Danielle Baskin from Belle Helmets painted these beautiful and whimsical custom helmets for the Streetfilms crew!

Streetfilms:  The 78th Playstreet in Jackson Heights has been an enormous success the last few years.  How have the Playstreet Streetfilms helped?

Donovan Finn: I don’t think you can easily quantify how much mileage we’ve gotten out of those two videos. Locally, we’ve promoted them on our website and community listervs and bulletin boards  to help illustrate to our neighbors, that, yes, what we’re doing here is important, it’s challenging, and it’s something that is recognized by people outside our neighborhood as being interesting and worth emulating. I think Jackson Heights residents have so embraced and adopted the Playstreet as a permanent part of the neighborhood landscape that they don’t realize how much work has gone in to making this project happen in the first place and to sustaining it. Seeing the Streetfilms hopefully makes people realize that this project is helping set an important precedent and that it’s a rare and precious commodity in this city.

Streetfilms' 2010 video, A Car-free Street Grows in Queens

SF:  As an educator, you've also used some Streetfilms in the classroom.  What has that been like?

DF:  Streetfilms are a great teaching tool for a number of reasons and they have a lot of advantages over some of the limited DVD options offered to educators for urban planning courses. First, they're current, and the variety of topics and cities covered makes them extremely versatile. They are brief, so unlike traditional hour-long educational DVD’s I can use them to illustrate just one specific topic quickly and still have time in class to do other things. Also, while they are packed with information, Streetfilms are also just a lot of fun to watch. The opposite of dry, boring educational films, they are witty and full of powerful graphics and quickly paced and just entertaining as well as informative.

Streetfilms' 2008 video, Queens Play Street

SF:  How do your students react?

DF:  It’s no small feat to keep modern students awake & engaged and not texting or otherwise half-committed to the classroom experience but Streetfilms are a great tactic for that. Streetfilms really help create a very immersive and interactive classroom experience, which is really what you have to do to make sure that students don’t merely learn about issues and tactics, but actually get excited and inspired by what they learn.

Looking for ways to use Streetfilms in your classroom?  Check out the Moving Beyond the Automobile companion curriculum here.

Streetfilms: Why did you choose to show the City Council the film before the vote?

Dan Bower: There are two types of people in the world; people that have seen bike share in action, and people that have not.  If you haven't experienced bike share, it can be very difficult to imagine what we're proposing, especially with the failed "yellow bikes" program in the 1990s.  In talking with our City Council members prior to the vote, it was clear that those who had experienced bike share were totally on board, but those that hadn't were confused about why a system would cost millions of dollars and what the benefits would be.  Given the choice of having to explain bike share to five Council members and a packed audience or showing your film, the decision was easy.  We chose the MN Nice Ride video because it did the best job of explaining what bike share is, how it works, and how it can benefit a community.  Having the Mayor of Minneapolis in the video certainly helped as well.

SF: Do you think that the film helped sway council members to vote yes?

DB: I think it helped the Council members feel more comfortable with their vote.  Several were very hesitant to support the concept going in to council, but the tone changed significantly by the time the vote occurred.  I was able to clearly present the benefits of bike share without having to explain the small details of the system.  The video also set a very positive tone for the presentation and subsequent testimony.

SF:  I read that the city waited to bring bike share to Portland so they could learn lessons from other cities.  Did you find Streetfilms videos on bike shares from around the world useful in exploring other systems?

DB: Absolutely; being able to see systems in action is the best way to spread the bike share gospel.  Short of sending staff and politicians around the country to tour systems, Streetfilms is the best way to educate our decision makers.  We've benefited from seeing the technology evolve and being able to see how different cities have approached the role out of the systems.

Congratulations to Portland!  Do you have a story about how Streetfilms inspired change in your city?  Share it with us today: info@streetfilms.org.

Streetfilms has produced videos on bike share systems from all over the world.

A couple of weeks ago we launched our campaign to raise $25,000 by June 30th, and we can’t stop the momentum now!  A big thanks goes out to all of you who have already donated.

For the last five years, Streetfilms and Streetsblog have been the world leaders in showing how proper transportation policy can make your city and streets safer and greener.  It’s critical we have your support – together we can inspire action and change worldwide.

More than 400 Streetfilms have been viewed nearly 4 million times - educating, enlightening, and inspiring so many of you to make your cities and towns work better for all modes of transport.

Your donation today will help support Streetfilms going forward.  Just look at how some of our films have already inspired more livable streets:

• Our series “Moving Beyond the Automobile” debuted this March and already has seen almost 100,000 views.  The DVD companion and educational curriculum is in high demand from educators, advocates, and policy makers.

• We visited Bogota, Colombia and allowed viewers like you to vicariously experience what 80+ miles of car-free streets were like. The next year, more than a half dozen major U.S. cities including Portland, New York City, San Francisco and Chicago decided to implement their own.  Many advocates told us our Streetfilm played a major role in swaying the powers-that-be to allow car-free streets in their cities.

• Eight short months after the debut our Streetfilm about Physically Separated Bike Lanes, New York City saw its first protected, European-style bike facility, which has now led to many miles more of the same.

Every day we hear your stories about how Streetfilms move people to keep up the fight for livable streets.  We know that is our mission, but we cannot do it without your help!  Please donate to Streetfilms and Streetsblog today.

Thank you!

Clarence Eckerson, Jr.
Streetfilms Director

P.S. Make a secure online donation to help us reach our $25,000 goal by June 30th. Streetfilms is produced by OpenPlans, a 501c3 nonprofit, and your donation is tax deductible. If you prefer, mail your donation check made to out OpenPlans, 148 Lafayette, PH, New York, NY 10013.

Using national education standards, the curriculum offers a multidisciplinary approach to teaching and learning, allowing students to explore complex issues that they affect and are affected by every day.  The curriculum is chock full of fun activities, innovative worksheets, and relevant additional resource suggestions.

We're eager to hear about your experiences using the curriculum, so please drop us a line anytime at info@streetfilms.org.  Click to pre-order the MBA DVD or order high res video files for download.

We'd like to thank The Fund for the Environment & Urban Life for making this project possible.

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