Council Oversight Hearing on Bicycles, Micromobility, and Street Enforcement

Good morning, and thank you to Chair Brooks-Powers and the members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. My name is Elizabeth Adams and I am the Deputy Executive Director for Public Affairs at Transportation Alternatives. Transportation Alternatives believes that our streets belong to the people of New York City, and we work with New Yorkers in every borough to build a future that rises to the needs of our communities. Thank you for convening this hearing on bicycles, micromobility, and street enforcement. 

The bills being heard today will go a long way to address street safety, transportation access, and a more equitable future for our public space – and Transportation Alternatives supports Intros 417, 501, 927, 926, 712, and 289, which will remove delays and barriers to safe streets infrastructure; make e-micromobility charging stations more accessible; clear our bus and bike lanes; and require a better assessment of bicycle infrastructure conditions and needs citywide.

These changes are essential. We need to speed up infrastructure projects, keep our bus and bike lanes clear so that the infrastructure we’ve built actually works, and prioritize equitable enforcement through automatic programs like ABLE bus cameras and keeping bus lanes, crosswalks and bike lanes clear.

Bike ridership in NYC has reached an all-time high. But we’re in a crisis — 12 bikers killed already this year. People are calling for more sustainable modes of transit, including e-micromobility, and we have an obligation to provide the street safety measures and charging stations that make it possible for more people to access biking.  

The need is urgent. NYC is far behind our Streets plan requirements. DOT did not meet the bike and bus lane goals for 2022, and we’ve tracked just 0.36 miles built out of 50 bike lane miles required to be installed in 2023.

Every day an infrastructure project is stalled, or a bus or bike lane is blocked, New Yorkers are forced to ride in unsafe conditions. 

This has real life costs. Blocked bike lanes have deadly consequences, and we’re already at a crisis of record cyclist deaths this year. The city must do everything it can to remove unwarranted barriers and build the systemic solutions we know work – networks of protected bike lanes. 

For safe and clear streets, we need our bike lanes and bus lanes to work. 

A NYCDOT survey found that “fewer vehicles driving or stopping in bike lanes” was the number one issue that would encourage New Yorkers to bike more. If we want people to commute in more sustainable ways, we need to make it safe for them to do so. 

A blocked lane is not only inconvenient, it’s dangerous. In 2018, Madison Jane Lynden was killed when a car double-parked in the bike lane, forcing her into the street where she was hit by a truck driver. We need our government agencies to step up – we cannot keep ignoring such a flagrant misuse of our streets. 

Blocked bus lanes are also deeply inequitable. Three out of four New Yorkers who rely on the bus are low-income. Busways and bus lanes increase bus ridership and reduce  travel times. Yet a single driver can block fifty bus riders from getting to work on time, slowing commutes for up to 8,000 bus riders/hour. 

We also commend CMs Rivera, Gutierrez, Farias and Bottcher for their bills. The majority of NYC cyclists are people of color and yet face inequitable access to infrastructure: over 90% of cyclist fatalities are on streets where the median income is below the citywide average. Reporting on where infrastructure projects are is critical for realizing equitable city planning.  

Transportation Alternatives’ 25x25 challenge calls for 25 percent of New York’s streets to be reclaimed from cars and returned to the public, and that is only possible when bus and bike lanes can be used safely for their intended purpose.

Thank you again for your time. We look forward to working closely with each of you to make New York’s streets safe and equitable for all.

Emergency Hearing on School-Based Speed Safety Cameras in New York City (Intro 1089-2018)

Testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Transportation - 8/28/18

Testimony by Marco Conner, Legislative & Legal Director, Transportation Alternatives:

Thank you Speaker Johnson, Committee Chair Rodriguez and Council Members, for your tenacity and commitment to protecting New Yorkers by introducing this speed enforcement legislation and holding today’s hearing. For 45 years Transportation Alternatives has advocated on behalf of New Yorkers for safer, more inclusive and more livable streets. With more than 150,000 people in our network and over 1,000 activists throughout all five boroughs we fight to promote biking, walking, and public transportation as alternatives to the car. Helping to create a city with zero deaths or serious injuries, free from speeding, is part of our work and our vision.

