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
From Minnesota to Mississippi, Telling Congress to Save Bike-Ped Programs
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For more than 20 years, federal funding for bike and pedestrian safety has enabled American cities and towns to invest in transportation projects that state DOTs would otherwise have overlooked. Thanks to these programs, communities have helped main streets thrive, provided kids with safer routes to school, and made biking an attractive transportation option. The […]
Americans Can’t Afford a Highway-Centric Transportation Bill
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Gas prices, you may have heard, are on the rise again. And so is pandering about pain at the pump. Four years after $4 a gallon gas spawned “Drill, Baby, Drill” and insane political gimmickry on the presidential campaign trail (remember the “gas tax holiday” favored by John McCain and Hillary Clinton?), gas price populism […]
Kobe? Blake? LeBron James Bikes to Work “All the Time”
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This Twitter photo of LeBron James biking to American Airlines Arena before facing off against Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls last night has gone viral on sports news sites all over America. There are some interesting sociological currents swirling around LeBron James, bike commuter. While the photographer labeled James a “manchild” for taking to […]
Dear Giant Bicycles, Please Bring This Ad Campaign to America
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Reader Paul Murphy sends along this ad from the Australian division of Giant Bicycles. The spot, by the Melbourne-based firm Leo Burnett, started airing last summer as part of Giant’s “Real Riders” campaign. Imagine if images of grocery bags slung over handlebars could somehow saturate the airwaves as much as sleek new luxury sedans gliding […]
Give This Week and Levi’s Commuter Jeans Could Be Yours
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I’m pleased to announce that thanks to an outpouring of support these past two weeks, Streetsblog and Streetfilms are more than halfway to our goal of raising $25,000 by the end of the year. If you haven’t given yet and you value the high-impact reporting and videos that we produce day in and day out, […]
What If Washington Never Built Metro?
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Rail~Volution 2011 marks the first time since 2002 that this conference for all things transit and smart growth has taken place in the nation’s capital. When it comes to livability, Washington and neighboring Arlington County have some great stories to share with the rest of the country. At the heart of the region’s success is, […]
Arturas Zuokas, World’s Most Bike-Friendly Mayor
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From the Irish Independent: Rebellious Lithuanian mayor Arturas Zuokas has taken clearing bike lanes of illegally parked cars into his own hands. He drove an army personnel carrier over an old Mercedes-Benz S-Class that had been parked in a bike lane in the capital Vilnius in a bid warn owners of “posh” cars that they […]
Got a Job Opening? Place Your Ad on the Streetsblog Jobs Board
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I’m pleased to announce that Streetsblog is adding a new service: the Streetsblog jobs board. If you have a job opening in the fields of urban planning, transportation engineering, or livable streets advocacy, you’ll reach a talented pool of people by placing the position on Streetsblog. Posting on Streetsblog gets the word out about your […]
Introducing Our New Comment System – For Real This Time
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You may have noticed something different about Streetsblog’s comment system this morning. We’re doing a tech upgrade and introducing a new commenting platform called Disqus, which we hope will enrich the conversation here and make it easier for you to connect with other readers. Los Angeles is the last Streetsblog to switch over to Disquis, […]
Introducing Our New Comment System (Updated DN at 12:08)
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(Update: Apparently we only rolled this out on NYC Streetsblog thus far, but we’ll be adding this to Los Angeles Streetsblog soon. – Damien) You may have noticed something different about Streetsblog’s comment system this morning. We’re doing a tech upgrade and introducing a new commenting platform called Disqus, which we hope will enrich the […]
Video: Car-Free Play Streets in the UK
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A little weekend viewing from the west coast of England. Since the summer of 2009, neighbors in Bristol have organized “Playing Out” events on seven streets, setting aside car-free hours for kids to play in the street without constant parental supervision. Watching this video immediately brought to mind Clarence’s Streetfilm of the 78th Street play […]
Help Us Build a Better Blog: Take the Streetsblog Reader Survey
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I promise this will be quick, and probably even fun. We’ve put together a short questionnaire for our readers. Take the survey and tell us a little bit about yourself, why you read Streetsblog, and any feedback you have about the site. It takes a couple of minutes and will do a world of good […]