnings coverage, and $25,000 in com- a car in the same manner as harm done with another danger-
pensation for past and future pain, suffering, and disability, ous instrument, because the people who operate those sys-
but there are many pitfalls placed in the way of crash vic- tems are largely blinded by a windshield perspective as driv-
tims. You can lose coverage and compensation if you don’t ers themselves. But change is possible. Fifty years ago, fatal
gather the necessary information, don’t stay at the scene, drunk driving crashes were treated like other crashes are
don’t open your mail, or delay in seeking compensation, to today, and rarely resulted in any criminal charges. Crash vic-
name a few. In a general sense, these laws, which require tims changed that paradigm by enacting laws that imposed
drivers to compensate for the harm they cause, protect criminal liability without the requirement to show intent,
cyclists and pedestrians by disincentivizing harmful driving. as long as the driver was intoxicated to a certain level. At the
But it only takes one driver disregarding those disincentives Law Offices of Vaccaro and White, we are helping to develop
to cause massive harm. A pedestrian or cyclist’s best protec- new laws that criminalize sober harmful driving. Hopefully
tion is vigilance, not the law. Always have an escape route we will not have to wait 50 years this time!
planned when you are near moving traffic!
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 17

REPEAL
ROBERT
MOSES
The Death and
Life of Great
American Urban
Highways
Illustrations by John Tomac
18 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

O
N JUNE 22, 1954, NEW YORK CITY At a packed public meeting in September 2018, Depart-
opened its freshest stretch of urban highway: ment of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg
the cantilevered decks of the Brooklyn- presented the Brooklyn Heights community with two
Queens Expressway. Robert Moses—the options to fix the problem. One was to replace the scenic
megalomaniacal “power broker” who wielded unprecedented walking paths of the Brooklyn Promenade with a highway
influence to build massive car infrastructure into the New for three years while the existing highway was repaired. The
York landscape—was there to cut the ribbon. At $12 mil- other was to fix the stretch lane-by-lane, an eight-year-long
lion in 1954 dollars, the one-mile, three-level stretch of road construction project. Both options had the same end-goal:
between the Brooklyn Bridge and Atlantic Avenue was one of replacing the existing highway with the exact same highway.
the most expensive parts of the $70 million highway project. If New York City is ever going to overcome the car-dominant
Today, like most of Robert Moses’ remaining fingerprints paradigm that Robert Moses engineered, either option is the
on the New York streetscape, the highway is more than a wrong one.
regret—it is a threat. The cantilevered stretch, which sup- “The plans we have seen so far for fixing the BQE are fun-
ports the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, is crumbling. And damentally flawed because they are answers to the wrong
the clock is ticking. When Robert Moses built the Brooklyn- questions,” explains Transportation Alternatives Senior
Queens Expressway, he constructed it to carry 47,000 cars Director of Organizing Thomas DeVito, who is overseeing
and trucks a day. More than three times that many use it a new TA campaign called Repeal Robert Moses—fighting to
today. Engineers estimate the safe lifespan of the current repurpose New York’s aged and underused highways to bet-
facility running out in 2026. ter serve the needs of New Yorkers. “The city is asking how
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 19

we can return to the status quo, while we need to be asking

what is possible. How can we use this problem to create a
better city? Highways across New York have reached their
natural lifespan. It’s time to ask what we want instead.”
New York City’s landscape is ripe for this paradigm shift. We must understand that
Today, our water-bound city is on the cusp of a climate
catastrophe that will bring sea levels above our shorelines. it is essential to change
For-hire vehicle start-ups have overrun our city with driv-
ers, increasing congestion, one of the many reasons that our behavior, especially
city buses move at a snail’s pace. A recent report from the
Mayor’s Management Office found that fewer people are
when it comes to cars. The
riding bikes, but at the same time, cyclist fatality numbers
are going sharply in the wrong direction.
small inconvenience in
These setbacks arrive at a moment of citywide the morning and evening
infrastructure failure. The BQE is not our only crumbling
highway: the FDR Drive, the Van Wyck Expressway, and of congestion due to the
the Sheridan Expressway all need repairs or are nearing
their structural expiration dates. The current plans to pedestrianization of the
extend the lifespan of these highways is another setback. roads on the banks—we’re
talking all in all about ten
additional minutes on the
daily commute—is largely
made up for by having
a more breathable city,
a healthier city, a more
pleasant place to live.
Mayor Anne Hidalgo on banning cars from the
Voie Georges-Pompidou, a former highway on
the banks of the Seine in Paris, France

