In New York, "Summer Streets" is set to debut this August. In Portland, they just held "Sunday Parkways" for the first time. Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson, in town for the Carfree Cities conference, captured the action and picked up a few pointers for other cities planning to launch car-free events:

It was like a giant community block party with walkers, bikers, joggers, bladers, families, and pets filling the 6 mile course.

There were plenty of fun activities in four northeast parks that were linked by the circuit, which was opened to bikes and pedestrian traffic only from 8 AM to 2 PM. For cities planning their own Ciclovias, here are some things I liked about Portland's event: knowledgeable volunteers, lots of fun chalk messages on the ground, easy to follow directions, lots of music & entertainment, and a huge number of bike stations for bike repair.

A pair of Ikea buses clog Clinton St. in Cobble Hill.

A tipster sends along a disturbing Red Hook Ikea traffic update.

The residents of Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens are going nuts about the Ikea buses that have decided against HIcks and gone with Clinton as a route. The buses, every hour on the hour, seem to be trying to beat out Bonneville Salt Flats-type speed records, and [Tuesday] morning, due to construction, there was even an Ikea bus jam.

Streetsblog followed up with Ikea, but the rep we spoke with could only say that the shuttle buses are free, and that they originate from Fourth Avenue at 9th Street and the Court St.-Borough Hall station. Ridership numbers were not available.

Considering the impact on Red Hook and surrounding neighborhoods from its shuttle buses and ocean of on-site parking, it seems the flat-pack retailer could use some assistance in the public relations department. Our tipster wonders if the shuttles might be available for general use, which could be a start.

Ruben Bolling

More livable streets news out of Manhattan's Community Board 2. This Thursday, at the request of DOT, CB2 will hold a public strategy session to consider how variable-rate parking might work in the district. If participants determine that such a program would benefit the neighborhood, said CB2's Ian Dutton, DOT has pledged to implement a six-month pilot program starting in September.

Variable-rate parking, advocated most famously by UCLA professor Donald Shoup and given a boost last week by Transportation Alternatives, applies a market-based mechanism to meter prices, charging more during peak hours. The policy promises to cut congestion by reducing the distance drivers travel cruising for spots, which according to T.A.'s recent study [PDF] adds up to millions of miles throughout the city each year.

In flyers distributed for the meeting, DOT calls the proposal "Peak Rate Parking" and says a pilot program would test the following:

• If turnover at meters increase during peak periods
• If double-parking decreases
• If drivers “circle” less to find a space
• If buses can pull to the curb more frequently

According to Dutton, DOT is currently undertaking a study of parking demand in the neighborhood to give meeting participants a sense of what different meter rates will accomplish. Public input will strongly influence how DOT proceeds. "They want to let the neighborhood come up with ideas," said Dutton.

People who live or work in the vicinity of Community District 2 can play a role in shaping this critical policy reform this Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at the Tony Dapolito Recreation Center -- 3 Clarkson Street, 3rd Floor.

Photo: the wicked witch of the east/Flickr

Taking a cue from New York's Brightest, the five unions representing the city's Finest have filed a complaint aimed at undermining city parking reforms by retaining free privileges for police officers, detectives, lieutenants and captains. The Post reports that the complaint "contend[s] the city was required to negotiate the new plan before yanking more than 20,000 permits."

The unions' complaint, filed May 30 with the Board of Collective Bargaining, seeks to have all the permits restored.

As a result of the new policy, cops' cars are now being towed and ticketed, the complaint states. According to the unions, the reduction of free-parking perks "creates an economic hardship" and violates state labor law.

So the unions are acknowledging here that cops expect to be able to park illegally without being ticketed, as long as they have a placard. Nice. And it seems that cutting back on $4/gal gas -- not to mention car maintenance, wear-and-tear, etc. -- in exchange for a cheaper transit commute would actually save money in many instances. Unless, of course, the complaint itself is somehow disingenuous.

The complaint ... acknowledges that the union contracts do not address parking placards.

One labor source last week indicated the complaint was designed merely to prevent the city from removing more police parking permits next year.

To sum up: police labor unions have filed an action that they know is baseless in hopes of holding on to a perk that allows as many of their members as possible to break the law with impunity.

In light of these developments, maybe it's time for a new NYPD superlative: New York's _____________ .

Photo: Uncivil Servants

The cycle track will replace the current buffered bike lane on Eighth Avenue.

In a pair of votes last week, DOT's plan for a protected bike path on Eighth Avenue got the thumbs up from Community Board 2. On Tuesday, the transportation committee approved a resolution expressing support for the cycle track, and on Thursday, the full board did the same. Both votes were unanimous.

The path will run from Bank Street to 23rd Street and is also set to be reviewed by Community Board 4.

Ian Dutton, vice-chair of the CB2 transportation committee, gives credit to DOT's public outreach effort. "They printed up brochures for [the plan], and went door to door," he said. "Instead of there being more uproar, at our meeting absolutely no one was there to express concerns." The twelve attendees who spoke about the cycle track all supported it, he added.

In the resolution, CB2 requested bell bollards for pedestrian refuges and leading pedestrian intervals at some intersections. DOT has shown more openness to such suggestions than in years past, said Dutton. "It's remarkable how much they're seeking our input instead of just dictating terms. They're asking the neighborhood what they think."

