Rep. Earl Blumenauer dropped by Transportation Alternatives' offices to take a quick excursion around mid-town with Executive Director, Paul Steely White, and Senior Policy Director, Noah Budnick. They checked out a few standard (painted) bike lanes and some of the newer (physically separated) facilities, of which the latter Mr. Blumenauer thought were superior. Along the way he offered much commentary about the state of biking and livable streets in the nation.

With a new, Congressional transportation bill due to percolate to the surface sometime in the near future, Mr. Blumenauer believes the next decade will be the one when we can finally achieve some balance for pedestrians, bikes, and livable streets.  For the sake of our planet, our health, and the green growth of our cities - cheers to that.

For a young international movement, 350 is a rallying cry, an organizing principle. On October 24^th, climate activists in over 180 countries with the group 350.org staged more than 5,200 demonstrations, pressuring world leaders to take meaningful action on global warming at upcoming United Nations climate talks in Copenhagen. In San Francisco, a ride of 350 cyclists in snorkels and flippers gathered at a downtown rally and traced a route through Bay-side neighborhoods threatened by rising sea levels.

Critics of the movement say the goal of stabilizing the atmosphere is too ambitious, and that even a cap of 450 parts per million would be difficult to achieve with curbs on carbon emissions. But the heated debate on the political possibilities of climate action is up against cold, hard, science.

The head of UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, recently endorsed the goal of cutting emissions to 350 parts per million or less. Pachauri, who in 2007 split the Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore, was not able to advocate for any specific goals as chair of the IPCC, “but as  a human being I am fully supportive of that goal. What is happening, and what is likely to happen, convinces me that the world must be really ambitious and very determined at moving toward a 350 target."

The first change you'll probably notice: our home page now features a plethora of category buttons to allow you to see a slate of 15 videos per page.  Our "player window" swaps out with each click, so you never have to leave this page (to still see a film's full deets and viewer comments you can click on the video's title or "READ THE FULL POST".)

One new exciting wrinkle is that we will be able to feature more of other people's great work that you have been sending us. We will curate these videos as often as possible, so if you have done a video you want us to consider or have a YouTube fav,  please by all means send us a link.

Oh, and another thing, this is just our first wave of changes, we'll be following up with another wave in a few weeks with more features and tweaks and we need your feedback before then.  So just comment on this article or e-mail us directly.  All accolades and criticism will be plenty appreciated.

Finally, there are plenty of sharing options: don't forget we are now posting most of our films on our StreetfilmsVlog Youtube account and also podcasting on Apple iTunes.  And for you social media addicts, join our Twitter and Facebook pages, where we will let you know first about new films the moment they post.

Mark Gorton, publisher of Streetsblog, wants to put drivers on notice of their rudeness. While he acknowledges the majority of drivers are not bad or mean people, their actions speak otherwise and they may not even realize it. After all, one rude driver sitting in a crosswalk can inconvenience or endanger dozens of pedestrians in one light cycle. Yet would that same person take a shopping cart in a supermarket and purposely block an aisle and make people navigate around him or her? The betting line says likely not.

So what is it about driving a car that allows people to get a societal pass on their rudeness?

On October 7, over 40 countries celebrated International Walk to School Day. In New York City, Livable Streets Education and the National Center for Safe Routes to School hosted a walk to school celebration in Washington Square Park in conjunction with the Walk 21 Conference.

After students participated in activities promoting better urban mobility, Gil Penalosa spoke to the students and beatbox master Rahzel performed.

With the help of a $500,000 grant from the federal government, San Francisco has launched its own “Safe Routes to Schools” program, aimed at encouraging students and parents to walk or bike to school.

At Longfellow Elementary last Wednesday, October 7th, students joined parents on a “walking school bus.” Although the date was part of International Walk to School Day, organizers plan group walks to school every Wednesday—with the ultimate goal of walking to school every day.

We were able to speak with the organizers and as well as conference registrants, and also got to a chance to chat with some of those on the marquee such as Jan Gehl (Gehl Architects, Copenhagen), Janette Sadik-Khan (Commissioner, NYC Department of Transportation), Kristina Alvendal (Vice Mayor of Stockholm) and Gil Peñalosa (Walk and Bike for Life, Ontario), about the future of walking and the vital importance of this conference in inspiring world leaders.