Proposals are currently on the table to make the Sheridan

and Van Wyck expressways wider during repairs. Repairs
to the FDR Drive are being looped into a debate about how
to add climate resilience to Manhattan’s East Side, but
those plans would leave the bumper-to-bumper traffic on
the highway as it stands. In every case of expiration dates
and needful repairs, the status quo is being maintained. The
movement and storage of single occupancy vehicles is being
prioritized at every turn.
It is this status quo that inspires TA’s call to rethink the
land currently occupied by congested highways. In the
decades since Robert Moses cut the ribbon on the canti-
John Tomac

levers, an unassailable case against urban highways has

become clear.
20 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

Living near a highway comes with significant short- and open space and predicted traffic jams never materialized.
long-term health risks, impacting the likelihood of illness Where did all the cars go? The answer can be found in a
and injury alike. Noise pollution and air pollution rise in phenomenon known to urban planners and traffic engineers
proximity to urban highways. The physical danger of cycling as “induced demand.” This theory explains that creating
and crossing the street increases as well, since urban high- space for driving cues people to choose driving, and it is why
way off-ramps deliver regional travelers to residential congestion will always fill in all available space, even when
streets at highway speeds. Living near a highway increases new highways are built or old ones widened. The car traffic
the risk of leukemia, brain cancer, asthma, dementia, chron- that once plagued urban highways from Seattle to Seoul did
ic obstructive pulmonary disease, and premature death. The not vanish—instead people who drove into the city chose
detrimental effect of living near a highway is so extreme that instead to walk, bike, or take public transit, and people who
it has the power to affect childhood cognition and develop- drove through the city found another route. The money once
ment. One recent study of Florida schoolchildren found spent maintaining highways was devoted instead to building
that those living downwind of a local highway had lower test transportation alternatives.
scores, and more behavioral issues and absences, compared In New York in the 1950s, Robert Moses’ new highways
to schoolchildren who live upwind of the pollution. induced a demand for driving, and people have been cued to
Economists like Paul Krugman and Raj Chetty have cor- drive here ever since. It is time to change this habit. Trans-
related economic mobility to urban sprawl, finding fewer forming urban highways will reduce driving space, and thus
opportunities for economic and social advancement in cit- reduce the demand for driving. This is the necessary first
ies that stretch out on highways. The urban planner Donald step to reclaiming our streets. What comes next is even more
Appleyard proved that the amount of car traffic on a street important.
affects the very relationships of people who live there. He As TA advocates attempt to break New York City’s driv-
found that residents of a low-traffic place have three times ing habit and transform highway space into something
the number of neighborhood friends as residents of a high- more, four questions will guide our work: Who leads? Who
traffic one. The detriments of urban highways are physical, decides? Who benefits? Who is harmed? The first time
psychological, and emotional. For all that harm caused, the that TA advocated for the reimagination of an urban high-
benefits are few. way, carving out the walking and biking paths of the West
But it does not have to be this way. As much as repealing Side Greenway from the reconstruction of the West Side
the legacy of Robert Moses seems like a monumental task, Highway in 2001, these questions were not prioritized. TA
replacing urban highways is not a new idea, or an uncom- advocacy helped revitalize Manhattan’s West Side, but what
mon one. For decades, smart cities around the world have followed was gentrification, eminent domain incursions,
been reclaiming urban highways for public use—building and aggressive police crackdowns on queer communities of
parkland, housing, shopping streets, and even nature pre- color along the waterfront piers. Wealthy people benefited.
serves. Much of the community, as it was then, did not.
In San Francisco in the 1990s, the Central and Embar- When Robert Moses first laid out New York City’s urban
cadero freeways were replaced with tree-lined, transit-cen- highways, he destroyed neighborhoods, isolating poor com-
tric boulevards after being damaged in the 1989 earthquake. munities of color behind walls of cars. As TA seeks to tear
In the decade that followed, employment levels and property down his legacy, we will follow the lead of communities
values rose faster in the places where the highways had been affected by decades of danger and pollution as to what comes
removed. Today, in Rochester, a mixed-use development is next. It is clearly time to repeal Robert Moses, but what we
being built on top of the Inner Loop, a former trench high- build instead needs to be the choice of those harmed, guided
way, placing affordable housing and the expansion of a local to their benefit.
museum where some 7,000 cars a day once drove. Repeal Robert Moses—Transportation Alternatives’ new-
In Seoul, South Korea, an elevated highway once packed est citywide campaign—will be heating up this spring and
in 170,000 daily car and truck trips. The Cheonggyecheon talking to highway-adjacent communities about a new
Stream, which ran below the highway, was clogged with future for the Van Wyck and Sheridan expressways, the
trash and covered with cement. Starting in 2003, a project to BQE, and the FDR Drive. So much could come from what
tear down the highway began, and in 2005, the new Cheong- we tear down: rethinking these highways could create high-
gyecheon Stream opened to the public—a nearly seven-mile capacity truck and bus networks, spacious parkland, and
public recreation space that follows the restored waterway. express bicycle routes. Removing or repurposing urban
In short order, the ambient temperature of the city near the highways could be the recourse that makes our transit and
parkland cooled, the number of people choosing to drive into housing systems fair, with priority outer-borough bus routes
the city decreased, and citywide traffic congestion dwindled. through former transit deserts and affordable apartments
The same story has been told in Paris, Portland, Seattle, built where highways once stood. New parkland could pro-
and Milwaukee, which all tore down local highways to give vide a route to health and economic mobility. Hundreds of
space back to people. City residents flocked to the new lives, currently lost in highway crashes and on the residen-
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 21

