Streetbeat, Vol. LVII
How do we create a more climate-positive future?
Merry meet*
And welcome to this newsletter.
It's where I (John Surico) talk each month about cities & their discontents: streets, environment, energy, cultures, people, food, form, etc. This month, we cover:
- Post-industrial visions;
- Victory on the greenway;
- Safer batteries for e-bikes;
& much, much more.
FYI: Streetbeat is shorter than usual this month. (Okay, not really.) On Saturday, my partner of 10+ years—the effortlessly joyous Angela Almeida—and I are throwing a dance party for the ages to commemorate our nuptials. Thus, time is of the essence.
In the meantime: enjoy :)
Plants to Plants
It’s difficult to get excited about the climate these days. I’m writing this newsletter on a 78-degree October afternoon in New York, during what is now the second longest streak of days without measurable precipitation in the city’s recorded history. The leaves are colorful but bone dry. This summer was the warmest the Northern Hemisphere has experienced since we started tracking this 175 years ago. We are polluting the atmosphere at record rates. The green transition is underway, but not nearly fast enough. And yet again, we have someone on the brink of becoming the leader of the world’s largest economy—returning, even—after repeatedly calling the climate crisis a “hoax” and a “scam.”
Phew. Life on a rapidly warming planet is remarkably jarring. But recently, I have sought mental refuge and creative reprieve with the Urban Design Forum’s Rewire initiative. At the start of the year, a group of ~50 of us convened for the first time to think through actionable solutions to build a stronger, more resilient (or climate-positive, which I like better) New York. I was part of the Biodiverse Places cohort; we focused our attention on the city’s natural ecosystems, which are often seen as an added, but not essential, benefit.
Our work took us to Gowanus and the Bronx River, where we saw what a green revival looks like in real-time. And we grew inspired to set our sights on the city’s polluting peaker plants, which not only occupy a good chunk of our waterfront—where wildlife should thrive—but, also, are on track to close in the coming years if the state is actually going to meet its climate goals. As we look to turn them off for good, we wanted to rethink those spaces for what once was, connecting us back to the waterfront we all lost. And that’s how we came up with our proposal, whose real name matches this section’s sub-heading. I hope you all get the chance to read it, and leave as inspired as I was to see climate action rather than climate despair.
Alas: a shout-out is in order to our plants crew: Victoria Dearborn, Harsh Shah, Kirk Gordon, Hannah Berkin-Harper, Charlotte Barrows, Lee Stark, Somto Uyanna, Andrew Buck, and Keith Lee. Y’all are doing the good work.
Seeing green
If you’ve followed this newsletter, then you may remember the drama over in Queensbridge. Here’s a brief recap: a lovely greenway through the nation’s largest public housing complex was torn up by illegally parked cars during the pandemic. I got angry about it on Twitter. Advocates brought a poster board displaying my photos to police meetings. Reporters covered it. Cars were towed away and then reappeared. Local officials responded. But still, nothing budged.
Then something miraculous happened while I was abroad this summer. The cars left. I’ve ridden down the greenway several times to make sure I wasn’t dreaming—but it is true: there are cars, but they’re all parked on the street, where they belong. And the grass, it seems, is slowly regrowing. Without all that weight and exhaust, the space is returning to its old lush self.
Now, it’s unclear who finally acted. It could’ve been parkies (NYC Parks), for a nearby park renovation. It could’ve been the public housing authority (NYCHA), after getting heat from residents. It could’ve been the cops (NYPD), tired of being yelled at. Who knows. But what I do know is that so much can be forgotten in our cities unless someone makes even just a small fuss about it. Lest not forget.
OSA: Traditions
Having friends from outside of the U.S. visit on Halloween will remind you how strange it is that we celebrate blood and gore for, like, a whole month for no apparent reason. But that is the power of the ritual: you do things enough times, it becomes routine—or, in Halloween’s case, the basis of an entire economy and permanent fixture in popular culture. Perhaps there is some correlation with All Souls’ Day or Dia de los Muertos, but really, we do it because our parents did it, their parents did it, and, now, everyone we know does it and so, we must do it.
Our streets function similarly. We’ve grown used to them working very much the same way for close to a century—where the crosswalk is, where cars go, what a streetlight is—and we’re taught how to use them accordingly. But that’s changing, and so will we. Increasingly, there is a generation growing up in our towns and cities who will only know the new version. I think of this often when teaching younger students—they assume bike-share has been here for far more than ten years; they don’t blink at sitting at a table on the street. To them, that’s what the city is, and, to some degree, always has been.
Later today, 31st Ave Open Street will activate for “Trick-or-Streets,” a city program that closes streets to traffic on what is one of the most dangerous days of traffic violence for kids all year. It’s now the third year we’ve done it—and this time, we’re hosting a ‘signature’ event. Further down the block, a massive bike highway is coming into shape along 31st Ave, all the way down to the water. It’s already covered in leaves, like any sidewalk or corner—like it’s been there for a while. And soon enough, that will be the case. It will be tough to remember what it looked like before that, faster than you’d think. We’ll only recognize that version: a safer, calmer corridor. And that will be the one we only ever know.
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And before we go, a brief note: this month, 36-year-old Amanda Servedio was killed by a police chase that should have never happened late one weeknight about a ten minute walk from my house. She was riding home from Bikes & Brews, which she was heavily involved in. I didn’t know Servedio personally, but I continue to learn that our worlds were quite familiar: she was a regular on the Open Street; she volunteered for some initiatives I love; and she cared deeply about making streets safer for everyone. Astoria will miss her a whole lot.
Bright Side: Safer Batteries
A few months ago, I got a lil’ exclusive for Bloomberg about a proposal for a “Department of Sustainable Delivery” in New York—a first-of-its-kind agency that would oversee all things e-mobility: labor rules; street design; vehicle regulation; etc. Proponents argued the new mode of transportation that’s transforming our streets demanded a one-stop shop in government, while critics worried about overreach and unjust persecution of a workforce that is largely immigrant-led. For now, the idea is still inching along. But it evoked one of the biggest issues facing e-mobility at the moment: battery regulation.
A spate of electrical fires has cast a shadow over the uptake of e-bikes, e-cargo bikes, e-scooters and everything else in this category. Outside of actual physical safety, I think battery safety is the single greatest barrier to public acceptance of these vehicles in our daily lives. People hate product issues, and this one cuts across the political spectrum. (Even the liberal arts college I work at has banned e-bikes from their buildings.) And not only that: it’s dangerous! My old laundromat around the corner went up in smoke thanks to an illicit e-bike shop exploding in flames next door. It hasn’t reopened since.
But the bad headlines spurred city government into action, which led to a few things. First: greater enforcement of uncertified vehicles and shops charging a bunch of batteries at once. Second: several public e-charging sites, where deliveristas can come and swap their batteries. (I work across from one of the pilots, and it’s busy all day long.) And third: a new battery trade-in program.
The result: deaths and injuries from these fires have plummeted this year. There have been only slightly fewer fires, but when they do occur, they’re happening outside, not inside. Soon-to-come charging ‘hubs’ and, potentially, federal legislation that seeks to stem the flow of faulty batteries entering the city will likely drive that number even lower. It’s a case study in accepting that a new technology is here—one that helps us with a whole lot of things—and trying to make it work better rather than ridding it altogether. Smart policy wins the day.
On the Radar
Most of my month was consumed with refreshing this page about ten times a day. It felt fitting for October, which I reserve for frights anyway. (And I thank my dad for that, who invited me to watch Friday the 13th when I was maybe 5.)
This year’s items of note included:
Speak No Evil, a Danish social horror for “the odd couple;”
The Watchers, a Shyamalan family joint about a forest that consumes;
I Saw The TV Glow, an identity haze via a faux Nineties-kids horror TV show;
Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick’s brilliantly chilling retell of a 1970s killer hidden in plain sight;
And Model Home by author Rivers Solomon, a spin on the classic haunted house through the eyes of a Black family living in redlined Texas.
Happy spooky szn, Streetbeat readers :)
Streetbeat Gig Board
NYCDOT got some money from the feds to hire someone to lead its (so far successful) e-bike charging program. (New York, NY)
Someone help edit stories (mine included!) over at Bloomberg Green. (New York, NY)
Seems like NYC Planning is the place to be right now. (New York, NY)
Come teach journalism at New York University with me! (New York, NY)
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Implicit bias made this month’s Board too NYC-centric. But readers, you can change that: tell us where the jobs are where you live. Submit them here.
Kita Monthly
Merry meet, merry part, merry meet again!