Streetbeat, Vol. XXIII
Mobility as a service, a bad road, and libraries as the last good thing left.
If you know me personally, then you know I’m an optimist by heart. I try to find silver linings everywhere, even amidst times of such dread. I do genuinely believe in the good of humankind; that we can be a force for good, with the addendum of ‘when we want to be.’ I started Streetbeat in that tradition: as a way to remind folks of the important work cities were doing to combat the issues of the day, when many feel that we’re all collectively failing ourselves.
Optimism is a tough hill to die on right now. How do you muster strength at the start of a third pandemic year? How do you not completely shut down at the clear signs that we’ll effectively lose the battle against the climate? How do you stare down so many inequities in our everyday lives and come out fine the other side? How are the hell are you okay with Elon Musk getting Time’s Person of the Year after the year we just had? How do you enter 2022 with a smile on?
I have no answers to these questions, of course. It’s gotten too difficult to explain away the Omicron surge, the endless political battles, the geopolitical tensions and humanitarian crises worldwide, or anything else that torments the news cycle. As a journalist, you’re attached to the news like an umbilical cord—for better, or for worse. But sometimes, that gets to you.
But humans are brutally stubborn in our willingness to persevere. That’s what the holiday season is really all about, right? Against all senses, we cling to this time of year as a respite for whatever we have going on, in pursuit of some time, any really, to just slow down the clock for a second. And maybe appreciate the small things—even if they may feel really, really small this year.
On that note, I wish you all wellness, safety and some form of comfort in the new year. Here’s a very, merry Streetbeat for you:
One-stop shop
To me, user convenience—or the techie ‘UX’ (user experience)—is so critical to getting… well, users. In most cities, this landscape for transit certainly isn’t a winning one: each option requires a different app, or ticket, most of which are rarely synced up with one another. On my phone alone, I have MTA eTix (for commuter rail); Citi Bike (for bikes); Lyft (for rideshare, but they also own Citi Bike); NYC Ferry (for ferries); and Revel (for e-mopeds), amongst others. For so many people, it’s infinitely easier to unlock a car once and drive off.
That is why I’ve been fascinated by Mobility as a Service (or MaaS) for some time. The concept has been popular in Europe for years now; it essentially proposes a subscription service that gives you access to all of the transportation options (or modes) in your city. Imagine: one app, everything you need, at one price. Metro, bikes, buses, scooters, Ubers, rental cars, etc. Would that be enough to get you out of a car? Supporters seem to think so.
Since first introduced in Finland, MaaS has popped up in countries around the world, but to mixed results. But now, with the pandemic continuing to upend public transit revenues and daily travel patterns (do you even need that many modes right now?), MaaS is entering a new phase. One where different takes on the core concept—bundling everything in one—are ruling the day.
In my second and final piece for The New York Times’ ‘Future of Transportation’ series, I explored where MaaS could be headed next. Read it here.
How do we fix bad roads?
I mentioned in last month’s newsletter that the infrastructure bill gets the U.S. the closest she’s ever been to having a national vision for street safety. It couldn’t come at a better time: 2021 was a year of record traffic violence, a worsening trend after decades of decline. Experts attribute the spike to a number of factors: with emptier streets, the pandemic unleashed a wave of reckless driving; cars are simply getting bigger (and, as a result, unsafer for pedestrians); e-commerce has landed trucks everywhere; and, in a fatally ironic twist of fate, growing rates of two-wheeled modes could be leading to more collisions with cars. (This may help explain the terrible scourge of deaths for delivery drivers this year.)
But one historical reason is the fact that many (read: most) of our roads are just awful for anyone who isn’t in a car. A century of automobiles has undoubtedly created a street grid—which, don’t forget, was originally intended for horse and carriage in many cities—that prioritizes the vehicle: its efficiency, size, and comfort. So add that to everything else going on, and unsurprisingly we find ourselves with a deadly concoction nationwide.