Today I am also representing the EverySchool Coalition for Speed Safety Cameras. This coalition not only strongly supports your life-affirming actions today to re-activate our city’s speed safety cameras, we encourage you to use your authority to allow operation of the cameras whenever and wherever needed to protect other New Yorkers, at the very least to do so at every school and every senior center.

The EverySchool Coalition consists of more than 300 schools, parent-teacher associations, nearly every major hospital in NYC, doctors, school crossing guards, religious institutions, child welfare organizations, disability rights groups, major businesses, four district attorneys and many more institutions in New York City.

We need speed safety cameras because traffic violence is a public health crisis that takes lives and affects the safety, well-being, and health of all New Yorkers. Between 2010 and 2014 more than 16,000 people were either killed or severely injured in traffic on NYC streets. Every year more than 50,000 people are injured and every 38 hours someone dies in a traffic crash. Since 2013 at least 48 children have died in traffic crashes in our city. And just last year alone, 51 seniors were killed by motor vehicle drivers while walking, representing nearly half of all pedestrian fatalities in 2017.

Speeding is a leading cause of these crashes, and speed safety cameras have been an effective deterrent to such speeding, reducing speeding violations by more than 60% and traffic fatalities by more than 50% at the locations in New York City where they have been permitted under state law to operate.

The existing limited program has been overwhelmingly effective. Yet, despite the program’s effectiveness, under state law, cameras were prevented from operating at the times and locations where 85% of traffic fatalities and severe injuries occur:

State law only permitted cameras to operate at the times designated within the black box, with green indicating the least speeding (NYCDOT, 2018).

Under State law, cameras were only allowed to operate at 140 school zones even though there are more than 2,000 schools in our city, which prevented more than 90% of New York City’s schools the life-saving benefits of speed safety cameras, and forcing the NYCDOT to ration this proven vaccine to select neighborhoods and select schools.

Improve New York City’s Speed Safety Camera Program

Transportation Alternatives believes that the City of New York, through legislation originated in the City Council, has the legal and moral authority to operate an improved speed safety camera program that protects more New Yorkers than the program that existed between 2014 and 2018.

Speeding is a documented problem of local concern affecting the safety, health and well-being of persons and property in New York City, which the New York State Legislature has failed to address sufficiently by not enacting sufficient speed camera expansion, and creating an emergency by allowing our city’s existing program authorization to expire.

Although, in general, New York State reserves most legislative powers for the State legislature, the State Constitution does reserve for localities like New York City the right to legislate without specific State authorization for the "protection,[...] safety, health and well-being of persons or property [in the city]." Such powers have previously been upheld by the New York State Court of Appeals to allow the City of New York to decide where tobacco vending machines can be placed;* and another New York municipality’s power to ban fracking, contrary to a state law, was similarly upheld.** Those powers are rooted in the right that we have as a city to legislate for the protection, safety, health and well-being of people who live in our city and who travel here. Speed safety cameras do exactly that, they deter dangerous driving, making our streets safer. They save lives.

Furthermore, New York City has extensive policing powers, including the general power to enforce speed limits, and broad authority to regulate traffic.

Traffic crashes constitute a public health crisis in New York City that has claimed the lives of more than 5,000 New Yorkers since 2001. Speeding is a leading cause of those crashes, and speed safety cameras are a proven effective deterrent that saves countless lives, as documented in New York City, in other U.S. cities, and in multiple other countries.

Research shows that for enforcement to be as effective as possible it must be sustained and widespread. Our speed safety cameras have been effective, even as they have been limited to a fraction of schools and limited hours of operation. Eighty-five percent of injuries and fatalities in New York City occur at streets and times when cameras are not authorized to operate. Imagine the lives that can be saved with a vastly improved speed safety camera program.

