Aaron Naparstek

Last updated

Aaron Naparstek (born 1970 in Boston, Massachusetts) is the founder of Streetsblog, [1] [2] a website providing daily coverage of transportation, anti-automobile activism, land use, and environmental issues in New York City. Since its founding in June 2006, Streetsblog has emerged as an influential forum for New York City's Livable Streets Movement, which is dedicated to reclaiming cities' public spaces from the automobile and improving conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit users. Streetsblog is published by OpenPlans.

Contents

Career

Before launching Streetsblog, Naparstek wrote the Department of Traffic column and feature-length cover stories for the alternative weekly newspaper the New York Press. In the early 2000s, under the mentorship of Executive Director John Kaehny, Naparstek began his advocacy and activism career as a campaign coordinator for Transportation Alternatives. There, he organized campaigns to eliminate motor vehicles from Prospect Park [3] worked to create safer conditions for pedestrians, [4] and won significant expansions of New York City's bicycle network. [5] In 2003, Naparstek authored Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage, a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the unique brand of sociopathic motorist behavior observed in his Brooklyn neighborhood. Naparstek's Honku story served as an inspiration for the Ray Ploshansky honking storyline in season four of HBO's "Girls." [6] [7] Naparstek's 2016 telling of the Honku story at the Avalon Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles was produced as a story for The Moth Radio Hour. [8]

Prior to his involvement in New York City transportation policy, advocacy, and politics, Naparstek worked for six years as an independent interactive media producer, designing, and developing original content, e-commerce, and live webcast products for major corporations, start-ups, non-profits and Internet-oriented venture capital firms. In 1999. he collaborated with his mother, Belleruth Naparstek, the noted social worker, author, and producer of the Health Journeys line of guided imagery audio programs, to produce a web-based complementary healthcare service called DesktopSpa.

From 1996 to 1997. Naparstek worked as content programming manager for Firefly, the start-up founded by students from MIT's Media Lab that pioneered web-based collaborative filtering technology. After Firefly, Naparstek spent a year working at the Microsoft Corporation as part of the team that built and launched the urban online guide Sidewalk.com. From 1994 to 1996. Naparstek worked as online editor at Spin Magazine where he created and ran SPINonline, an award-winning online music and pop culture forum for teens on AOL. [9] At SPINonline, Naparstek conceived, built, and ran the 1995 Lollapalooza Online Diaries, [10] one of the first experiments in allowing celebrity musical artists to communicate directly with fans using new digital media tools that were just becoming available on the commercial Internet. [11]

Naparstek has a master's degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a BA in History from Washington University in St. Louis.[ citation needed ]

He was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design in 2012 [12] and was twice selected as a U.S. German Marshall Fellow in 2004 [13] and 2006. [14]

Since its founding in 2011, Naparstek has served as a board member of Reinvent Albany, a good government group working for open, transparent, and accountable government in New York State and New York City. [15] In 2015, Naparstek outed himself as the creator of Fake Sheldon Silver] a political satire project and Twitter parody of the Speaker of the New York State Assembly popular with New York political insiders. [16]

Personal life

He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the filmmaker and dancer Joanne Nerenberg, and their two sons. He is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community organization, the Grand Army Plaza Coalition and StreetsPAC. He is a former executive board member of the Park Slope Civic Council, chair of Transportation Alternative's Brooklyn Committee, and member of the Brooklyn Community Board Six transportation committee.

