MILESTONES FOR BIKING AND WALKING IN NEW YORK CITY
The First Step to One Less Car
People who drive in New York City benefit from free bridge crossings, free parking, and minimal fines for minimally enforced traffic laws. To truly fix New York City’s streets, those benefits need to become costs. Cars are bad for New York, so driving should not be free and easy for everyone. This spring, Transportation Alternatives and a coalition of public transit experts took that message to Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, and they agreed to finally disincentivize driving into one area of New York City — the Manhattan Central Business District. And for the first time ever, thanks to an aggressive campaign by TransAlt activists and the #FixTheSubway Coalition, the conversation around congestion pricing is focused on the potential to save lives. The congestion pricing law passed this spring, but as of press time, elected officials were still hashing out the particulars. (See what State Senator Jessica Ramos has to say about what’s next.)
Speed Camera Coverage Tripled
Speed cameras save lives. That’s why a threat to New York City’s automated enforcement program last summer brought a wave of protests, rallies, and civil disobedience from TransAlt and Families for Safe Streets activists. Following the outcry, legislators passed a law this winter to more than triple the number of school zones protected by speed cameras. Stay tuned: TransAlt is pushing for pilot programs to protect other dangerous places on the street with new technology, like bike lane cameras, bus lane cameras, and crosswalk cameras to catch drivers who fail to yield.
More Than 1000 Trained
Transportation Alternatives’ popular series of activist training classes — known as Your City, Your Voice — launched its eighth semester this spring, and sold out immediately. Since 2016, more than 1,000 New Yorkers have learned the ins and outs of TransAlt’s brand of high-potency politicking, from real-world civics lessons to campaign storytelling to the art of power-mapping. You can still register for classes this fall at transalt.org/organize.
Two Lifesaving Laws
The New York City Council is set to pass two new laws thought up by TransAlt activists. One, the Vision Zero Street Design Standard, has more than 84 percent of City Council members signed on as cosponsors, and would require the City of New York to consider adding safety to the street — in the form of bike lanes, safer crosswalks, and ADA accessibility — every time they repave. The other, the Reckless Driver Accountability Act, would impound any car that racks up five or more speed or red-light camera violations in a year. Both laws are testament to the power of the City Council to make streets safe without involving the sometimes intractable State Legislature.
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