This evening, we're co-hosting a Manhattan fundraising event for Upper West Side Council Member Mark Levine, who's beginning to gear up for his 2017 re-election campaign.
Mark has been as strong a voice for safe and complete streets as any member of the City Council. He pushed hard for the redesign of dangerous Amsterdam Avenue, a project just now coming to fruition, was instrumental in the fight to introduce Select Bus Service to 125th Street in Harlem, and on multiple occasions, he's been willing to push past recalcitrant Community Boards when they've stood in the way of safe-streets projects.Please join us tonight to say thanks and to help his re-election effort.
Wednesday, June 1
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
The Parlour
250 West 86th Street
To RSVP and purchase a ticket online, please click here. To RSVP and pay at the door, please click here.
Either way, please join us to help re-elect one of the City Council's best safe-streets advocates!
Advocates, community members, elected officials and officers of the 78th Precinct gathered last night next to the short protected stretch of Brooklyn's Bergen Street bike lane to remember NYPD Inspector Michael Ameri, who first cordoned off the lane with temporary police barricades back in 2012. Ameri, who died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound on May 13, led the 78th Precinct from 2011 to 2014, before being promoted to Commanding Officer of NYPD's Highway Division, which includes the Collision Investigation Squad.
In a ceremony before the monthly 78th Precinct Community Council meeting, Ameri was remembered for his embrace of New York City's Vision Zero Initiative. Under his command, the 78 initiated undercover failure-to-yield stings, put cops back on bikes for the first time in years, and instituted separate traffic-safety meetings in conjunction with the Community Council. Advocates and cops together installed a sign designating the one-block Bergen Street protected bike path as the "Inspector Michael Ameri Bike Lane."New York City Public Advocate Tish James, Council Member Brad Lander, and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon all attended the ceremony. James spoke of Ameri's warmth, Lander recalled him as a mentor, and Simon praised the close relationship Ameri had forged with his community. Others spoke of his good humor, always-open door and enthusiasm for his work – especially when it came to Vision Zero.
We'll remember Mike Ameri as someone who strove to make New York City a better and safer place, who smiled easily and enjoyed his partnership with safe-streets advocates, like StreetsPAC board member Dave "Paco" Abraham, seen below in 2013 presenting Ameri with a photo thanking him for adopting the Bergen Street bike lane – a photo that thereafter hung proudly in Mike Ameri's office. Rest in peace, Inspector.
Time to Move on Move NY!
The New York State Legislature's 2015-2016 session is rapidly coming to a close, and as is typical with Albany, all the action happens in the very last few days of the session.
One thing that needs to happen now is passage of the Move NY Fair Plan, which would help ease congestion on New York City streets while concurrently funding billions of dollars in badly needed transit improvements.
If you haven't done so yet, please take one minute right now to urge your legislators to get behind Move NY by clicking here: iheartmoveny.org.
StreetsPoll Results: Brooklyn's Really Excited About Citi Bike Expansion!
In last week's StreetsPoll, we asked which aspect of Citi Bike's planned summer 2016 expansion has you most excited. And based on the results, there's a lot of pent-up demand for the shared blue bicycles in Brownstone Brooklyn.
64% of you said that the rollout to Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus and Red Hook was tops on your list, and we won't be in the least surprised to see the system very heavily used in those neighborhoods once expansion happens in August or September. Brooklyn Community Board 6's Transportation & Public Safety Committee unanimously endorsed the expansion plan last month, thanking the New York City Department of Transportation both for taking suggested location changes into account and for increasing station density by about 15% from the initial plan presented last fall.
Congratulations to Brooklyn's Mike Lydon (yes, THAT Mike Lydon), the randomly selected winner of a StreetsPAC t-shirt from among last week's StreetsPoll respondents.
Photos: Mark Levine, NYC Council; Ameri & Abraham, N. Wayne Bailey; Bike Lane Sign, StreetsPAC