That problem is at the heart of a new partnership between Via and Transportation Alternatives (TA). TA is the first nonprofit to be given access to Remix, a transit planning software used by agencies around the world. (I wrote about Remix last April for MIT Tech Review.) With it, TA is rethinking five of the deadliest stretches in New York City, in the hopes of showing the public what’s possible. The initiative is part of their ‘25x25’ campaign: 25 percent of street space dedicated to non-car usage by 2025. (The incoming mayor, Eric Adams, supports the plan. More on him next month, when he’s no longer mayor-elect.)
In an exclusive for Bloomberg CityLab, I joined the TA and Via squads to explore a dividing line I used to live right off of: Atlantic Avenue, in Brooklyn. Check out what we found here.
End of the term
At the moment, New York University is in limbo, with finals moved online due to a surge in COVID cases on campus and spring semester still in question. It’s the same old song and dance that students and faculty members have sadly acclimated to, but that shouldn’t discount the great work that was done during the first in-person semester since early 2020.
On that note, I wanted to give a special shout-out to my cohort of 15 this semester from Journalistic Inquiry, the reporting 101 course I teach in the fall. They returned to campus extremely willing to engage with journalism, and for that I couldn’t be more thankful. For their final features, they hit the streets to report on some of the trends they’re seeing. Like TikTok’s influence on small businesses. The ongoing strike up at Columbia. The plight of international students during an uncertain time. And what dating is like right now for GenZ. All of their stories are up on our class Medium, where you can dive in a bit more.
Next semester, I’ll be returning to my cities-focused journalism class for seniors, as well as taking on some advising responsibilities. (A first for me!) I’ll also be reviving a summer course on how New York City is battling the climate crisis, something that students are asking to report on more. So lots to come there!
Solutions Corner: Libraries for Recovery
This month’s Solutions Corner will be a bit longer than previous renditions, and that’s purely out of shameless self-promotion. (Admitting it is the first step!)
The libraries report I’ve been working on since 2019 for Center for an Urban Future made its début earlier this month, and it’s something that I’ve been psyched about for some time. The report itself is exhaustive—I think it clocks in at around 50 pages, similar to the parks report I authored in 2018—so here I’m going to give a sort of rundown of what we’re proposing to the next administration, which takes over City Hall on New Year’s Day.
But first, some context: previously, CUF had released two reports on the city’s 217 branch libraries, which sought to demonstrate how valuable these community assets are to so many different populations. That research spurred a historic investment on both the capital (building new libraries) and expense (more staff, hours) fronts from the de Blasio administration. I came in to write the third report, which initially was about how libraries could help the city face its greatest challenges over the next decades. We planned to release it in March 2020. And then… well, you know the rest.
So last February, we revisited what we had, with a new theme: how could libraries help the city not only recover from the pandemic’s devastation, but also, turbocharge its recovery? We had to think long and hard about the things that libraries are really good at right now, and how, through strategic investment, they can be made even better. We came up with ten, in total:
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1. Overcoming ‘learning loss’.
If you stop by a branch between the weekday hours of 3pm and 6pm, you’ll immediately notice that there are kids everywhere. In so many communities, libraries are de facto homework help centers, where librarians double as after school teachers—a role most prominent in low-income communities, where this help is harder to come by. And right now, as students recover from the pendulum swing of remote learning, it’s crucial that libraries have the resources they need to meet this demand. Our recommendation: build out drop-in homework help at branches in every hard-hit community.
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2. Strengthening minority- and immigrant-owned businesses.
The only startup competitions for low-income entrepreneurs in Gotham are held at the city’s branch libraries. Additionally, with skills workshops and free Internet access, countless residents go to libraries for guidance on how to start and grow their business, effectively shut off from services that are either cost- or location-prohibitive. With still a million New Yorkers out of work, this small business recovery is crucial—and libraries can help. Our recommendations: Grow unique business plan competitions; hire more business services librarians; and launch new business incubators in branches citywide.