Traffic violence affects us all. As this Council votes to make our streets safer, we urge you to strongly consider allowing speed safety cameras to operate at any time speeding is prevalent, and at any school, senior center and naturally occurring retirement community. Ultimately, we hope that, very soon, our City will be able to operate speed safety cameras whenever and wherever life-threatening speeding is prevalent.

Thank you.

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* Vatore v. Commissioner of Consumer Affairs of City of New York  (1994) - NY State Court of Appeals.

** Wallach v. Town of Dryden (2014) - NY State Court of Appeals.

Emergency Hearing on Dangerous Driving, Speed Safety Cameras and DOT Complete Streets Checklist

Testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Transportation on introduction 322, 971, 972 and 1061 (2018), and Resolution 268 (2018)

Testimony by Marco Conner, Legislative & Legal Director, Transportation Alternatives:

Thank you Council Members, Speaker Johnson and Committee Chair Rodriguez for convening this important emergency hearing. For 45 years Transportation Alternatives has advocated on behalf of New Yorkers for safer, more inclusive and more livable streets. With more than 150,000 people in our network and over 1,000 activists throughout all five boroughs we fight to promote biking, walking, and public transportation as alternatives to the car.

We would like to express our gratitude to this Council, the Committee on Transportation, the NYC Department of Transportation, the NYPD and other City agencies for your hard work investing in Vision Zero, which has resulted in historic reductions in the number of people killed, even as traffic fatalities have increased nationwide.

Still, however, the loss of life on our streets is unacceptable. Since 2001, more than 5,000 New Yorkers have lost their lives in traffic on city streets. Every day 200 people are injured. Much more can and must be done. Traffic violence is a public health crisis, and Transportation Alternatives strongly supports the legislation of today’s hearing as critical means to reduce dangerous driving, prevent the loss of life and achieve Vision Zero by 2024.

Resolution 268-2018 (Speed Cameras, Escalating Fines, Physician Reporting)

Transportation Alternatives strongly supports resolution 268, which calls upon the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation to (1) renew and expand the use of speed safety cameras in New York City, (2) provide for the escalation of penalties and consequences for multiple motor vehicle violations, particularly for notices issued from red light and speed cameras, and (3) legislation to require physicians to report medical conditions or incidents that indicate a driver is at high risk of suddenly losing consciousness or vehicle control.

Speed safety cameras save lives. While speeding is a leading cause of traffic fatalities, New York City’s speed camera program has, for the past four years, reduced speeding, reduced injuries and saved lives. At the average camera location speeding is down 63% and fatalities are down 55%. But because of state law these cameras have been restricted to just 140 school zones even though our city has more than 2,000 schools, along with other severe restrictions that prevent the cameras from operating outside of school hours, when New Yorkers are at the greatest risk, and prevent them from being placed at the most dangerous locations.

And unforgivably, this June, the New York State Senate ended session without passing legislation (S6046-C/A7798-C) to renew and expand this life-saving program, even as the Assembly passed it in two different pieces of legislation (A7798-C and A11189), the Governor has promised to sign the bill, and as there are 35 Senate cosponsors to the bill - more than the majority needed for passage. This Council is doing its job on this vital issue. The State Senate must do theirs immediately.

On September 5, 1.1 million schoolchildren will start their school year. It is critical that this Council sends a strong united message to the New York State Senate Majority, making it clear that the blood of children and New Yorkers killed in crashes they are preventing us from stopping, will be on their hands, and that they must reconvene and pass S6046-C before September 5.  

Intro 322-2018 (Complete Street Checklist)

Transportation Alternatives strongly supports Intro 322, which would create a checklist of proven street safety and accessibility measures that the DOT must consider when reengineering or repaving any arterial street in New York City, and, critically, the DOT must publish online any reason for not including a particular design element.