Naparstek is an alum of the Habonim Dror youth movement and was the Director of Camp Moshava in Street, Maryland, during the summer of 1993. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooklyn Historic Railway Association</span>

The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (BHRA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a shop, trolley barn and offices located in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, on the historic Beard Street Piers. BHRA had a fleet of 16 trolleys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pulaski Bridge</span> Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens, New York

The Pulaski Bridge in New York City connects Long Island City in Queens to Greenpoint in Brooklyn over Newtown Creek. It was named after Polish military commander and American Revolutionary War fighter Casimir Pulaski in homage to the large Polish-American population in Greenpoint. It connects 11th Street in Queens to McGuinness Boulevard in Brooklyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Habonim Dror</span> International socialist-zionist youth movement

Habonim Dror is the evolution of two Jewish Labour Zionist youth movements that merged in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kfar Blum</span> Place in Northern, Israel

Kfar Blum is a kibbutz in the Hula Valley part of the Upper Galilee in Israel. Located about 6 km (4 mi) southeast of the town of Kiryat Shmona, it falls under the jurisdiction of Upper Galilee Regional Council. In 2022 it had a population of 771.

Mark Howard Gorton is the creator of LimeWire, a peer-to-peer file sharing client for the Java Platform, and chief executive of the Lime Group. Lime Group, based in New York, owns LimeWire as well as Lime Brokerage LLC, Tower Research Capital LLC, and LimeMedical LLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manhattan Waterfront Greenway</span> Esplanade in Manhattan, New York

The Manhattan Waterfront Greenway is a waterfront greenway for walking or cycling, 32 miles (51 km) long, around the island of Manhattan, in New York City. The largest portions are operated by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It is separated from motor traffic, and many sections also separate pedestrians from cyclists. There are three principal parts — the East, Harlem and Hudson River Greenways.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emily Gould</span> American author

Emily Gould is an American author, novelist and blogger who worked as an editor at Gawker. She has written several short stories and novels and is the co-owner, with fellow writer Ruth Curry, of the independent e-bookstore Emily Books.

Clarence Eckerson, Jr. is a Queens-based videographer and the creator of BikeTV and Streetfilms.org.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janette Sadik-Khan</span> Former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation

Janette Sadik-Khan is a former commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation (2007–2013) and an advisor on transportation and urban issues. She works for Bloomberg Associates, a philanthropic consultancy established by former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg that advises mayors around the world to improve the quality of life for their residents. She serves as chairperson for the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO), a coalition of the transportation departments of 40 large cities nationwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fordham Road–190th Street station</span> New York City Subway station in Bronx (Closed 1973)

The Fordham Road–190th Street station was an express station on the demolished IRT Third Avenue Line in the Bronx, New York City. It was located at Fordham Road and Third Avenue, one block east of Webster Avenue, in the modern location of Fordham Plaza. Opened in 1901, the station was closed in 1973 and demolished in 1977 along with the rest of the Third Avenue Line. No trace of the station exists today.

Camp Na'aleh was one of seven summer camps in North America run by the Labor Zionist youth movement Habonim Dror. Founded in 1932, it was the oldest of Habonim Dror North America's summer camps. Camp Na'aleh had its final summer in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cycling in San Francisco</span>

Cycling in San Francisco has grown in popularity in recent years, aided by improving cycling infrastructure and community support. San Francisco's compact urban form and mild climate enable cyclists to reach work, shopping, and recreational destinations quickly and comfortably. Though San Francisco's famed steep hills can make cycling difficult, many parts of the city are relatively flat, including some of the most densely populated. However, heavy automobile traffic, the lack of bike lanes on many streets, and difficulty in crossing major streets deter most residents from cycling frequently in San Francisco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lena Dunham</span> American writer and actress (born 1986)

Lena Dunham is an American writer, director, actress, and producer. She is the creator, writer, and star of the HBO television series Girls (2012–2017), for which she received several Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe Awards. Dunham also directed several episodes of Girls and became the first woman to win the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing – Comedy Series. She started her career writing, directing, and starring in her semi-autobiographical independent film Tiny Furniture (2010), for which she won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. She has since written and directed the 2022 films Sharp Stick and Catherine Called Birdy.

