Think about what makes a great neighborhood street. Maybe it's a shady bench for relaxing and people watching? Or the chatter of a sidewalk cafe and people milling about in shops? Or a perfect balance of busy and calm, just enough activity to feel lively, but quiet enough to hear birds? We can all probably conjure a memory of a street like this—a place we’ve experienced that made us feel at once comfortable and connected, socially stimulated and personally at ease. That special mix of city life that inspires a sense of gratitude at being in community with others.

New York City streets are a case study in the status quo. Technological changes set in motion a century ago (mass adoption of the automobile), supercharged a half century later by policy (allowing overnight street parking), and entrenched over decades by habit and entitlement (expecting parking to be free) have turned our streets into a subsidy to car owners. So ubiquitous are rows of parked cars, that few people alive can remember things being any other way.

What's your name for that ten-foot-wide strip of asphalt at the edges of the street? Most folks refer to it as the parking lane (for reasons we’ll get into in a second). We're partial to calling it the curb lane. Whatever it's called, this dynamic strip of public space is some of the most valuable real estate in NYC.

Our Council Member in District 7, Shaun Abreu, recently became a co-sponsor of legislation in the City Council that would require the NYC Department of Transportation to set up a licensing system for all e-bikes and other electric micromobility devices, regardless of type.

To close out the year, we’d like to hear what our mission statement means to you. In other words, we want your Streetopian Ideas—transformations to public space that would improve how you, your friends and family, and your neighbors experience their community. 

Tomorrow, Tuesday, December 12th, the Community Board 7 Transportation Committee will be having a discussion of "e-bike safety," and it's vitally important they hear diverse voices like yours speak in favor of comprehensive solutions over reactionary and reductive fear-based policies.

Daylighting is a term with very specific meanings. For livable streets advocates, daylighting is about making intersections safer for pedestrians. NY State actually requires a form of universal daylighting, by prohibiting parking "within 20 feet of a cross walk at an intersection"—basically one car length. But here's the bonkers thing: NYC uses its "home rule" authority to exempt itself from implementing this proven street safety tactic.

There's something profound happening in Upper Manhattan that will change—for the better—the way every New Yorker experiences our streets. The Department of Sanitation has been implementing a trash containerization pilot program intended to get those piles of leaky, smelly, plastic garbage bags off of sidewalks and into containers in the street. And it's working!

What this parent-led effort can teach us about childhood independence, transportation equity, and building community by taking action.

Join Streetopia tonight at CB9 to speak in support trash containerization in NYC! The trash containerization pilot recently rolled out in Upper Manhattan replaces a handful of free car parking spaces that benefit a few people with covered trash receptacles that serve the entire neighborhood, keeping the sidewalks clear and the rats away.

For too many students in NYC the school commute is unnecessarily chaotic, stressful, and dangerous. We think there’s a better way.