To me, it was a matter The most difficult aspect

of social and economic of tearing down a highway
justice. By filling in handling 170,000 vehicles
the Inner Loop East, per day at the center of
we bridged the divide Seoul was the consensus
between Downtown building process among
and our neighborhoods, stakeholders. The result
creating a seamless, was the paradigm shift in
multimodal connection, transportation policy from
and we created six acres vehicles to pedestrians
of developable land. What and public transit—the
once was an unsightly number of transit users
monument to the 1960s increased significantly,
is now a source of jobs and traffic conditions
and a new opportunity to did not worsen. The
build social equity. restoration provided
Seoul citizens with clean
Mayor Lovely Warren on filling in the
Inner Loop, a former trench highway in
Rochester, New York
and cool air and a natural
environment in the heart
of a mega city.
Advocate Dr. Soo Hong Noh on tearing down
the Cheonggye Freeway, a former elevated
highway in Seoul, South Korea
tial streets those highways pour into, could be saved. While
some could argue that these ideas are speculation, one
result is guaranteed if we start to repeal the legacy of Robert
Moses: a better life for New Yorkers.
“A decade-long practice of piecemeal change, like sparse
protected bike lanes or bus routes built without restrictions
on car traffic, have allowed bad ideas to get worse. New York
City has reached the limits of what tinkering at street-level
can achieve,” explains DeVito. “The tributaries of our streets
are fed by a river of highways. New York City does not need
a rescue boat for our ailing highways; we need a dam for car
traffic. It is time to induce a better demand.”
22 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

TH E SIT- DOWN

Breaking the Car Culture

SCOTT STRINGER RECALLS FIRST Once an architectural marvel of terra- portation had planned to repair and
visiting the Municipal Building—where cotta vaults and tiled arcades, Stringer reconstruct it as it stands. Stringer’s
he recently sat down for an interview explains that today, the disrepair is counterproposal—A New Vision for
with Reclaim—in the 1980s, when he evident—and the Municipal Building the BQE—fundamentally reimagines
was 13 years old and his father was is not the only place where New York the highway-space, setting a prec-
New York City Comptroller. After six City is showing her age. edent that could be replicated on
terms in the New York State Assem- Stringer recently waded into a aging traffic infrastructure citywide.
bly, and two as Manhattan Borough contentious conversation about how Reclaim visited Stringer at his Munic-
President, Stringer has followed his to fix a 65-year-old stretch of high- ipal Building office to learn about his
father’s footsteps to become the chief way just across the river from the ideas for that stretch of highway, how
fiscal officer of the City of New York. Municipal Building—the cantilevers he plans to challenge New York City’s
But in the time between his child- of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. car culture, and why he thinks conten-
hood visits to the office and his own That congested stretch of highway tious community board meetings are
Scott Heins

name being stenciled on the door, the is crumbling, and until recently, the actually good.
Municipal Building has deteriorated. New York City Department of Trans-
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 23

