Ben Fried started as a Streetsblog reporter in 2008 and led the site as editor-in-chief from 2010 to 2018. He lives in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, with his wife.
Ben Fried
Recent Posts
LA Isn’t the Only Place with Bike Vs Car Incidents
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Two recent road rage incidents are all over the news in Portland. Earlier this month, a drunken man on a bike became aggravated when a driver, himself a self-described bike advocate, reprimanded the cyclist for blowing a stoplight. The cyclist threatened the driver, picking up his bike and hitting the car with it. Then this […]
Cities Stake Claim to Being America’s ‘Best Places to Live’
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In a story about the housing downturn, BusinessWeek had some numbers crunched to see where home prices have remained most stable and where they have declined most precipitously: The results are fascinating. Annual price changes in most of the largest metro areas, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, Washington D.C., […]
Rising Fuel Costs and Ridership Strain Local Transit Systems Nationwide
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A Bus Stop in Santa Barbara Transit agencies all over the country are nearing a state of emergency. At the same time that rising gas prices are leading more Americans to opt for buses and trains, transit operators are being forced to cut service and raise fares due to budget shortfalls. In Minneapolis, the local […]
Announcing Wiki Wednesdays: A Weekly Dose of Livable Streets Knowledge
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Today we’re launching a new feature on Streetsblog — Wiki Wednesdays — where we’ll highlight new content coming online at StreetsWiki, the community-created livable streets knowledge base. The inaugural entry is the bio-in-progress on UCLA professor Donald Shoup (right). Earlier this week, Zane Selvans (member of the Livable Streets Network since June 16) helped flesh […]
French Trains Turn $1.75B Profit, Leave American Rail in the Dust
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The Guardian reports that SNCF, France’s national rail company, is taking advantage of a boom in ridership to make aggressive plans for expansion. While SNCF positions itself to help ease the impact of high fuel prices on the French public, what are American leaders preparing to do? Drilling offshore and taking a few hits from […]
Cartoon Tuesday: Outmoded
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From Dick Locher of the Chicago Tribune comes a cartoon complement to Judith Warner’s essay in the New York Times last Friday, declaring that SUVs have outlived any "utility" owners may once have derived from them.
Should the Rules of the Road Be Amended for Cyclists?
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Via Carectomy, a San Francisco CBS affiliate reports that the Bay Area’s Metropolitan Transportation Commission is considering whether to revise the rules of the road to better accommodate cyclists. The changes would make it legal for cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, and stoplights as stop signs. Somewhat surprisingly, the Carectomy commentary comes […]
Build a Livable Streets Knowledge Base. Contribute to StreetsWiki.
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Since we launched the Livable Streets Network one month ago, our community-created reference site, StreetsWiki, has steadily grown. There are now 132 articles contributed and maintained by LSN users. Knowing Streetsblog’s audience, however, there’s a lot of expertise among our readers still waiting to be tapped. Anyone with a Livable Streets account can contribute to […]
Obama Calls for Investment in Regional Intercity Rail
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We noted yesterday that Barack Obama has promised to direct more federal funds to bike-ped infrastructure if elected. Now comes word that the Illinois Senator is going public with his support for a regional rail network linking midwestern cities, an idea he had floated quietly during the Democratic primary campaign. In a major address on […]
Obama: I’ll Boost Funds for Bike-Ped Projects If Elected
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Barack Obama riding with his family last week. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama addressed bicycle advocates and industry leaders at a Chicago fundraiser on Thursday, lending more weight to the pro-bike comments he delivered in Portland, Oregon last month. Industry mag Bicycle Retailer has the scoop: Barack Obama, in a private 20-minute meeting with […]
Eyes on the Street, Presidential Campaign Edition
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The Associated Press reports that Senator Barack Obama, taking a brief respite before launching his general election bid, enjoyed a bike ride with his family this weekend: The Illinois senator and his wife, Michelle, rode to a neighbor’s house with their daughters, Malia and Sasha, on Sunday and the group then headed out for the […]
The Windshield Perspective, Same As It Ever Was
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From the way back machine comes this remarkable essay, "The Last Traffic Jam," about the blind spots that plague the motoring mentality. The anonymous author, writing for Time Magazine in 1947, delivers observations about road rage and the endemic violence of driving that still apply today. The most striking passage, perhaps, is the writer’s take […]