OpenPlans is a non-profit that advocates for making the streets of New York City livable for all residents. Open Plans uses tactical urbanism, grassroots advocacy, policy and targeted journalism to promote structural reforms within city government that support livable streets, neighborhoods and the city-at-large. The organization was founded in 1999 by Mark Gorton, the creator of LimeWire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sneckdown</span> Curb extension caused by snowfall

A sneckdown is a temporary curb extension caused by snowfall, where snow has built up in the road but not been flattened by traffic, effectively reshaping the curb. Sneckdowns show how the space is being used by vehicle and foot traffic, and may reveal points where a street could be usefully narrowed with neckdowns to slow motor vehicle speeds and shorten pedestrian crossing distances.

Jennifer A. Konner is an American television writer, producer and director. She is best known as co-showrunner and writer with Lena Dunham of the HBO series Girls. In 2016, she directed the season finale of the fifth season of Girls entitled "I Love You Baby" and in 2017, she directed the episode "Latching," which served as the series finale; both episodes were co-written by Judd Apatow, Dunham and Konner.

Lenny Letter, also known as Lenny, was a weekly online feminist newsletter created by Lena Dunham and Jennifer Konner. Lenny also had a book imprint called Lenny Books on Random House. It was shut down in October 2018.

Doreen St. Félix is a Haitian-American writer. She is a staff writer for The New Yorker and was formerly editor-at-large for Lenny Letter, a newsletter from Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Gounardes</span> American politician

Andrew Gounardes is an American lawyer and politician. He is a Democrat and a member of the New York State Senate, representing the 26th district, which encompasses the neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Sunset Park, Greenwood Heights, Red Hook, Park Slope, Gowanus, Carroll Gardens, Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Greene, Brooklyn Heights, Vinegar Hill, and DUMBO in Brooklyn.

Camp Gilboa is one of the six North American machanot associated with the socialist-Zionist youth movement, Habonim Dror North America (HDNA). Located near Big Bear Lake in California, it is open to children entering 3rd-10th grade, and incoming 12th graders are accepted as Madatz. All of the madrichimot (counselors) are young college students who take part in the Habonim Dror movement.

References

  1. ↑ Chan, Sewell (June 14, 2007). "This Blog Moves Traffic". City Room.
  2. ↑ "Aaron Naparstek - Streetsblog New York City". nyc.streetsblog.org. Retrieved 2024-01-19.
  3. ↑ "Streetfilms | Car-free Prospect Park Street Theater! (from 2002)". www.streetfilms.org. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  4. ↑ "City Promises $5M in Ped Safety Improvements at Mural Opening". Streetsblog New York City. 2007-08-31. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  5. ↑ "Aaron Naparstek: the Evolution of an Advocate from Honku to StreetsBlog and Beyond (Part 1) | The Bicycle Story". www.thebicyclestory.com. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  6. ↑ "Video: GIRLS Addresses NYC's Horrible Car Horn Honking Problem". 10 February 2015. Archived from the original on 2017-07-21.
  7. ↑ Konner, Jenni (2015-02-10). "@Naparstek @BenFried Aaron, it's not a coincidence! You are my muse!". @JenniKonner. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  8. ↑ "The Moth | Stories | Honku". The Moth. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  9. ↑ "SPINonline". 14forums.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  10. ↑ Online Diaries: The Lollapalooza '95 Tour Journals. Soft Skull Press. February 4, 1996. ISBN   978-1-887128-20-9 – via Google Books.
  11. ↑ "How The 1995 Lollapalooza Online Diaries Changed Rock Stardom". MTV News. Archived from the original on July 29, 2016. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  12. ↑ "Aaron Naparstek". LOEBlog. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2017-06-15.[ permanent dead link ]
  13. ↑ "-----FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE----- [PDF] - Online free publishing". www.noexperiencenecessarybook.com. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  14. ↑ "Comparative Domestic Policy fellowships awarded | The German Marshall Fund of the United States". www.gmfus.org. Archived from the original on 2017-10-31. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  15. ↑ "Reinvent Albany | Open, Accountable New York Government | About". reinventalbany.org. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  16. ↑ "Human Filibuster". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  17. ↑ "Aaron Naparstek, Camp Director, Habonim-Dror Camp Moshava, 1992-1993".[ dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.