This issue of Reclaim is about the

peril and potential of New York City’s
should have a car and a placard. It’s an
outdated way of serving the city. The
If you can realign
aging urban highways. Looking at the way you invest in the city is by getting the bus system,
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway as an more people to use public transporta-
example, can you talk us through your tion and city workers should be first build out the bus
plan for the cantilevers? and foremost in that line. That is also
The history of this is that the city basi- true of rising car registrations. We transit system,
cally had a Robert Moses concept of
what a new BQE would look like—their
need to build a transportation infra-
structure where people can go from the
build those
new BQE would be the same as the car to another form of transportation, protected bike
old BQE. But if we’re really going to whether that’s bike lanes or a working
think about changing the car culture, subway system. lanes, reinvest
breaking the car culture, the agenda Realigning the bus system, for exam-
should not be about adding lanes but ple, is one of my priorities because if in the subway
reducing lanes, adding park space,
and transportation alternatives. That
you’re going to ask people to give up
their cars, you’ve got to give them a
system, you’d
is basically the concept that we came transportation mode that works. We have to be crazy
to the BQE with. We wanted to make have failed to align our buses to the
the repairs faster and more efficient, new economy, so our buses run as if to take a car.
so we isolated the repairs to the third it were the 1950s or 1960s, when rush
cantilever—a truck-only throughway. hour was defined as 7 am to 9 am and 5
And we wanted a new park running pm to 7 pm because everyone had to be
through all the neighborhoods, and that home with the family for dinner. Back
really to me is the best part. We want then, people from the various boroughs
real transportation alternatives, we would come into the city, many by bus,
want an environmentally-friendly city, and go to work in Midtown Manhat-
but in order to get there, we’re going to tan. They called it the central business
have to do things that we really haven’t district—there’s a reason we don’t do
been asked to do in the modern city. that anymore. Everything has changed. those protected bike lanes, reinvest in
The question—not just for the BQE but I can tell you as comptroller, when you the subway system, you’d have to be
for other super-highways around the crunch the numbers, 83 percent of the crazy to take a car. That should be the
city and around the country—is how new jobs in the city are in Brooklyn way we think.
do we go about ending car culture, first and Queens. People are working more
by reducing lanes and then by funda- within their borough than ever before. Bus ridership is down since Uber
mentally changing the transportation People in Queens work in Queens, and Lyft brought in a proliferation of
infrastructure in the city? people in Brooklyn work in Brooklyn, for-hire vehicles. What specific steps
in fact, Brooklyn now works in Queens would you take to turn that around?
Car registrations are increasing, and and vice versa. Yet the buses aren’t We need dedicated bus lanes, and we
so is the size and miles-traveled of the aligned for that. need elected officials to get on board
city’s fleet. City officials are handing It is an equity issue. The poorest what it means for dedicated bus lanes.
out more parking placards than people in the city ride the bus, people Look at 14th Street. People said to me,
ever. How do we actually change car who make the least amount of money, “Why are you the only citywide elected
culture? but work the hardest, longest hours. official that came out in support?” It
From a government perspective, if it Some of the struggling New York- is because I’m not putting my finger
were up to me, we would just slash the ers who are living in the outskirts of in the air, looking which way the wind
placards in half, review every single the city don’t get home until 11 or 12 is blowing, saying that I kind of like it
placard, and every time you did away o’clock, and yet the buses stop running but I don’t want to commit to it—that’s
with a placard, you removed a car from and the trains barely run at night. So, political speak. My view was you have
the street. While there are obviously who are we servicing? Buses matter, a plan, put it out there, implement it.
essential needs for cars in city govern- and if you can realign the bus system, It’s going to work, but let’s see. That
ment, not everybody with an excuse build out the bus transit system, build should be the kind of planning we do:
24 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