The DOT has done tremendous work in recent years and is setting a national standard for saving lives on city streets. But it remains clear that much more must be done, and as a city we must prioritize saving lives, inclusivity and diverse mobility over the movement of cars. The majority of the crashes that killed 222 people last year occurred on arterial streets and were caused predominantly by behaviors like speeding and failing to yield. These behaviors are too often enabled by street design that prioritizes motor vehicle movement and convenience, with the safety and experiences of pedestrians and cyclists too often relegated to an afterthought. A standardized street design is needed so that safety can be ensured by default. Once built, these streets are not subject to the shifting winds of politics.

The complete streets checklist will be an important step towards creating transparency and for the public to know when, for example, a proven safety element is sacrificed in order to preserve one or more parking spots. Furthermore, in order to be truly equitable and effective, street design and safety measures must be consistent across neighborhoods. No part of the city can be left behind.

Vision Zero is built upon three pillars: Education, Enforcement, and Engineering. The third arguably holds the opportunity to save the most lives, because once improvements are literally set in stone, they last for decades, consistently guide driver behavior, and do not require constant monitoring in order to ensure compliance. Without comprehensive arterial road design, New York City simply cannot achieve the goal of eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries. New York must fundamentally shift how we view our streets and allocate space for different modes of travel. A Vision Zero street will prioritize the highest-capacity modes of transportation, like walking, biking, and public transit, over the single-occupancy car.

The Complete Street Checklist shows how streets can be re-engineered to prevent dangerous driving and encourage multi-modal usage, it aims to pave a practical way toward creating a city where crashes are preventable and deaths and serious injuries can be eliminated. The checklist aims to create complete streets. A complete street in the age of Vision Zero in NYC has the following three core functions:

1. Discourage speeding by design

2. Encourage walking, biking, and/or public transit use

3. Provide accessibility to all, regardless of age or physical ability

By employing the safety elements of this checklist, our city can cement a lasting legacy of safety into our streets. That legacy will encourage more people to walk and ride bikes, make bus service more efficient, and enhance the mobility of the elderly and disabled. If the safety elements of the checklist are applied universally, the number of preventable crashes could fall to zero.

Recommendations to Intro 322

Transportation Alternatives recommends at least two additional critical elements to the ten elements Intro 322 proposes to add to Section 19-182.2(b) of the NYC Administrative Code, namely daylighted intersections and protected intersections:

• Recommendation 1: Daylighting intersections

  • Daylighting is a simple street design element that increases vital sightlines for all road users by prohibiting the parking of motor vehicles within ten feet of an intersection or crosswalk. These daylighted road segments can be further equipped with bike corrals to create much needed bike parking for New Yorkers, including the increasing fleets of dockless bike share.

    Sample illustration of two intersections

  Daylighting

No Daylighting                                   

• Recommendation 2: Protected intersections

  • Protected intersections utilize elements already increasingly implemented by the NYC DOT, but which are underutilized, including pedestrian islands and ideally concrete barriers to reduce vehicle turning speeds and eliminate or reduce turning conflicts between motor vehicles and bicyclists.

Sample illustrations of protected intersections

Intro 971-, 972- & 1061-2018 (Impounding Vehicles of Repeat Dangerous Drivers, Dangerous Driving Study, and Speed Radar Display Signs)

Transportation Alternatives supports these bills. In particular, we were all reminded of the urgent need for intro 971 to impound the vehicles of repeat dangerous drivers when, in March 2018, Joshua Lew, 1, and Abigail Blumenstein, 4, were killed in a crosswalk in Brooklyn by a driver with multiple speeding and red light violations.

A car is a 4,000+ lbs lethal object capable of causing death in a split second, particularly when traveling at high speeds. If an operator repeatedly endangers others through the dangerous instrument that a car is, our City must be able to impound that vehicle and require a safe driving course for the owner.

