Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Quality of Life

Melbourne, Australia After a Decade of Focus on Public Spaces

By Ethan Kent | Aug 2, 2007 | 12 Comments

With apologies for my carbon footprint, I recently returned from a working tour of eight cities Down Under. The trip included an invitation to Melbourne to work with the staff of the city’s successful new public space development, Federation Square, and to help lead a Placemaking training course that included many city staff, local developers […]

Famed Danish Urbanist Jan Gehl in Town to Consult on PlaNYC

By Alex Marshall | Aug 2, 2007 | 8 Comments

The Urbanist Musketeers: Alex Garvin, Jan Gehl and Fred Kent in Copenhagen, Denmark, Sept. 30, 2006. Jan Gehl, the famed Danish urbanist, is in New York City this week where, sources say, he has been hired as a consultant for Mayor Bloomberg’s PlaNYC program. At a presentation to the board of the Regional Plan Association […]

Mayor Speaks at Times Square Pricing Rally

By Sarah Goodyear | Jul 6, 2007 | 4 Comments

Supporters of congestion pricing rallied yesterday in Times Square, urging state lawmakers to act by July 16 on Mayor Bloomberg’s initiative or risk losing $500 million in federal funds. "The time is now," said the mayor, according to the New York Post. "We cannot walk away from this opportunity." Shouting out to tourists in a […]

Bike-Sharing in New York: Could It Happen Here?

By Sarah Goodyear | Jul 5, 2007 | 6 Comments

A bike-share station in Lyon, France It was a vacation in Paris a couple of months ago that gave David Haskell, executive director of the Forum for Urban Design, the idea. Haskell was so impressed by the preparations the French capital is making for its massive municipal bike-sharing program that he decided he had to […]

Take Back the Streets, for the Kids

By Sarah Goodyear | Jul 2, 2007 | 1 Comment

An article in Sunday’s New York Times discussed the decline of stickball and other games on city streets: The fun stopped, or moved inside, depending upon whom you ask, thanks to (pick two or three): television; two-income families; air-conditioning; digital technology; organized sports, crime; smaller families and roomier apartments; too much homework and other responsibilities; […]

No Love for One-Way Proposal in Jackson Heights

By Sarah Goodyear | Jun 29, 2007 | 7 Comments

Congestion in Jackson Heights: The DOT needs some new ideas The Queens Times-Ledger reports on the "cool reception" given last week by Queens Community Board 3 and City Council Member Hiram Monserrate to the DOT’s proposal for a one-way pair of streets on 35th and 37th avenues. What’s most disappointing about the debate so far […]

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