Not everybody The 14th Street busway also brought

lawsuits, and outrage at the commu-
way is by investing in pedestrians,
and by doing that, you then invest in
with an excuse nity board level. What is driving that? protected bike lanes and you change
I don’t really share that view that the culture of the city from a planning
should have there’s outrage. Part of what city gov- perspective. Instead of doing the Rob-
ernment and community-based orga- ert Moses car-first proposal, you build
a car and a nizations have to do is work with local out pedestrian right of way, bike lanes,
placard. communities and community boards.
I say this as somebody who served as
and bus lanes, and you start to trans-
form the city. The best way to do this
Manhattan Borough President for eight is through the lens of an entire view
years. I’m used to community engage- of what our city should be like going
ment. I believe community boards are forward—how we build out affordable
actually a resource. And yes, when I housing and economic development
do town hall meetings and I talk about and tie it in to transportation. We are
these issues, some people get angry, so far behind, it’s kind of amazing that
some people boo, but at the end of the the great urban experiment called New
day, you need to use that time as a dia- York City is taking a backseat to some
come up with an idea, and implement logue with the community. Success will of these major international cities.
it. Don’t worry about the political con- be turning down the volume, listening We should just take the conversation
sequences. Stop baby-stepping. Stop to the legitimate concerns of people and lead, and build a constituency for
supporting incremental transportation who look at bikes on the sidewalks change in this city. You can’t bend the
change. Stop kicking the can down the or bikes coming at them, people who car culture. You’ve got to break the car
road—saying by the year 2040, we will are older who say, “I’m afraid of that, culture. And you’ve got to do it now.
have a great sustainable city. It’s not because if I fall, that could shorten my The only way to do that is to build out
true. We have to measure how we build life.” That’s not something we should transportation alternatives. Some
out our transportation network, not in trivialize. people need cars, but they want alter-
Scott Heins

decades, but in years. That is how gov- We should get in a room and figure natives, especially in the far regions of
ernment should be working. out how we make everybody safe. One the cities. Let’s give it to them.
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 25

Cyclist fatalities are way up this year. every day. I worry about the trucks. I was the culture of planning in the city.
What is causing the rise and what will worry about the cars that come right up We didn’t accept the default of building
stop it? to the baby carriage. Then you look at a highway with more lanes to reduce
We need a little more vision in Vision the driver mumbling to himself, “This car traffic. The more lanes of traffic
Zero. It sounds good, but it is not what is outrageous. There’s a baby carriage you have, the more cars you will have.
it should be. It’s pretty clear to me that in the middle of my way.” When you take away lanes of highway,
you have got to protect bike riders, and That is the car culture we have to you reduce traffic. Now that we know
that takes resources, it takes planning break. Who gets the priority? I side this, let’s start a planning process
and purpose—but you have to move with the kids and the parents who are throughout our five boroughs, because
faster. trying to navigate the streets getting this is not the only highway that’s going
There’s a conflict with what we’re to school. Just like we hold the yellow to need repairs. We know what’s com-
doing now. We are rapidly building out bus sacrosanct, right when that stop ing in the next decade. The modeling,
Citi Bike—a different infrastructure sign comes out, we should be equally land use, and zoning work that we do
for transportation—but we’re miss- outraged about the speeding cars and today can be a model for restructuring
ing one key component, which is how callous driving right past schools. the transportation network in the city.
do we safely build this out? That can’t We have to build out our transporta-
wait two years. You can’t put people in Instead of waiting for people to die, tion alternatives, and really invest in
harm’s way. which is what we do now. them.
It’s pretty clear that we have not We have to go from being reactive to
built out the safety infrastructure—not proactive. We have to stop thinking Speaking of planning, the city is in an
for cyclists, not for pedestrians, and about the big decisions that we might affordability crisis. Is there an answer
especially not for children. As a father make 20 or 30 years from now, and to those problems in our streets?
of a seven-and-half-year-old and a six- start now. That’s why I created that The first question we should ask is
year-old, I’ll tell you what I worry about BQE study and those recommenda- from a transportation perspective:
every day. I worry about them in the tions, not because the Comptroller’s Who do we want to build transporta-
morning, going to school, and I worry Office has all the answers—we don’t. tion for? And I would argue that there’s
Scott Heins

about them coming home. I don’t feel There are very good plans for the BQE, a number of answers. You want to
comfortable until I know they’re home but the one thing that we challenged build out pedestrian- and community-
26 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

