January 19: School Streets, Albany Lobby Day, Citi Bike Public Funding
There are more than 1,800 schools in New York City, but only about 40 offer students a car-free Open Street. Students need safe places to play, learn, and thrive without worrying about dangerous cars.
This week, we launched the School Streets Toolkit: a guide developed in partnership with Open Plans for students, parents, educators, and administrators to participate in the School Streets program.
We’ll be co-hosting a webinar with Open Plans on Monday, January 23, at 6 p.m. to walk through the resources and information presented in the toolkit. Plus hear from Council Members Erik Bottcher, Rita Joseph, Shekar Krishnan, Chi Ossé, and Lincoln Restler — RSVP to join us and start making streets safer for students!
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
1️⃣ Thanks for attending Families Bike Brooklyn. What a turnout for this week’s panel! A big thank you to our panelists, speakers, and audience for coming together to make streets safe for cyclists of all ages to enjoy. Take the next step toward a fully protected network of bike lanes and join one of our activist committees throughout the five boroughs.
2️⃣ More car-free connections to public transit. Last week, the MTA announced its Bike, Pedestrian, and Micromobility Strategic Action Plan, which will enable more people to access public transit via bikes, scooters, and other devices. Read about the plan and how it will create bike parking near transit stations, put bike racks on buses, and create pedestrian and bike access on bridges.
3️⃣ In the news. Here's what we're reading this week:
Amsterdam’s solution to connect bikes with transit: an underwater garage. Read more about this new project in The Guardian (and watch this video to see how they built it).
A study from Kittelson and Associates examines which crosswalk designs make drivers more likely to yield to pedestrians.
Outdoor dining has flourished in the outer boroughs and in communities of color, as Gothamist reports on a new study from NYU.
TWO THINGS TO DO
1️⃣ Rally with us in Albany this Tuesday. Join TA and FSS on January 24 in our state’s capital to lobby for the SAFE Streets Act, a comprehensive set of bills designed to redesign roads for everyone's safety, make vehicles safer, and provide more legal rights to those injured in crashes. Fill out this form to sign up.
2️⃣ Register for the Women’s Ride. Our second annual Women’s Ride will take place on Saturday, March 25, and is designed to be inclusive of all riders, offering an eight-mile route and a 15-mile route. Registration is free, so sign up today to ride with us this spring.
ONE ACTION TO TAKE NOW
Sign our petition to fund and expand Citi Bike. New York City’s bike share program is the only form of mass transit that does not receive public financial support. Sign our petition calling for public funding for Citi Bike and help keep the program affordable while also expanding it to more areas of the city.
Thanks for reading!
Ted and the TA team