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3. Close the digital divide.
Ominously, this was a section we had written before COVID, but of course the pandemic exposed the width of our ‘digital divide,’ or who has reliable access to the Web, and who doesn’t. Since libraries installed their first computers, they went from being repositories of knowledge to also being repositories of information and skills. That hasn’t changed, and with more investment, libraries could do even more to get folks (especially teens) connected. Our recommendations: expand library capacity to lend laptops and hotspots and provide extended WiFi; scale up teen tech training programs; and create ten new STEM Centers in branch libraries citywide.
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4. Get New Yorkers back to work.
Entering the third pandemic year, New York’s economy, like everywhere else, is still on fragile ground. But the city faces a unique challenge, with its reliance on office workers (still mostly working remote) and tourism (still hindered by changing rules). New Yorkers have long relied on libraries for job search and CV help, even though the branches are not typically included in workforce development plans. With unemployment still at 9 percent, that needs to change. Our recommendations: Bring career services to every branch and target additional support to communities with the highest rates of unemployment; make libraries a central hub in the city’s wider network of career services.
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5. Bring services to immigrant communities.
Battered by a hostile administration in Washington and, then, a pandemic that found its epicenter in Queens, the most diverse place on the planet (no bias there!), immigrant communities have had a longer road to recovery than most. But libraries are like civic centers on steroids, offering a safe, trusted space to advance ESOL skills, access legal help, and meet neighbors. Going to a branch library in a minority-majority community is a remarkable site to see. But the city could tap into them even more. Our recommendations: Make ActionNYC available in-person and expand to 25 branches; replicate popular library programs in multiple languages; double the number of seats for intermediate and advanced ESOL; and extend hours in immigrant communities.
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6. Expand early education
Bringing universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) to New York City was probably the most profound achievement of the outgoing mayor’s tenure, particularly because study after study shows that having access to early education dramatically elevates your chances of success later on in life. (Equally commendable was City Hall’s ‘3K for All’ push, which extends services to three-year-olds.) But in so many communities, early education is either less readily available or cost-prohibitive, landing the responsibility on local libraries to fill that gap. But with greater attention paid, they can do more. Our recommendations: the Department of Education should partner with libraries on early learning for children ages 0-3; and create enhanced early literacy programs at nearly every branch.
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7. Connect teens to college and careers.
The pandemic was undoubtedly a teen crisis. With nowhere to congregate and no school to see friends, teenagers were placed at a disadvantage to achieve compared to previous generations, which could have ripple effects for years to come. So the city must act now; thankfully, they have a trusted partner with libraries. For teens, there is no other free public institution like them: not a school or Starbucks, teens can feel comfortable and safe being themselves there—an intermediary where the city can meet this young population halfway. Our recommendations: Create 10 new Teen Centers in hard-hit communities; and establish College and Career Pathways programs in all five boroughs.
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8. Support a growing aging population.
While New York City’s aging population has soared in recent years—it’s now the most diverse and largest since the turn of the century—the issue of socially isolated single adults has long loomed over policymakers. The pandemic, of course, only worsened it. But like senior centers, libraries are one of the few places where aging adults already come to connect and learn. With more resources, the city can better meet this generation where they are. Our recommendations: invest $5 million annually to expand programs and services for older adults in public libraries; invest in greater capacity for homebound outreach; and make all branch libraries fully accessible by 2025.
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9. Increase access to well-paying tech jobs.
At this very moment, branch libraries are the single largest provider of tech skills in the city. That’s largely due to their reach: they’re not limited to Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, like so many ‘boot camps’ are; and with little to no price tag, they attract those who can’t commit the time or money to tech training programs. (So it’s no surprise these classes have waiting lists to get in.) But with support, libraries could help on-ramp so many more residents to the jobs that are going to pay well in the future. Our recommendations: add branch libraries to the Tech Talent Pipeline; incentivize partnerships between libraries and private training programs; and expand the library-run Queensbridge Tech Lab to at least one NYCHA development in every other borough.
