Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about New York

Does Chicago Deserve to Be Ranked the Nation’s Second Best Bike City?

By John Greenfield | Sep 5, 2014 | 8 Comments

When I heard that Bicycling Magazine gave Chicago second place in its “America’s Best Bike Cities” ratings, just behind New York and two slots above Portland, I was puzzled. However, I’m starting to warm up to the idea that our city and NYC deserve credit for taking bold action to improve cycling. Few people would […]

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Are There Any Affordable Cities Left in America?

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 27, 2014 | No Comments

Are Washington, San Francisco, and New York the most affordable American cities? A new report from the New York-based Citizen’s Budget Commission [PDF], which made the rounds at the Washington Post and CityLab, argues that if you consider the combined costs of housing and transportation, the answer is yes. But a closer look at the […]

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Talking Headways Podcast: Poor Door Von Spreckelsen

By Tanya Snyder | Aug 4, 2014 | No Comments

In this week’s podcast, Jeff and I take on the infamous New York City “poor door,” designed to keep tenants of affordable units segregated from the wealthy residents that occupy the rest of the high-rise at 40 Riverside. In the process, we take on the assumptions and methods that cities use to provide housing, and […]

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Talking Headways Podcast: Knight Rider Rides Again

By Tanya Snyder | Mar 27, 2014 | No Comments

It was a dark and stormy day in San Francisco and Jeff Wood stayed dry in Woonerf studios, recording the Talking Headways podcast with co-host Tanya Snyder, who was bitter that days after the spring equinox, Washington, DC, was getting hit with another snowstorm. But more importantly — what does the future hold after a […]

More State Control Over Chicagoland Transit Is a Bad Idea

By Steven Vance | Mar 13, 2014 | 33 Comments

On Tuesday, the Northeastern Public Transit Task Force, created after former Metra CEO Alex Clifford’s abrupt resignation and the ensuing severance package scandal last summer, issued four different options for restructuring regional transit governance [PDF]. While there’s a lot of variation among the four options, they would all hand more power to the governor. This is […]

The CTA’s Ashland Bus Rapid Transit Plan Is Anything But Unprecedented

By John Greenfield | Nov 1, 2013 | 52 Comments

Opponents of the CTA’s plan to build fast, reliable bus rapid transit on Ashland Avenue have argued that, despite the success of BRT in numerous international and U.S. cities, Ashland is a unique street where converting car lanes to dedicated bus lanes won’t work. Streetsblog readers also have asked for examples of systems that share […]

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How StreetsPAC Emerged as a Political Force in NYC

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 16, 2013 | No Comments

“Livable Streets has arrived as a political force,” tweeted NYC Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson the morning after last week’s all-important primary election. StreetsPAC — a political action committee formed earlier this year to strengthen local candidates who support policies that improve walking, biking and transit — endorsed the winner in 13 of the 18 City […]

Why Chicago Is Lagging Behind Other Cities on Bike Parking Corrals

By John Greenfield | Mar 8, 2013 | 38 Comments

Not surprisingly, Portland, Oregon, leads the nation in on-street bike parking corrals, with 97 installed since 2004 and about 20 more going in each year. San Francisco, which installed its first corrals on Valencia Street in May 2010, now has 32 of them. New York City, which began installing corrals in August 2011, currently has […]

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Road Diets Are Changing American Cities for the Better

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 23, 2013 | No Comments

If it can work on Edgewater Drive in Orlando, it can work anywhere. This road diet — or “street rightsizing” — removed one traffic lane on a four lane road through 1.5 miles of the city’s College Park neighborhood. Since then, traffic collisions are down 34 percent. Pedestrian activity increased 23 percent and cycling rose […]