You can’t bend entrance fee to the city can’t just be

a $2 million condo. We have to give
we should not be having the same
conversation about the slow pace of
the car culture. people more housing options as well as change. We should take chances with
transportation options. You see people big ideas and we should try to do big
You’ve got to being pushed, mostly people of color, to things. The busway on 14th Street was
the outskirts of the city, where they are a big idea. There are a lot of those kinds
break the car barely hanging on. That’s not where the of ideas that should be implemented
culture. jobs are being created, and that’s not
where the transportation alternatives
right now to build the ultimate sustain-
able city. If New York does this, then we
are being built. We’re going to have to will fundamentally change the planet.
rethink, and reimagine how govern- Let’s get the bureaucrats out of the way.
ment can move faster. Let’s go back to communities. Let’s
build partnerships with community-
Let’s wrap up with the big picture. based organizations, bring the best and
What will transportation in New York brightest into city government, and
City look like in ten years? launch the next big idea that will be the
I’m glad you said just ten years. hallmark of New York.

friendly neighborhoods so that people Flying cars will solve everything in 50 Reclaim is read by tens of thousands
can safely raise their children. You years, of course. of dedicated activists. Is there any-
need to do everything you can to pro- Of course, flying cars. thing you would like to say to them?
tect seniors who have to navigate com- The real question is what do we want One of the things I was proud to be able
plicated and very dangerous streets. our city to be, and how can we create to do as borough president was to be
There’s a lot of planning that goes into more equity in the city, more fairness. the lead sponsor of an early transporta-
that. While we’re doing that, we also Transportation should not be defined tion conference with Transportation
have to build the next generation of based on the wealth you have: wealthy Alternatives—this was going back to
affordable housing. We have a record people get to have cars; poor people 2006. I remember people arriving on
number of homeless people both in the have to rely on a broken down trans- bikes, carrying helmets—everyone
streets and in our shelters, so we need a portation system. We have to come to thought it was such a big deal. There,
new housing plan that is going to create terms with what is fair, and once we do we started to plan for the future of
housing for the poorest people in the that, we have to realign our agencies transportation alternatives in the
city. Then we have to think about how to move at a rapid pace. We are falling city. That was when the foundation
we create that affordability, and also behind some of the great international was being built to do all the things we
the transportation network that could cities. I can tell you as comptroller, ended up doing over the last 13 years.
get people to work, and back to their that’s not good for business. There is a I’m very proud of the collective work of
families, in a timely fashion. competition around the world for the the activists and advocates of Trans-
You can’t silo transportation, hous- city with the most environmentally- portation Alternatives. Now is a time,
ing, or education. It’s all very con- friendly options. We want to lead the once again, to go back to the drawing
nected: how we get kids to school in conversation. Why should we have to board and to elevate what we think is
the morning, how we get them back to take a backseat to Seoul, Bogotá, and possible—if we advocate, discuss, plan,
their families, how we build the next Paris? and achieve those goals, we can see real
generation of housing to keep people We need to have an urgency to our impact in our lifetime.
here, and also for new people to come planning and we have to be specific,
here. We need to make sure that immi- neighborhood by neighborhood, about
grants can continue to come here. The how to get there. Ten years from now
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 27

RECOM M EN DED RE ADING

Bike Races and Faces

WHETHER YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A BEDTIME STORY
for your baby activist or a guide to community organizing
to sway your local community board, Transportation
Alternatives has a book to recommend.

