Monthly Forum: The Future of NYC’s Streetscape

May 3, 2021

With the mayoral elections coming up and a multi-billion dollar federal infrastructure funding on the horizon, 2021 is a pivotal year in NYC. There is a lot of potential for real change on the Streets of New York. There has been significant progression in making our streets more equitable and sustainable over the last year, but still many roadblocks remain.

Join GreenHomeNYC on May 19th for a discussion on how the NYC streetscape has changed in the last year and what the future holds. Hear from entrepreneurial, activist, and economist perspectives on congestion pricing, secure on street bike storage, and pedestrianization.

Speakers:

Katie Lorah

Katie Lorah leads marketing, communications, research and special projects at Transportation Alternatives (TA), New York City’s leading advocates for safer streets and better transportation. Most recently, she led the launch of NYC25x25, a challenge to New York City’s next leaders to reimagine the city’s streets for people, not cars — an effort which is supported by a coalition of 160+ advocacy groups across the five boroughs. She has also led communications and strategy for ioby, a nonprofit fundraising platform for local civic action; open space master planning and coastal resiliency planning for the New York City Parks Department; and communications for Friends of the High Line during the New York City park’s design, construction, and public opening. She holds a master’s in city planning from MIT and a bachelor’s in journalism from NYU.

Yosef Kessler

Yosef leads operations and partnerships for Oonee, a Brooklyn-based start-up whose mission is to bring a secure bike parking network to the New York area and beyond. He is also an activist with Transportation Alternatives where he has participated in numerous campaigns including congestion pricing, #FixCanal, and Manhattan crosstown bike lanes. Raised in the Bronx, Yosef is a graduate of Hunter College-CUNY and currently lives in Brooklyn.

Charles Komanoff

Economist and policy-analyst Charles Komanoff co-founded the Carbon Tax Center and the pedestrian rights group Right Of Way and “re-founded” the bicycling advocacy organization Transportation Alternatives. His work includes books (Power Plant Cost Escalation, Killed By Automobile, The Bicycle Blueprint), the spreadsheet model used by state government and transit advocates to optimize congestion pricing for New York City, scholarly articles and journalism. An honors graduate of Harvard and married parent of two grown sons, Charles lives in lower Manhattan. Web site: www.komanoff.net.