The Oil Drum

NYC is in the process of a dramatic transformation of its streets to promote alternative modes of transportation to the automobile – walking, biking and mass transit. To the outside observer, this might seem like a natural evolution of streetscapes or merely based on the personal viewpoints of a few influential people. But in reality, this transformation, still in its infancy, is the result of a long and dedicated advocacy campaign by groups like Transportation Alternatives, Time's Up and the dedicated bloggers and vloggers on Streetsblog and Streetfilms that is finally seeing its advocacy work pay-off. Big time.

It has long been the dream of alternative transportation advocates to not only increase the number of on-street bike lanes for cyclists, but to make them safe enough for anyone to use them – children, elderly or just a casual commuting cyclist. Basically to make them safe and comforting to anyone that doesn’t want to deal with automobiles buzzing them. The ideal to many cycling advocates is the separated bike lane because it not only provides a safer ride, but also prevents automobiles from blocking them by double parking in them.

And New York is getting its first taste of on-street separated bike lanes on a small stretch of a Ninth Avenue leading into midtown.

Amory Lovins' Rocky Mountain Institute: Not Exactly Transit Oriented!

Typically, when people think about how sustainable a neighborhood is, they probably think of neighborhoods with lots of organic stores, solar paneled roofs, small hybrid cars and a strong recycling/composting culture. And all of those ideas have their place, but I would argue that the most important is how walkable/bikable a neighborhood is. From Streetsblog, we discover a new website, Walkscore gives us a chance to calculate this aspect of different neighborhoods. While this is admittedly a crude measure and has some fairly obvious flaws, it is in many ways a good rough measure of how walkable a given location is compared to others.

Just pure density does not a walkable neighborhood make. It requires a healthy mix of residential, retail, services and office space. It means basically being able to accomplish pretty much any of your necessary daily trips by foot and not requiring an automobile.

For instance Amory Lovins' Rocky Mountain Institute gets a fairly low score since pretty much anyone that works there or wants to get lunch off campus HAS to drive there. However, most of Manhattan gets a 90+.

Here is the GreeNYC top ten list to become more environmentally friendly.

1. Switch to ENERGY STAR® qualified Compact Fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).

2. Buy ENERGY STAR® appliances.

3. Don’t air condition an empty room.

4. Unplug chargers and appliances when not in use.

5. Switch to a green energy provider.

6. Walk or take public transportation.

7. Recycle your glass, metal, paper and plastic.

8. Bring your own cloth bag to the grocery store.

9. Use green cleaning products.

10.Switch to paperless bank statements and online bill paying.

What a week we have had in New York politics! On Monday the Mayor went to Albany to try to forge a deal with the state's power brokers to get approval on his congestion pricing plan (as well as many other environmental initiatives). With neither legislative branch even holding a vote on the matter and a Federal deadline for $500 million passing by, it seemed that the whole ambitious plan may have crumbled under the weight of Albany's inertia and political wrangling.

But lo and behold, there is some sort of deal that is shaping up to let the Mayor's congestion pricing initiative live to fight another day. Streetsblog has a good summary of where the politics stand:

There still may be some flexibility for a few days extension by the Feds, but for now it looks like the Albany political gridlock has once again kept the state from enacting good public policy supported by nearly all the good government groups, all the major newspapers, health and transportation advocates here in the city. It had the support of all the citywide elected officials - the Mayor, the Speaker of the City Council, the Comptroller and Public Advocate. It even had the support of the Governor and the leader of the State Senate, Joseph Bruno.

So that's probably it. There are talks of a compromise sometime in the distant future, but for now, the momentum is completely lost. New York's Albany politics have conspired to condemn another generation to higher transit fares, less service, more traffic congestion, lower air quality and encouraging more people to drive into the city. July 16th should now forever be known as "Congestion Day"

To further explain my perspective on the benefits of congestion pricing, here's a video I did with Streetfilms about congestion pricing standing at the border of where it would be implemented.

Upper Green Side

Upper Green Side has grown over the past year and a half from a handful of local activists that I rallied together to start a few local food greenmarkets in the heart of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Along the way, I learned quite a bit about how to become a neighborhood activist, work together with the local community board and build relationships with elected officials.

Now I'm proud to announce that less than a year and a half since founding a Upper Green Side, we are now an official 501c3 non-profit organization and can receive tax-deductible donations.

Upper Green Side is a non-profit organization that promotes awareness and action on local environmental issues in the Upper East & Upper West Sides of Manhattan involving sustainable food, clean transportation, energy efficiency, and waste reduction. We are building a healthy community and environment for our own well-being and generations to come.

This is a very exciting time for us as we will be planning our activities and securing different funding sources, but we plan that the bulk of our funds will come from private individuals at first.

While we don't have an easy online donation mechanism set-up yet, we are taking personal checks now at our PO BOX. Please send what can to us at:

Support TOD: Neighborhood, Become a founding contributor to Upper Green Side! We send receipts!!

Some great moments of street life activated by a little music. New York at it's best. Bookmark this video if you ever feel down or worry that happiness can't continue without a high energy consumption lifestyle. We make our own happiness - for ourselves and for others. Enjoy the summer weekend.

Update 6/22: It's official, no congestion pricing agreement was reached before the end of the Spring legislative session and none of the state legislation needed to enable & fund much of Bloomberg's sustainability plan was enacted because of disagreements between Albany's power brokers.

Update 6/21: I'm getting numerous reports in the local news that Congestion Pricing is alive for today pending a compromise bill being debated today.

It seems for now that Congestion Pricing is dead (for now) in the NY State Assembly despite the support of: Mayor Bloomberg, Governor Spitzer, NY State Senate Leader Joseph Bruno, NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller Bill Thompson

Major NYC Newspapers:
NY Times, NY Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, Staten Island Advance

And many community organizations, civic associations, business groups and environmental organizations

Sustainability and transportation advocates are now gearing up for a long hot Summer here in NYC to push for congestion pricing. Sheldon Silver will have to be dragged back for a special session. Line up the School buses, we're going to Albany in late July.

Mayor Bloomberg has announced a city contribution of $3 million to the project, but more private donations are required to make the target of a a 2008 ground breaking. Check out the video and consider the possibilities.