Speed radar display signs can cause drivers to reduce their speeds, and they need to be deployed wherever they can limit risks to life and limb, especially near our city’s schools. It is important to note, however, that radar speed display signs can never be a replacement for speed safety cameras, and we can not allow those who deny the life-saving efficacy of speed cameras to use any other safety element as an excuse for not reauthorizing and expanding the use of speed safety cameras in our city.

Recommendation to Intro 971 (expand the types of offenses leading to warning and impounding)

• Expand the types of offenses to be counted towards the four and five violations that trigger a warning and subsequent action, including speeding and right of way summonses issued by NYPD officers and traffic agents.

 Thank you.

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Secondary Title

Introduction 322, 971, 972 and 1061 (2018), and Resolution 268 (2018)

E-bike legalization and food delivery workers in NYC

Testimony on Proposed NYC DOT Rule to Clarify that Pedal-Assist Bicycles are Legal to Operate in NYC
Before the New York City Department of Transportation

Testimony by: Marco Conner, Legislative & Legal Director, Transportation Alternatives: 

Thank you Commissioner Trottenberg for convening this public hearing. While we strongly commend the NYC DOT for proposing these rules, this agency and Mayor de Blasio must take additional immediate steps to correct the City’s harmful and inequitable policing against working cyclists using electric bicycles, which targets hard working, low-wage immigrant New Yorkers. 

Current e-bike policy in NYC remains detached from safety data and well-informed public policy. In fact, the increased enforcement against working cyclists by this Administration is based on no safety data at all. This NYPD enforcement, which singles out one group of New Yorkers, is part of a dark past of institutionally biased and disparate policing that the current Administration should be moving far beyond instead of solidifying.

Police resources must be spent on known dangers. And while people's fear of e-bikes should be acknowledged and addressed, what we know is that last year more than 50,000 people were injured in NYC traffic, and 214 people were killed by cars and trucks. In fact, since 2001, more than 5,000 people in NYC have lost their lives to traffic violence – and more than 99% of those deaths are caused by cars and trucks, not by people riding e-bikes. In fact, on average less than one person on average dies from being hit by a cyclist annually. Reckless driving by motorists, failing to yield by motorists, and speeding cars and trucks are the causes of this epidemic in our city - not people on bikes, and certainly not working cyclists on e-bikes. 

The Mayor, with the NYC DOT’s leadership, should devote more resources to address those known fatal dangers, and immediately stop targeting low-wage, immigrant New Yorkers trying to deliver meals to their fellow residents and trying to provide for themselves and their families.

Transportation Alternatives is part of the #DeliverJustice Coalition together with the Legal Aid Society, Make the Road New York, Biking Public Project and Asian American Federation. For New York City to move beyond its current inequitable policing of working cyclists we call upon DOT and the City to take the following five steps:

1. Modify Current Enforcement Practices: Issue a moratorium on enforcement against the use and possession of e-bikes until a New York City regulatory framework has been fully implemented.

2. Establish Regulations for E-bike Conversion: Issue guidelines and requirements for converting Class 2 and 3 throttle e-bikes (those e-bikes commonly used by working cyclists in NYC) into soon-to-be legalized Class 1 pedal-assist e-bikes.

3. Fund a Non-Onerous Pathway to Convert All E-Bikes: Establish a program that provides financial and practical assistance to e-bike owners for conversion.

4. Educate All Parties: Educate the public, workers, and NYPD about the above changes.

5. Create Transparency: Start recording and publishing detailed data of e-bicyclists’ involvement in traffic crashes so that our city’s e-bike enforcement and public policy is based on sound public data and is detached from any institutional bias and disparate impacts based on class or ethnicity.

Thank you.

