Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Ben Fried
Recent Posts
Do Not Collaborate With Hatred
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Last week, on the day after the election, I watched as Chuck Schumer and Andrew Cuomo, Democrats who represent my state, said they could find common ground with Donald Trump, with Cuomo specifically mentioning “infrastructure” as a potential area of collaboration. We responded with a post explaining why this was a strategic mistake in terms of transportation policy. Today […]
Democrats Who Embrace the Trump Infrastructure Plan Are Suckers
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As painful as it is to deal with the reality of a Donald Trump presidency, if you think highways and sprawl are a terrible mistake, the time to mobilize is now. One of the first things on Trump’s agenda, after dismantling Obama’s social and environmental legacy to the greatest extent possible, is a huge round of infrastructure spending. […]
What Changed Yesterday, and What Didn’t
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America just elected Donald Trump, who got a foothold in national politics by fanning a conspiracy about Barack Obama’s country of origin, who ran a campaign premised on a naked appeal to racist anger and resentment, who shredded every norm of conduct on his way to the presidency. He’s going to occupy the White House […]
Rescuing New Ideas From the Purgatory of Old Bureaucracy
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Your city may have a complete streets policy. Your mayor may say all the right things about making streets work for walking, biking, and transit. But if the inner workings of government — city budgets, agency protocols — aren’t set up to enable big street design breakthroughs, all you’ll get are scattershot improvements. Writing for Network blog Broken Sidewalk, Chris […]
Northeast Ohio to State DOT: Road Expansions Getting Out of Hand
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If you could point to one aspect of American transportation policy that’s more disastrous than all the others, expanding highways and roads to the point of absurdity is probably it. In northeast Ohio, cities like Cleveland and Akron were hollowed out by highway building, but the state DOT still privileges road expansion instead of maintenance […]
Vote for the Best Urban Street Transformation of 2015
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It’s almost time to say goodbye to 2015, which means we’re about to hand out Streetsies to recognize achievements for walking, biking, and transit in American cities this year. Earlier this month we asked readers for nominations for the Best Urban Street Transformation of the year, and here are the standouts from your submissions. It’s a great batch and […]
If Congress Cared About Climate, Its Transport Bill Would Look Much Different
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With a few exceptions, the five-year transportation bill heading to President Obama’s desk continues what has been the core function of federal transportation policy for more than 60 years — sending a ton of money to the states to spend on highways. Preventing a big step backward was about as much as you could hope […]
Roger Rudick Is the New Editor of Streetsblog SF
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Thanks for your patience, Bay Area readers. The blog posts will soon be flowing like you’ve come to expect, because after a competitive search, we’re pleased to announce that Roger Rudick is the new editor of Streetsblog San Francisco. Roger is an experienced transportation journalist and activist who’s impressed us with his deep understanding of […]
We’re Hiring! Lead Streetsblog’s Coverage of the SF Bay Area
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After four terrific years running Streetsblog San Francisco, Aaron is moving on. Before I get to the job opening, I’d like to pay my respects to his body of work. The quintessential post of the Aaron Bialick era, to my mind, was this item from early 2014. With Ed Lee laying the groundwork for reversing Sunday […]
When DOT Refuses to Acknowledge That Its Streets Have a Design Problem
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Today on the Streetsblog Network, Mary Newsom at the Naked City has a classic story about a dangerous street in desperate need of a design overhaul, and a DOT that’s only willing to try out tiny, cosmetic changes. Charlotte is out with its annual list of high-crash intersections, and not for the first time, the […]
An Experiment in Driver-Cyclist Interaction, Powered By Christmas Lights
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When you’re on a bike getting passed by motorists going 20 or 30 mph faster than you, it can feel like one act of deliberate aggression after another. And in many cases there is real, seething hostility and complete disregard for other people’s safety at work. But a lot of the time, people drive fast because that’s […]
How Parking Permits Can Improve the Politics of Walkable Development
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Residential parking permits are often referred to as “hunting licenses” because while they grant permit holders the privilege of parking on the street, there’s usually no limit to how many permits can be issued. If there are more permits in a neighborhood than available on-street parking spaces, there’s still going to be a parking crunch […]