We'll also take you back into the archives to April 2005, when following a severe injury to Transportation Alternatives' then Deputy Director Noah Budnick, advocates held a passionate rally to ask Mayor Bloomberg to not only improve bike access to the Manhattan Bridge, but to all East River Bridges. Four years later, there's much to be proud of. As Ryan Russo, NYC DOT Assistant Commissioner for Traffic Management points out, back in 2005 about 800 cyclists used the bridge daily. In 2009, those numbers have soared to over 2600. That gives us a serious case of happiness.

So sit back and enjoy. This year over twenty countries participated. New York City featured about 50 spaces filled to the gills with people, sod, chairs, food, fun, games, and in one case - bubbles galore! You'll also get a look at "Hex Pack Patio" the POP.Park winning design from Samina Iqbal.

Our Executive Director Mark Gorton recently went out to the sample the atmosphere on a typical weekday commuter night and posits that we can do much better in our choice of allocation of street space.  His words sum it up nicely:

The reason it's so crowded here is not because there's not enough space, it's because we give all of our space to the least spatially-efficient form of transportation available.

Of course he is referring to the automobile, especially the single-occupant vehicle.  Oddly enough, I did a PSA over three years ago which aired during our initial NYCSR campaign launch.  I filmed most of it in the same location.  And it still looks much the same, perhaps worse.

But now thanks to a burgeoning livable streets movement and a marked improvement in public spaces in NYC, Zozo sightings have been reported. World-renowned crypto-zoologist Donald Druthers has convinced us to document the facts - and yes, it looks like Zozos could be making a comeback! See the evidence for yourself.

Presenting our long-awaited mockumentary "The Search for the Zozo," featuring many of New York's greatest citizens. You'll hear NYC urban expert Professor Kenneth T. Jackson from Columbia University talk about the history of the Zozo. But in addition, you'll hear accounts of sightings and Zozo-inspired stories from Colin "No Impact Man" Beavan, restaurateur (and cyclist) Florent Morellet, livable streets advocate Mary Beth Kelly, author Tom Vanderbilt, and a slew of advocates working to make safer streets a reality for pedestrians, cyclists, and the general public.

And if you see a Zozo? Let us know in the comments section, or dial 555-ZOZO. You can also check out our website WhereistheZozo? for the latest in sightings and news.

I have known James since 1997 when he and I were volunteers at Transportation Alternatives. Over the years we volunteered together for many events, went on countless rides & hikes, and in general just enjoyed talking with each other about the world and bicycling, almost always in a humorous (and sometimes absurd) manner.

It was one of those fun brainstorming sessions between us that led to the idea that James would become the official "bicycling philosopher" for bikeTV - the cable access show I produced from 2001 thru 2006. Thus I present: "What is the essence of cycling?" which we filmed in 2005 while at a Central Park volunteer appreciation party for workers and marshals of the T.A. Century. James' wit and humor are on big display here as he questions people about bicycling and why they do it, then cleverly encapsulates their thoughts.

In a world full of lots of uninteresting people, James was always had something off-beat or quirky to say. He could make you laugh, and laugh hard. Without James, the world just got a whole lot more boring.

Tyrone "Baby Champ" Stevenson, who styles himself the Scraper Bike King, says the first scraper bikes were created by Oakland teens who coveted, but could not afford, scraper cars -- souped-up sedans painted with bright colors and with rims so large they scrape the undercarriage. Scraper bikes are such a hit that many teens skip the cars and keep pedaling well past the age of 16.

On July 25, Stevenson organized the second annual "Bike 4 Life" ride to call for an end to violence in Oakland's neighborhoods. "We're trying to bring together a gun truce," he says, "because a lot of people in our community are dying from guns." This Streetfilm features scenes from the ride and more from Stevenson about the movement he helped launch.

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The Biking Rules campaign outlines several ways to lead by example when riding your bicycle.  So, with a little inspiration from an old Bike Snob NYC post, I made this PSA addressing one of the street codes called "Ride Right" -- meaning, ride in the direction of traffic.  It is simply safer for everyone on the street.

Take a look and then go out and make an even fancier PSA. If watching mine is not inspiring enough, it looks like you can win up to $4000, a bike and some other goodies. For contest details and submission information, visit BikingRules.org/PSA.