Jason Varone
Jason Varone battles the streets everyday during a 9 mile commute on his bicycle from downtown Brooklyn to the Upper East Side. In addition to his efforts on Streetsblog, he is an artist making work related to the environment and technology. Examples of his work can be found at www.varonearts.org.
Recent Posts
“My Next Vehicle Will Be a Bicycle”
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Like media outlets everywhere, CNNMoney.com is reporting with greater frequency on rising fuel prices, with headlines like "Six fixes for pricey gasoline" and "Bad news for Detroit: Miles per gallon." In a recent online poll, the financial website asked a question that is surely on the minds of many Americans: "The next vehicle I buy […]
Plan B: Reallocating Street Space To Buses, Bikes & Peds
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In a piece from the March issue of Outside Magazine that seems especially relevant today, Tim Sohn writes about public space reform in New York City. His article is accompanied by an illustration of what the future of our city could look like: complete streets with dedicated bus and bike lanes, traffic calming gardens, and […]
2008: Year of the Bicycle?
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Ahead of this week’s National Bike Summit in Washington, DC, syndicated columnist Neal Peirce wonders if 2008 will be "bicycling’s best year since the start of the auto age." He writes about developments promoting the bicycle as a legitimate form of transportation around the world, many of which have been featured right here on Streetsblog: […]
Interstate Access, Plenty of Parking at the “Green” Airport
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During his State of the State address, Governor Spitzer claimed that his administration is "turning Stewart Airport into an economic engine for the Hudson Valley and an environmental model for the world: the very first carbon-negative airport." In this morning’s New York Times, we see the Port Authority, touting SIA as an air congestion reliever […]
Is Barack Obama the Livable Streets Candidate?
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Barack Obama is a long-time cyclist (Photo: Chicago Tribune) The current crop of Presidential candidates are busy debating the energy crisis, national security, climate change, health care, all of which potentially pose a serious threat to America’s future. We can begin to address all of these issues simultaneously by transforming our cities into more sustainable […]
The Rumble Underfoot at 60th Street
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MTA Deputy Director of Media Relations, Jeremy Soffin, sends this along: As you know, the first tunnel boring machine for the East Side Access project has been chewing its way under Manhattan for almost a month, and we just wanted to provide a short update. The machine has now tunneled approximately 1,350 feet. While the […]
The Horror
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Here is a horrifically entertaining way to kick off your Halloween day: James Howard Kunstler’s "Eyesore of the Month." October’s Eyesore is a drive-thru ATM machine in Caseyville, Illinois. Kunstler writes: The Ionic columns are a nice touch. What I like best is that only two of them are required to hold up the massive […]
Philly CarShare Helps City Government Reduce Its Fleet
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The Philly CarShare program (Motto: "Why own when you can borrow?") is one of the most successful of its kind in the country. Currently in its fifth year, the Philadelphia-based non-profit recently surpassed 30,000 members and is generating $10 million annually to pay for a small staff, the purchase and maintenance of a fleet, and […]
Warning: Driving Could Be Hazardous to Your Health
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Last week, the European Parliament proposed that car advertisements throughout the EU include tobacco-style health warnings about the environmental impact of automobiles. The New York Times reported: Under the plan, 20 percent of the space or time of any auto ad would have to be set aside for information on a car’s fuel consumption and […]
Who Are Anti-Pricing Pols Really Looking Out For?
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Responding to some politicians’ claims that congestion pricing is a "regressive tax" that would impact "working stiffs" who must drive to their jobs, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign and the Pratt Center for Community Development have compiled data, broken down by district, showing that the vast majority of commuters in New York City and surrounding counties […]
The World’s Greenest, Most Livable Cities
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Writing in this month’s Reader’s Digest, Matthew Kahn, an environmental economist at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment, analyzed data from 141 nations and ranked the planet’s greenest, most livable places. While Northern European nations like Finland, Norway and Sweden fared well, the United States performed poorly in several categories, ranking #107 in Greenhouse gases, #106 […]
The Black Car Project: Filling the Autovoid
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Thinking of getting rid of your car? You could sell it, but that means somebody else is eventually going to drive it on our city’s streets, contributing to air pollution and congestion. The Black Car Collective has a better idea: entomb it in black stucco. The idea is instead of a functional art car we […]