Lola Pavitt, a graduating fifth-grader at PS110 (photo: ZED Images)

On May 17, 2021, Matthew Jensen greeted my son at the entry to PS110 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and took his temperature, as he did every day during covid. The following afternoon, word started spreading at the playground that Mr. Jensen had died. Kids were saying that this was impossible: he’d just been in their classroom cracking jokes and doing his Donald Duck impersonation the day before. I had the wretched task of explaining to my children that it was true. That their teacher had been

At the 2020 vigil for Clara Kang

Three years ago, my Brooklyn neighbors and I stood in Martin Luther Playground and held a vigil for Clara Kang. She was a nurse at NYU Langone Brooklyn (still called Lutheran Medical Center by locals). While we were at home during covid lockdown, Clara was literally saving lives. She was killed on 56th Street while bicycling home from a shift at the hospital.

Official after official stood in that park and told us not one more death on Third Avenue - but sadly, even after more crashes, accidents,

Crossing the street safely (photo: Clay LeConey)

99-year-old Holocaust survivorJack Mikulincer was killed crossing the street in his wheelchair by an SUV driver in Brooklyn.

88-year-old...

Coronavirus has created a new cycling world (photo: NYC Department of Transportation)

New York City has seen a spike in cycling since the beginning of the confirmed coronavirus outbreak here. With most New Yorkers staying off the subway to avoid the spread of the virus, some have sought new ways of getting around, whether to their jobs (before and, for fewer commuters, since the near-shutdown order from the governor) or to make essential trips for groceries or exercise. And there are, of course, those who use bikes for their work, with food delivery expected to spike

Image via NYC TLC training video

Cyclist deaths plagued New York City last year; 2019 had the highest recorded number of such deaths in the last 20 years, and many street safety and cycling advocates have made an effort to raise awareness about the problem and

(photo: John McCarten/City Council)

Soon after Mayor Bill de Blasio stepped into office in 2014, he championed Vision Zero, a signature street safety program with the goal of reducing traffic-related fatalities from 297 in 2013 to zero by 2024. About halfway through that ten-year timeline, the program has become a significant de Blasio success, even as some advocates and lawmakers have said the administration could and should be moving ahead faster to protect pedestrians and bikers, and limit deference to cars.

Through increasing the number of protected bike

(photo: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office)

June 5, 2019 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Is Vision Zero Stalled?

The Vision Zero street safety program is one of Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature programs and its reductions in traffic fatalities one of his major accomplishments. But, pedestrian and cyclist deaths are up this year and, regardess of that spike or not, but especially because

(photo: @NYC_SafeStreets)

No parent expects that a kiss goodbye on a seemingly normal day will end as it did. A phone call from the police. A frantic trip from a parent-teacher conference to the emergency room. Hours waiting with friends, Sammy’s pediatrician, and family. Praying for him to live but prayers turning out to not be enough.

We should never have met. A social worker, parent, and concerned-but-not-an-activist Brooklynite and a committed elected official from Manhattan. But this unimaginable event brought us together in pursuit of a common

Mayor de Blasio and Vision Zero (photo via DOT)

Vision Zero is a singularly successful legacy project for Mayor Bill de Blasio. It would be more successful if his safety projects were decoupled from parochial interests.

In 2011, Transportation Alternatives and the Drum Major Institute published Vision Zero: How Safer Streets in New York City Can Save More Than 100 Lives a Year, the first Vision Zero report in the

A rally for change on 111th Street (photo: @JulissaFerreras)

A few weeks ago, I joined over 100 parents and their children on the steps of City Hall to ask Mayor de Blasio to finally make 111th Street safer. After more than a year of waiting, and multiple rounds of community engagement, the Department of Transportation announced a new agreement Wednesday, and will move forward with the process to make these changes a reality.

For the tens of thousands of community members in Corona and the surrounding areas, safer days are finally in sight. And,

Council Member Van Bramer at a Vision Zero event (DOT)

A bill set to be introduced before the City Council on Wednesday seeks to codify the Department of Transportation’s data tracking under Vision Zero, the city’s program aimed at eliminating traffic fatalities and injuries.

Two City Council members who have been integrally involved in the city’s rollout of Vision Zero, Jimmy Van Bramer and Ydanis Rodriguez, will introduce legislation to mandate DOT’s Vision Zero View portal,

Mayor de Blasio (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Thirteen days after his most recent visit, Mayor Bill de Blasio heads back to Albany Tuesday morning to testify about the city's needs and progress, and to evaluate Governor Andrew Cuomo's Executive Budget.

In front of members of the state Senate and Assembly at a joint legislative budget hearing, de Blasio is expected to push for increased state funding for key aspects of his inequality-fighting agenda and an extension of mayoral