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Secondary Title

Testimony on Proposed NYC DOT Rule to Clarify that Pedal-Assist Bicycles are Legal to Operate in NYC

TLC-Issued Violations Adjudicated by OATH - NYC Council Hearing (Intro 748)

Testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Governmental Operations

Testimony by: Marco Conner, Legislative & Legal Director, Transportation Alternatives:

Chairman Cabrera and Committee members, thank you for the opportunity to testify. For 45 years, Transportation Alternatives has advocated on behalf of New Yorkers for safer and more livable streets. With more than 150,000 people in our network and over 1,000 activists throughout all five boroughs, we fight to promote biking, walking, and public transportation as alternatives to the car.

In the interest of justice and for the safety of all New Yorkers we implore that you do not further authorize OATH to reduce safety-based penalties issued by the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC), particularly when such penalties are related to dangerous driving.

We are highly sympathetic to the challenging work environments and economic situations that many taxi drivers and for-hire vehicle (FHV) drivers confront as they seek economic opportunity for themselves and their families. Drivers deserve a living wage and there are many steps that could and arguably should be taken, including raising fare rates, further regulating the app-based for-hire vehicles that have started operating in recent years, and implementing an escalating fine schedule. But sacrificing safety, and the deterrence that comes from dangerous driving penalties, cannot be an option. 

Despite recent reductions in traffic fatalities, New Yorkers are still killed at tragic rates and are exposed to unacceptable dangers when simply walking, biking or driving - dangers that result from speeding, failing to yield to pedestrians, and distracted driving. In 2017, drivers licensed by the TLC were involved in at least 30 fatal crashes, an increase of approximately five deaths from 2016. None of these drivers lost their TLC license in 2017. Citywide, 214 people died in 2017, and since 2001 more than 5,000 people have died in traffic crashes in New York City, with more than 60,000 people injured every year. Dangerous driver choices are the primary cause or a contributing factor in 70% of pedestrian fatalities. People of color and low-income New Yorkers are up to three times more likely to be struck and injured by motor vehicles, and as such stand to gain the most from effective traffic enforcement by the TLC.

In addition to the personal agony suffered by thousands of families, every injury and death results in significant economic costs for the traffic victims and their families. We estimate that the average injury crash costs each victim more than $9,000 in medical expenses and lost wages alone - costs that are multiplied exponentially for serious and fatal crashes.

Addressing this epidemic of carnage and suffering is a responsibility shared by all. Professional drivers, particularly taxi and FHV drivers, have the greatest responsibility: They spend more time in traffic and through their driving lead the way for either more reckless or safer driving by all New Yorkers. The responsibility professional drivers have for the safety of others can not be overestimated. Professional drivers receive special training because they are operating a lethal multi-ton vehicle. The primary purpose of the TLC must be to ensure drivers operate with the highest level of diligence and comply with laws meant to protect us all.

Deterrence research shows that effective enforcement against dangerous driving must be visible, widespread and consistently applied. Additionally, drivers must know that apprehension and legal consequences for dangerous driving is likely.  

Two provisions in Intro 748 are particularly troublesome. Subsections 1. and 2. of Section 19-903 would allow OATH to consider the “seriousness and circumstances” and the “extent of harm” caused by the violation in question. Speeding and failing to yield to a pedestrian are serious offenses by professional drivers in particular, and even if the first such violation by that driver causes no immediate “harm”, the next offense could cause a lost life, and so the deterrence sought from the TLC-issued penalty may occur too late if the proposed provisions are enacted.

Professional drivers have the highest responsibility to operate lethal vehicles on crowded city streets with the utmost care for the safety of us all. TLC enforcement plays a critical role in this effort, and we urge this committee to ensure that the important work by the TLC to protect New Yorkers are not diminished in your laudable and important quest for justice.

Thank you.

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Secondary Title

Intro 748-2018 (Cabrera)

Sponsoring Debate Watch Parties for the 2017 General Mayoral Election Debates

Testimony before the New York City Campaign Finance Board

Testimony by: Marco Conner, Legislative & Legal Director, Transportation Alternatives:

For more than four decades Transportation Alternatives has fought to create safe, inclusive and livable streets in New York City by promoting walking, biking and public transit and the use of public street space to build local community free of automobiles.

In 2017 Transportation Alternatives was proud to arrange the first election Debate Watch Parties at public plazas under the auspices of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (NYCCFB). The debates were screened live outdoors, projected onto large projection screens, and featured music by local DJs, food from local vendors, voter registration and other civic services. Partnering with the Neighborhood Plaza Program ℅ The Horticultural Society of New York (NPP) and other partners, one event was held in Brooklyn and one in Queens for the first and second General Election Mayoral Debates.

Our vision was to highlight New York City’s plazas and public spaces as vital civic space, help generate interest in the electoral process and politics among more New Yorkers, increase voter turnout, and to encourage first amendment activity and public debate - by making the context for engaging in the debates more engaging and relevant to New Yorkers in a local community setting.

At both events Dominicanos USA provided voter registration services, IDNYC made it possible for attendees to sign up for the IDNYC card, and New Yorkers for Parks shared information about public space in New York City.

The Debate Watch Parties

BROOKLYN: The first Debate Watch Party was held on October 10th, 2017 at Restoration Plaza in Brooklyn, generously hosted by Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. Approximately 250 people stayed for some amount of time. Of those 250 people, approximately 85 people watched the debate for a significant portion of time, sitting on chairs outdoors at Restoration Plaza. Many more people passed by to briefly observe. One food vendor was on site, and in addition the event sponsors provided free pizza, bagels, water and coffee to participants. NY1/Spectrum News covered the event and interviewed attendees.

QUEENS: The second Debate Watch Party was held on November 1st, 2017 at 78th Street Playstreet Plaza in Jackson Heights, Queens and was primarily arranged by NPP, with generous support from the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Jackson Heights Green Alliance, Sukhi New York and Friends of Diversity Plaza. Approximately 90 people stayed for some amount of time, sitting on chairs outdoors. Of those 90 people, approximately 40 people watched the debate for a significant portion of time. Many more people passed by to briefly observe. The New York City Department of Transportation provided live language translation services from English into Spanish, Hindi and Bangla, with headsets for participants at designated tables. Food was sold by local vendors and the Queens Night Market.

Promotion for both the Brooklyn and Queens events occurred through flyering in the neighborhoods of the events in both English and Spanish, online via Facebook and Twitter, email via the email distribution lists of Transportation Alternatives and its partners, local blogs with posted event notices and press statements by the NYCCFB.

While we were excited to bring these public plaza events into life and to see how many participants enjoyed the experience, turnout was not as high as we hoped at either event, particularly at the second Debate Watch Party in Queens. We believe that this was influenced in part by a mayoral election that was not competitively contested, by Halloween celebrations and a tragic and fatal vehicular attack on the Hudson River Greenway in Manhattan the evening before the second debate. Overall, promotion of the events could also have been stronger.

Suggestions for Future Debate Watch Parties

We believe that a number of steps will help make any future Debate Watch Parties a great success, including:

• Starting promotion several months in advance. This will require that the sponsor agreement with the NYCCFB is completed several months in advance.

• Promote the events more broadly throughout each borough where the events are held.

• Far stronger promotion by television broadcasters and other election debate media sponsors.

• Possibly host debate watch parties in all five boroughs with local partners. This could allow for combined promotional efforts with city-wide media outlets and create a city-wide branding of the events.

• Early and clear promotion of voter registration and other civic services provided, to make it clear that these important services are available.

Transportation Alternatives believes that the two Debate Watch Parties proved a concept for the vision we had to highlight New York City’s plazas and public spaces as vital civic space to make community and to both increase and deepen participation in the electoral process. We were encouraged by our partners who share this vision and were indispensable in taking these first steps in bringing it into life.

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Secondary Title

NYC Campaign Finance Board