Born to Ride On Bicycles The World’s Fastest Man

A Story About Bicycle Face A 200-Year History of Cycling in The Extraordinary Life of Cyclist
By Larissa Theule and New York City Major Taylor, America’s First Black
Kelsey Garrity-Riley By Evan Friss Sports Hero
By Michael Kranish
In this children’s historical fiction Long before Robert Moses made New
book, a determined young girl in York into a car city, the Big Apple At the height of Jim Crow, a black man
Rochester, New York, teaches herself was a bike town. From the first-ever named Marshall Walter Taylor rode his
to ride a bike amid the backdrop of the ban on bicycles in 1819, to Ed Koch’s way through impossible racial barriers
women’s suffrage movement. After losing fight against Transportation to become the fastest cyclist in the
being warned by her brother that when Alternatives and New York City’s bike world. In this investigative history, the
girls ride bikes, their faces get stuck in messenger community in the 1980s, full story of the life of the man known
an ugly “bicycle face,” Louise Belinda riding a bike has always been a political as “Major Taylor” is told, from Madison
Bellflower faces sexism and her fears of act. This concise history tells the story Square Garden, where he rode, and
a two-wheeler in this story of courage of how bicycling shaped New York and won, his first professional races, to the
and freedom for women and girls. mirrors the ever-changing metropolis. career-long physical attacks he survived
from white cyclists who he competed
Recommended by Communications Recommended by Queens Organizer against, and bested, on the track.
Director (and dad of two) Joe Cutrufo Juan Restrepo
Recommended by Co-Deputy Director
Marco Conner
Scott Heins
28 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

ALB U M

Celebrating the Idle Kid

THE SUBJECT OF CHOICE FOR time they need to go home to dinner, or the sidewalk, or a tree, or a fence,
photojournalist Cassandra Giraldo is a was the way teenagers managed to or a parked car becomes the furniture
reason for most people to change train reclaim parts of the cityscape. A side- where these kids play out their youth.”
cars: teenagers. For the past five years, walk or a bollard became a gathering It was the cacophony that rose in
in downtime between assignments for place akin to the suburban mall. after-school hours that first drew
the New York Times and the Wall Street “Growing up in Los Angeles, I was Giraldo to launch The After School
Journal, Giraldo has photographed a different kind of urban kid. The idle Project on Instagram, but what kept
young people in New York City as they time after school usually meant driving her coming back was the way a group
hang out, flirt, and get loud in the few around with friends, in our little bub- of loitering teenagers could transform
hours of freedom after school. ble,” explains Giraldo. “For New York urban space.
What struck Giraldo, beyond the City kids, there’s a really striking inde- “There is this assumption that in big
nice afternoon light that emerges when pendence in public spaces. The public cities like New York the idle kid must
kids get out of school and fades by the spaces are all they have, and a park, be up to something nefarious. I wanted
to celebrate that time. These are just
kids, and loitering in front of a bodega
is both a mundane and important
part of being a kid in New York,” says
Giraldo. “This space is where they are
able to exercise being adults, to play
out what it is like to be grown-up. For
New York City kids, the streets are
their stage.”

Find The After School Project on Instagram:

@afterschoolproject
Cassandra Giraldo
30 R E C L A I M   Vol. 25 | #2 2019

By Eben Weiss a.k.a. Bike Snob NYC

B IKE SNOB ’ S L AST WORD

Waste of Space
IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED , encroach on your personal New York convince anyone that cars don’t equal
this town is a bit short on space. As City square footage allotment because customers. Sure, if a VW Bug with
such, squandering it is one of our big- you can simply make it everybody polka dots pulls up in front of your deli
gest taboos. Manspreading, standing else’s problem the rest of the time. A and 50 hungry clowns emerge, you’re
in the middle of the escalator, leaving Diamanti Lux Leather Gucci Heritage probably going to sell a lot of pastrami
your kid’s stroller in the foyer—all Travel Trunk and a BMW X4 both cost sandwiches that day, but with Ringling
more than sufficient to earn the scorn around $50,000, but only one comes Bros. calling it quits, this scenario is
of your fellow New Yorkers. with the expectation that you get to more unlikely than ever. The reality
Oddly, many of us take for granted leave it in public space whenever you is that cars are big and unwieldy and
the single greatest and most egregious feel like it and get to call the police if often contain only a single person,
waste of space in the entire city: anybody else tries to take it. Ironically, which makes them wildly inefficient
on-street parking. Indeed, the same the most coveted parking spaces are customer deployment vehicles in
neighbor who calls management when in the wealthiest, and most transit- any environment. The status quo,
forced to circumvent a Maclaren rich neighborhoods, which means the which is a handful of legally parked
stroller while checking the mail may New Yorkers clinging to the curb most cars and a second handful of illegally
think nothing of having to squeeze tenaciously need a car and free parking double-parked cars, only serves to keep
between a pair of stationary SUVs less than perhaps anybody else in the everyone else away. If your goal is to
in order to cross the street, or being United States. get as many people to your business as
forced to sidestep piles of trash Nothing elicits this strange behavior possible, insisting they come by car is
because a perpetually occupied curb of car parkers more than a street like putting your groceries away in the
requires us to place our garbage on the redesign project that requires removal fridge without taking them out of the
sidewalk for collection. When someone of parking. In Rego Park, a deli owner shopping bags first.
robs us of a few inches on the subway, blamed the Queens Boulevard bike The good news is, if we can get
we’re indignant, but three million lane and a concomitant loss of parking past the parking fetishists, all these
on-street parking spaces—almost for his decision to close shop. A Daily spots give us a lot of space to work
all of which are free on a first-come, News op-ed insisted that everyone who with. In commercial areas, we can
first-served basis—are considered visits Little Italy in the Bronx needs to replace parking with loading zones
due to any vehicle owner who wishes come by car: “What would they do— so businesses can receive deliveries
to park themselves in their very own ride the 2 train with two-gallon cans more efficiently, and so customers
slice of prime New York real estate for of olive oil on their laps? Ever seen who actually do need to transport
however long they wish. a bike rider balance two mozzarella large items by motor vehicle can pick
Of course, the fact that something balls, 10 pounds of meat and a loaf them up without resorting to double-
as profoundly valuable as street space of bread on their handlebars for the parking. In residential neighborhoods,
is being given away for free for the sole miles-long journey to Park Slope or we can charge for parking and use
purpose of personal property storage Pleasantville?” (Clearly, he doesn’t get the revenue and the reclaimed curb
results in some very strange behavior. out much, because bikes move pretty space to overhaul our waste collection
In Manhattan, where the street space much all the prepared food in the city.) system. And, of course, we can create
is most valuable, vehicle owners have And in a New York Times article about wider sidewalks, secure on-street
been known to guard “their” spots— the 14th Street busway, a liquor store parking for bikes, play spaces for
camping out in their cars for hours at a owner and a pizzeria owner said they kids, and sitting areas for adults,
time so that they are not flushed away feared that the busway would harm while freeing-up sightlines so you can
during street cleaning. In this scenario, their businesses—as though anybody is actually see around the corner when
the car is not a transportation tool, giving up a parking spot for a bottle of you need to cross the street.
but a very expensive placeholder that red and a slice. It’s all more than possible. We just
can squat on public property for you There’s plenty of evidence that need to get all those placeholders out of
in absentia. Like that fancy luggage set removing parking in order to create there.
you got as a wedding gift, the car only room for bike lanes and transit is
gets used a handful of times a year at good for business, but commonsense
best. Unlike said luggage, a car doesn’t should be more than sufficient to
 T R A N S A LT. O R G 31

ORGANIZE

Defense Against the Learn community

organizing and more
Dark Arts at Transportation
“IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THE METHODS OF Alternatives’ Your
people who trade in the dark arts of political dirty tricks— City, Your Voice
and how to resist them. Keep an eye out for those who talk in activist training this
anecdotes about dangerous cyclists, who center the conversation
on organizations or personalities instead of the issue, or spring. Sign up at
delay decisions about bike lanes and parking reductions via transalt.org/organize.
bureaucratic process. These are just tricks to keep you feeling
misinformed, exhausted, and excluded, so you stay outside of the
decision-making process. Remember that reasonable arguments
only work if your audience values reason. In unreasonable
environments, you need to be tactical. Gather your allies, show up
prepared, and do not go quietly. With your like-minded neighbors,
brainstorm all the people who can be the best public voice for
your issue. Show that your ranks are broad and deep, focusing on
what decision makers care about. Some people will question your
support no matter what, so bring as much proof as you can. Resist
back-and-forth arguments, and always re-center the conversation
on shared values—a powerful story can anchor the conversation.
Constantly demonstrate your power with new actions, voices, and
attention. Power doesn’t exist in concrete terms, it always exists
as potential.”

— Senior Director of Organizing Thomas DeVito

Matthew Gilbertson
Transportation Alternatives N o n - P ro f i t
111 John Street, Suite 260 Organization
New York, NY 10038 U . S . P O S TAG E

PA I D
New Haven, CT
PERMIT NUMBER 541