Aaron Naparstek
AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.
Recent Posts
Rethinking Soho
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A Porsche, an ambulette, Paul Steely White, Bruce Schaller and a vendor compete for street space in Soho Crowded shoppers and residents want more sidewalk space in Soho and they would be happy to give up some of the area’s parking space to get it, according to a study released today by Transportation Alternatives (Download […]
Are Old-Line Environmentalists Asleep at the Wheel?
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Dr. Bill takes to NYC’s streets to tell us about cars and global warming Once a month, Environmental Defense, the venerable environmental organization, posts an "Ask Dr. Bill" video to their web site to answer common environmental questions. Dr. Bill is Bill Chameides, ED’s Chief Scientist. This month Dr. Bill takes to the streets to answer common […]
Futurama 2030 Speech: News Round-Up
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Map from the city’s PlaNYC web site. See more maps at Gothamist. Coverage of yesterday’s long-term planning and sustainability speech, "New York City 2030: Accepting the Challenge." Text of the speech and video (NYC.gov) Bloomy’s Vision of 2030 Foresees Nightmare of Crowding & Crumbling (Post) When a question was raised about congestion pricing — a proposed policy […]
Mayor Bloomberg Sustainability Speech Tomorrow
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At an event hosted by the League of Conservation Voters, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg will deliver a major speech outlining sustainability challenges and goals for the City of New York through the year 2030. This will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by NBC News Special Correspondent Tom Brokaw. When Tuesday, December 12th, 2006, […]
Seoul’s New Heart
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Below are some excerpts from a fascinating story by John Vidal in last month’s Guardian that I haven’t seen covered in any American media. As the debate over traffic relief heats up in New York City, take a look at how the demolition of an elevated highway motorway the center of South Korea’s capital and the […]
File Under: No Wonder New York City is Falling Behind London
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While New York City inexplicably continues to open up Central Park to motor vehicles from Thanksgiving to New Year’s as a "holiday traffic mitigation," London transformed its most popular shopping area this weekend into a car-free pedestrian zone for holiday shoppers and visitors. Stretches of Oxford and Regents Streets were made into car-free zones this Saturday, December 2 from 10:30 am […]
Mayor Livingstone: $50 to Drive an SUV into Central London
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London Mayor Ken Livingstone said yesterday that he wants to introduce an emissions-based congestion charging fee in an attempt to reduce his city’s carbon dioxide output and to encourage cleaner transportation. The mayor’s proposal is to charge the heaviest polluting vehicles emitting 225 grams of CO2 per kilometer, a £25 fee to drive into London’s Central Business District. At today’s […]
Rumor Mill: Sustainability Announcement Tomorrow
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Word has it that the Bloomberg Administration’s new Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability will unveil its first work product this coming Wednesday, November 15. It looks like this initial public announcement will be oriented more around the problems that the new office is thinking about and working on rather than the solutions. The solutions, I am told, may start to emerge as […]
Car-Free Manhattan: Just Wait 100 Years
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I just caught up with this article in the Times on Saturday about a competition for engineers and architects to envision New York City in 2106. Check out one of the winning design concepts: After the judges’ hasty deliberations, Daniel L. Doctoroff, the city’s deputy mayor for economic development, presented the prizes. He said his office […]
London Calling. Are New York’s Leaders Really Listening?
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London officials closed the northern side of Trafalgar Square to traffic creating a vibrant new public space. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Chuck Schumer argue that New York City risks losing its place of global pre-eminence in a Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday. The editorial is a response to growing conventional wisdom that says London […]
Notes on Bicycling in Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Denmark is not a natural bicycling city. In the early 1960’s it was very much of a car town. In 1962 the city created its first pedestrian street, the Stroget, and every year since then Copenhagen has allocated more and more of its public space to bicycles, pedestrians and people who just want to sit […]
Blogging From Copenhagen
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The Nyhavn or "New Harbor." Twenty years ago Copenhagen’s quaint inner harbor was a parking lot. Today it is one of the city’s most popular and iconic outdoor destinations. For the next week or so I will be blogging from Copenhagen, Denmark and the Netherlands. Ahh, the glamorous, jet-setting life of the professional blogger. I am here […]