Namárie*
And welcome to this newsletter.
It's where I (John Surico) talk each month about cities & all their discontents: streets, environment, energy, cultures, people, food, form, etc. This month, we cover:
- The power of daylighting;
- Accountability in journalism;
- Libraries as a housing solution;
& much, much more.
Brighter corners
According to the feds, more than half of all traffic-related injuries happen at or near intersections. So if America is going to address her recent spike in traffic violence—namely a steady rise in pedestrian deaths after decades of decline—let’s start at the street corner.
Enter ‘daylighting.’
Now, there are different definitions of daylighting. A quick Google search might point to the placement of windows to maximize natural sunlight in your home. Daylighting is that, sure, but it’s also the restoration of buried waterways, like what we’ve seen in Seoul and the Bronx. But for this conversation, we’re using the street design application of ‘daylighting,’ which really just means making an intersection more visible to everyone: me, you, that family crossing with small children, that cyclist, and that driver passing by, too. And if corners are a root cause of traffic violence, then it sounds like daylighting—using things like curb extensions, planters, paint, bike parking or even outdoor dining—would help.
But in so many places right now, intersections are crowded. Cars often park right up to the crosswalk without retribution, and we’ve grown used to peeking around fenders to see if traffic is coming. In short: daylighting isn’t happening, even though statistics show it works. And as someone who was taught that you really shouldn’t park past the stop line, I’ve been wondering how we got here. In my latest feature for Bloomberg CityLab, I try to find out. Check it out.
(An update: this morning, New York City announced that it’d now daylight 1,000 intersections a year, a big lift from its previous promise of 100. With 40,000 intersections in total, there’s a lot of work to do but still, it’s a promising start.)
How can journalism listen?
I teach late at NYU, and so some nights, I’m there until 9pm. On a recent evening, as I was getting ready to leave, I noticed that someone had quietly attached a piece of paper to every professor’s door. This is what it said. But to sum it up, look no further than the last line: “In short, this is a demand for NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute to simply talk about the news.”
Shortly after the Oct. 7th terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas, which led to about 1,200 civilian deaths and over 200 hostages, I said a few words at the top of my journalism class about our chaotic decade, but that was it. I admittedly stayed mum as debates raged. I didn’t know what to say to students, or how to even add to the conversation. Social media blared, and as someone who consumes and contributes to the news for a living, I’ve grown so numb to that overwhelming feeling of what I’ll call here world paralysis, or when the current state of global affairs leaves you wordless and fuzzy. (I think it’s safe to assume that we’ve been experiencing heavy doses of world paralysis for some time now.)
So that’s what I did, and clearly I wasn’t alone. If students felt the need to speak up, then other educators, too, had balked in the classroom. The irony was visceral: here we are, teaching the next generation of storytellers how to report out the news, but there was one major news story we weren’t mentioning. And as a Streetbeat reader, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I share my opinions on loads of other issues, like climate and housing. So why not this?
It felt like an oversight. So when the letter was published, I brought it to the next class, and we finally talked about it. I asked the students what they wanted to see from the journalism school right now. It was tense at moments, but remarkably refreshing as a whole. One student put it succinctly: “We don’t want to be told what to think; we want to learn how to think.” And that stuck with me; they were wise words for our times. Because whether we like it or not, there are going to be more Gazas, more Mariupols, more Mauis, and more Dernas. We’re living in an age defined by crisis, and journalists will need to know how to navigate what that means—and be called out when they may be failing to do so.
(Since the letter, the department has held a town hall and now hosts a weekly news chat with faculty. The posters remain on many doors.)
CUNY Reconnect, one year in
I’ve spilled some (Substack) ink on a policy brief I wrote in January 2022 about Tennessee’s program to help get older adults with some college credits but no degree to graduate, and how New York City’s public university system (CUNY) should replicate it. I was then elated to announce shortly thereafter that our research from Center for an Urban Future inspired the creation of exactly that: CUNY Reconnect, a multi-million-dollar initiative to boost college attainment, which is invaluable for people when searching for today’s well-paying jobs. I’m still astounded when I see the subway ads for it.
Just over a year into the program, it’s already one of the largest, most inclusive college comeback programs in the nation, with 26,000 students re-enrolled and over 1,900 who have received their credentials. Now, as City Hall orders a round of brutal budget cuts, it’s time to renew funding for the program, target investments, and do more to reach the 630,000 New Yorkers who qualify. You can read my full (first-ever!) testimony to the New York City Council here.
OSA: Rising tide
As a reporter, I’ve covered a truly endless number of press conferences, often sitting in the front row holding a recorder (or iPhone) at whoever’s speaking, trying desperately to squeeze a question in and make sure I got everything. Press conferences are weird: pre-meditated, rehearsed, and all very stilted—this physical embodiment of the collision between the press and public opinion, where events shape what’s covered and where coverage shapes events. (H/t to Walter Lippmann.) And that’s just from the audience’s perspective.
But this week, I got to see what it’s like from the other side of the podium. I was speaking on behalf of the 31st Ave Open Street Collective, in support of our local elected officials’ new street safety plan for Western Queens. (You can read it in full here.) We had prepared remarks to talk specifically to the lack of safe bike infrastructure, and how our pop-up space shows folks what’s possible. Albeit hesitant to speak publicly (I’ve opted not to until now), I was our main point person while devising this blueprint, and felt obligated to represent that work.
The plan is ambitious. It lays out a thorough five-year timeline for specific projects and general policies, both city- and district-wide. That includes: universal daylighting (as described earlier); more Open Streets and School Streets; new plazas and protected bike lanes; and the rollout of automated traffic enforcement. This plan is the first of its kind, and as I mentioned in Streetbeat a few months back, it could inspire others to follow.
But perhaps most notable to me is the tonal shift from elected officials: Tiffany Cabán, the Council Member who spearheaded the plan, came to office in 2021 with barely a mention of transportation in her platform then. She’s a key figure for the abolitionist wing of the Democratic Socialists of America, but transit equity and public space… eh, not so much. Except over the last two years, her office has been inundated with complaints about street safety—it’s the number one complaint they receive, they tell me. And so, Cabán had to really formulate a position, in the face of tragic traffic fatalities at home. (She’s now a regular on the Open Street as well.)
The result is this plan, a telling sign of what hyper-local grassroots efforts can produce when mixed with concrete examples and institutional oomph. Now, the hard work begins: to make it all a reality.
Bright Side: Libraries + affordable housing
If you’ve read Streetbeat long enough, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of what’s known as multi-dimensional infrastructure—or parts of our systems that can be engineered or future-proofed to complete multiple things at once, in a sort of win-win-win for the public good. (I even wrote a whole policy report on it for the Aspen Institute.) In an age of constrained budgets and what feels like endless flux, we’ll need to push our societal hardware (i.e. built environment, resilience measures) and software (i.e. safety net, labor policies) to do more. And a perfect place to start is the new Sunset Park branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.
That might be an unexpected direction, but hear me out. I’m sure readers here know that cities are in the throes of a housing crisis; we don’t just need more housing, but more affordable housing, and fast—or else cities are no longer going to be the attractive magnet for talent and change that they’ve always been.
How do libraries fit in? Well, these civic spaces are uniquely suited to address so many of the issues facing cities right now. (Apologies in advance: I spent a lot of time researching libraries, and so I take every opportunity to gush over them.) Each day, they help immigrants get settled in their new home. They teach digital literacy at a time when misinformation is rampant, and offer digital skills at a time when most jobs require it. They connect older adults to benefits, resources, and community as social isolation worsens. They’re job centers. They’re climate hubs. They’re childcare providers. They’re refuges for teenagers. And they’re a third place for the rising tide of remote workers and freelancers. (Libraries are sort of the OG multi-dimensional infrastructure, to be honest.)
But often, they’re strapped to be everyone’s Swiss army knife. So is there any way to mush these two things together? Create housing that is affordable and build libraries fit for the 21st century? The new Sunset Park branch, which opened this month, does exactly that: stealing a very good idea from Chicago, BPL worked with developers and the local business group to stack housing on top of the site, in exchange for expansion and renovation. The neighborhood is then left with more housing options and a better library for all.
Let’s build more of them.
On the Radar
A brief holiday pause for this section. We’ll return next month with a recommendation or find!
Streetbeat Gig Board
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Project for Public Spaces, the renowned placemaking outfit, is looking for an intern to assist its Market Cities program. (Remote/New York, NY)
Urban Design Forum, which I’m proud to be a Fellow with, is on the hunt for a communications manager. (New York, NY)
Drivers are terrorists nowadays - overt lawbreakers who do whatever they want; speeding, crashing, lying about “what happened”, endangering others:
Cars over 70mph in 40mph Residential Area Near Metra Station, Park, & Two Major Regional Trail Systems
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfNAGP-iqfjctZ2JAq2MQ4X3Gqch2tG3
Cars Racing In Residential Area
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfNAGP-iqfhIdd_slxdvUSsNglyBJF_T
Kids Crossing SW Hwy
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfNAGP-iqfiC8j0o4t-C1b6D0-AnlpEZ
Kids With No Safe Sidewalks
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMfNAGP-iqfiZtumbPzkIUyndNiGewLmt