According to Dutton, DOT plans to complete the cycle track by November.

Photo: NYCDOT

If you spend much time in upper Manhattan, you know it's blessed with hundreds of acres of parkland, much of which serves to showcase the area's naturally rugged terrain. To help bring attention to this sometimes overlooked resource while promoting public health, an organization called CLIMB (City Life is Moving Bodies), in conjunction with Creative Arts Workshops for Kids, hosts an event called Hike the Heights, an "urban safari" through parks from Morningside Heights to Inwood. Streetfilms correspondent Mark Read has the lowdown.

Streetfilms' guest correspondent Frank Lopez leads this tour of Vancouver's Car-Free Day, which opens up streets in four neighborhoods for community festivals. Dancing on the pavement, lunching on the street, and mid-block lucha libre wrestling matches ensue.

With 2800 agents able to enforce rules against blocking the box, drivers may soon take these signs seriously.

A bill intended to step up enforcement against drivers who block the box made it through the state legislature last Thursday. While the measure is not expected to play a major role in traffic reduction, it should improve conditions for pedestrians and residents on some of New York's most congested streets, as long as agents follow through on strict enforcement.

The bill reclassifies blocking the box from a moving violation to a parking violation, a switch that enables all 2800 of the city's traffic agents to issue citations for the offense. Previously, only cops and a small number of agents had that ability. The bill also bumps up the penalty from $50 to $115.

In a 2006 study conducted by Borough President Scott Stringer's office [PDF], more than 3,000 blocking the box violations were observed at 10 locations in Manhattan during a single nine-hour period, but no driver received a ticket.

At the worst locations -- near the entrances to the Lincoln and Holland tunnels -- box-blocking vehicles clog the crosswalk constantly during peak hours. "That is a huge part of complaints on Varick Street and Broome Street, where pedestrians can't get across the intersection," said Ian Dutton of the Community Board 2 transportation committee, which passed a resolution in favor of the bill last Tuesday. "This is a beginning step to make the enforcement more comprehensive."

First responders on the scene of this morning's deadly crash in Chinatown.

A string of curb-jumping, vehicle-on-pedestrian violence has left one person dead and 24 injured since Friday, according to published reports. Streetsblog has a request into NYPD's public information office and Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne to determine if the recent spate of crashes will spur the city to adopt stricter enforcement of traffic laws and sterner prosecution of offenders.

In one crash, an un-licensed driver steered his SUV onto a Midtown sidewalk, hitting 10 pedestrians. The perpetrator, Estabannie Sanchez, was led away in handcuffs. The local CBS News crew spoke to people at the scene:  

"We basically heard a noise behind us and turned around and the jeep was already on the pavement, on the sidewalk, all wheels," said witness Ian Cairns.

"There was a lady under the front, a guy on the side, two underneath the back wheel," another witness said.

Also pinned under the vehicle was a little boy, helped by people like Eliete Alvarez, who hurt his neck when the vehicle sent him into a truck.

CBS also reported on two other sidewalk crashes in Manhattan this weekend. In Harlem, a livery cab driver struck a 55-year-old woman and crashed into a bank. And on the Upper East Side, an elderly man mistook the gas for the brake, then drove into seven pedestrians. The only citation mentioned in the report was given to the livery driver, for talking on his cell phone.

This Auto Zone ad is one for the ages. The dark ages.

A young guy, who looks all of 17, is riding his bike down a rural dirt road when he comes upon an abandoned mid-1970s Ford Torino. A sign on the window reads, "if you can fix her you can have her." The kid smiles, the can-do soft guitar rock kicks in, and off he rides to Auto Zone. Again and again.

"It basically took me the whole summer," the voice over says, "and I don't know how many times I needed to go to Auto Zone. But, at least now when I go, it's not on my bike." 

The final scene shows the same road, but this time the clunker is barreling down it, kicking up a cloud of dust and, in all probability, smoke from the exhaust. (Since we're to assume the kid did all the repairs by the roadside, he could not have removed the engine block to replace the seals and gaskets, and there's no way that car isn't burning oil. Hence: tailpipe smoke.)

What we don't see is what happens next. The kid starts making a lot more trips to Auto Zone, because since he got a "free" car he had to take on a job just to pay for repairs and gas (the Torino, in its day, averaged about 10 miles to the gallon). And that smoke? Well, the damn thing didn't pass the state emissions test, so instead of sinking $1,500 into an engine rebuild and a new exhaust system -- thereby exceeding the car's value by approximately $1,500 -- the kid left the Torino where he found it. He still sees it every day, as he rides his bike to and from work. Every now and then he spits on it.

Video: jakeogden7/YouTube

A tipster sends photographic evidence that the NYPD does, at times, show cyclists some courtesy. Last week, a post on Clinton Hill Blog drew attention to parked squad cars at the 88th Precinct jutting out into the bike lane on Brooklyn's Dekalb Avenue. Streetsblog and Gothamist picked up the photo, and now those cars are parallel parked, out of cyclists' right-of-way. Hopefully for good.