Category Archives:

My Comments at the Midtown South Social Equity and Music Festival

FIFTY-ONE YEARS AGO, the Pennsylvania Railroad tragically tore down Pennsylvania Station. Not only is it the best building ever torn down in New York, but in the combined Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, we got the worst building in … Continue reading

Posted in -, Architecture, Beauty, Culture, Current, Good Kind, Live from New York, New Urbanism, New York, Urbanism | Comments Off on My Comments at the Midtown South Social Equity and Music Festival

Spoke Up at the Hotel Pennsylvania

CNU NYC is a member of the Empire Station Coalition that opposes Governor “Demo Dan” Cuomo’s plan to declare the blocks around Pennsylvania Station “blighted,” as part of an urban removal scheme for the area. Yesterday, several members of the … Continue reading

Posted in -, Architecture, Beauty, Classical, Culture, Current, Good Kind, Historic Preservation, Joke, Live from New York, Local, New York, Urbanism | Comments Off on Spoke Up at the Hotel Pennsylvania

Crain’s New York: Change the Streets & Change the City

My op-ed in Crain’s New York is in the magazine this week and has been online for more than a week. The online version is longer than the print version but is behind a paywall. You can buy access to both … Continue reading

Posted in -, Culture, Good Kind, Local, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on Crain’s New York: Change the Streets & Change the City

“I feel like it’s 1968,” says every reporter on CNN and MSNBC watching the protest marches.

In another, less grave context, I wrote about one of my favorite Harvard professors, who back in the 1980s talked about what he thought were connections between the 1960s and the 21st century (see below). Today, like the reporters on … Continue reading

Posted in -, Culture, Current, divine, Global, Good Kind, Historic Preservation, Personal | Comments Off on “I feel like it’s 1968,” says every reporter on CNN and MSNBC watching the protest marches.

#OpenBrooklynBridge

#OpenStreets + #CarFreeBroolynBridge = #OpenBrooklynBridge Simple back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that within one year motor vehicle traffic would decrease by 100%, bicycle traffic would increase more than 1100%, and there would be twice as many pedestrians as on the High Line. … Continue reading

Posted in -, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Street of the Day, Slow Streets, Street of the Day, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on #OpenBrooklynBridge

My Streetsblog Op-Ed: If Not Now, When? Changing the Car Culture

“We worked for years to reduce car use. If everybody drives a car, there is no space for people, there is no space to move, there is no space for commercial activities outside the shops.” ~ Milan deputy mayor Marco … Continue reading

Posted in -, Culture, Good Kind, New Urbanism, New York, Pedestrian, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on My Streetsblog Op-Ed: If Not Now, When? Changing the Car Culture

My New York Times Op-Ed: “There Are Better Ways to Get Around Town”

New York City Streets for People After the Congestion Zone May 15, 2018 (link) The debate continues over how to make New York City’s streets less crowded, safer and better for people as well as cars. Some, like Gov. Andrew … Continue reading

Posted in -, Architecture, Beauty, Bicycle, Current, New York, News & Reviews, Pedestrian, Quote of the Day, Slow Streets, Street Design, Urbanism, Walkability | Comments Off on My New York Times Op-Ed: “There Are Better Ways to Get Around Town”

“John Massengale — the man who taught me everything I know about architecture” — Tom Wolfe

TOM WOLFE died last week. Here’s a story about a kind thing he did for me over 25 years ago. I was in the lobby at the Newington-Cropsey Foundation, where I had been invited to speak at an architecture conference. … Continue reading

Posted in -, Architecture, Personal, Quote of the Day | Comments Off on “John Massengale — the man who taught me everything I know about architecture” — Tom Wolfe