October 21: Spatial Equity NYC, Broadway Linear Park, Harlem Family Ride
There is alarming inequity in how public space is used across New York City. Streets and sidewalks make up the majority of public spaces, but the overwhelming majority of this space — 76 percent — is devoted to storing and moving cars.
This week, we launched Spatial Equity NYC, a new data tool and report card that visualizes these inequities in how public space — including streets, sidewalks, and green spaces — is restricted and distributed and the harms caused by these policy decisions.
This project, a collaboration between TA and researchers from the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism at MIT, lets you compare all 51 Council Districts and 59 Community Boards in NYC on 15 spatial equity indicators. And as the data shows, not all streets are created equal across the five boroughs.
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
Spatial Equity NYC is a continuation of NYC 25x25. TA challenged New York City’s leaders to convert 25 percent of car space into space for people by 2025, and with Spatial Equity NYC, we have a new way of looking at how space is used. Visit NYC 25x25 to read about how space is distributed currently and what we can create if we give space for cars back to people.
Our #OpenBroadway campaign has a new name. Our Manhattan Activist Committee has rebranded the #OpenBroadway campaign to the Broadway Linear Park campaign. Follow them on Twitter at @BwayLinearPark and stay up-to-date on their push to connect Union Square, Flatiron, Koreatown, and the Theater District through a pedestrianized Broadway.
In the news. Here’s what we’re reading this week:
Check out media coverage from the launch of Spatial Equity NYC, with articles in CBS 2, Gothamist, Streetsblog, Hell Gate, and amNY. Read Patch for a discussion of specific spatial inequities in Astoria, too.
TA Senior Organizer Juan Restrepo was quoted in an article for THE CITY, which covers the hazards microbility users face in competing for space on NYC streets.
Patch writes about the newly-hardened bike lane on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills. While this is a good step forward for safer cycling conditions, it does not count toward the 30 new miles of protected bike lanes the city is required to build in 2022 because the lane was first installed in 2017.
TWO THINGS TO DO
Watch Streetfilms’ video from the Harlem Family Bike Ride. Last Saturday, we gathered to take a tour of Harlem by bike and Streetfilms was on hand to record the ride. Check out the recap video, and help ensure more safe rides like this by signing our petition for a Central Harlem Bikeway.
Volunteer as an Election Day poll monitor. Our friends at Election Protection are looking for volunteers leading up to Election Day, November 8. Sign up for a virtual training on how to become an in-person poll monitor in New York, and be on the lookout for more opportunities as Election Day nears!
ONE ACTION TO TAKE NOW
Tell your Council Member to commit to ending spatial inequity. We’ve launched a new petition with Spatial Equity NYC that calls on each Council Member to publicly commit to creating a district-specific plan to end spatial inequity. View your district's Community Profile to learn more about its most notable spatial equity indicators, then sign and send this petition to your Council Member.
Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend,
Ted and the TA team
P.S. Casey Neistat is back in New York City and he’s made a new video about Council Member Restler's bill to reward citizens for reporting bike lane blocking. We’ve got a petition in support of this bill. Please show your support and sign it today. (And as a side note, has it really been 11 years since his original bike lane video?)