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10. Empower New York’s gig economy.
And finally, as a decade-long freelancer, a section I personally strove to include was about helping New York City’s growing ‘gig’ population. Space and skills don’t come cheap to independent contractors, yet both are essential to navigating through this changing world of work. Libraries could play a real role there, especially as more look to abandon 9-5’s in the pandemic’s wake. Our recommendations: Open Freelancers Hubs at a branch in each borough (YES!); establish NYC Skills Pass to give cardholders free access to private training classes; and tap libraries to help implement an Automation Preparation Plan.
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Libraries need to be treated like the crucial social infrastructure they are. In order for all this to happen, we made some key core recommendations:
Expand hours citywide, with at least one 24/7 branch in each borough.
Target funding for libraries to ramp up their most effective programming.
Create a dedicated maintenance fund.
Integrate libraries into the city’s ten-year plan, and all agency plans.
Increase expense funding so libraries can hire up in the fields mentioned.
And help bring resources on the road to meet people where they are.
(The full report can be found here. Libraries are the absolute best, so I hope this brings you some hope at a time where it can feel in short supply.)
City in Spotlight: Boston
Yes, Boston. (Have to say that as a native New Yorker, even though I do love the city—at least, several parts of it.)
I think anyone tuned into the urban world right now (in the U.S., at least; sorry for the geographical basis) is probably most excited by the election of Michelle Wu in Boston—the first not-Irish, not-Italian person, let alone a female, to be elected to City Hall in the city’s storied history. She is an avid T and bus rider, the daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, and has been living in the city since 2007, when she moved there to go to Harvard (and then became close friends with her professor, Elizabeth Warren). She slowly climbed through the power ranks of City Council, the first Asian-American woman to hold office there as well.
Biography aside, her first month as mayor has already sparked attention. She was in office for less than 24 hours when she asked City Council to use federal relief funds to make three MBTA bus routes completely free for at least two years. They ended up backing it 12-1. (The bus routes serve areas adversely hit by the pandemic.) She then appointed Jascha Franklin-Hodge, a known advocate who backs free transit and a citywide cycling network, to the role of ‘chief of streets,’ which had been vacant for some time. And now she routinely takes the T to work—which, in the U.S., is a big deal for local leaders.
So this is certainly not the last time we’ll hear about Boston, bias be damned.
Parklet of the Month: December 2021 Edition
Name: Waltham Forest’s ‘Breathing Space’ campaign. (London, UK)
What: A non-commercial parklet for recreational use.
FKA: Not a breathing space.
Locally, the Northeast London borough of Waltham Forest is known as a pioneer in street design. It was the city’s first ‘mini-Holland,’ where it used all sorts of different measures to make it one big low-traffic neighborhood. It’s become a place where cycling and walking are common. And it’s also a big fan of parklets.
I’ve realised (using the British ‘s’ there) that so many of the parklets I feature here belong to commercial entities, like restaurants, cafes, or stores. I first started this series to highlight small businesses who were using street space in an innovative way to recover from COVID, so I’m fine with that. But it’s worth noting that many of those spaces only serve paying customers. So in the new year, I’ll try to include more parklets that are open to all.
That said, Waltham Forest announced late last month that due to positive feedback from residents, it was expanding its ‘Breathing Spaces’ pilot program. If you’re a business who wants a parklet in a single parking spot outside, where anyone (including, but not exclusively, customers) can sit and relax, the borough would help you finance and build it. A resident-led program will also be announced in the new year.
Streetbeat Gig Board
While I’m wrapping up my last policy project with Center for an Urban Future for the foreseeable future (which I’ll discuss next month!), I’d be remiss not to include positions they have open:
2022 is going to be a busy year for New York City. Help them expand their impact!
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And lastly: Administrative Manager at Design Trust for Public Space, a known quantity in the public realm world.
Kita Monthly
I leave you with this holiday gift: