My NYC Biking Story: Howard Wolfson
If you follow the Twitter hashtag #bikenyc, you've probably noticed more than a few tweets from New York City Deputy Mayor Howard Wolfson, a.k.a. @howiewolf. In this episode of My NYC Biking Story, we'd like to introduce you to the man who's been tweeting out a flurry of facts, figures, and poll numbers related to NYC bike policy.
Wolfson is one of New York City's new bike commuters. He bought a bike in May and started commuting on National Bike to Work Day later that month. Streetfilms had the opportunity to join him on his six-mile morning trip from the Upper West Side to City Hall.
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Howard Wolfson:</i>
[00.06] My name is Howard Wolfson, I’m Deputy Mayor here in the greatest
city in the world. As many times a week as I can I ride from home
to work and back. I was not an active cycler as a kid. I
was probably the only kid who grew up in the suburbs and didn’t really
regularly ride a bike. And I think all of the focus and attention
on bike lanes made me want to do it. It’s just for me a good
way to get exercise, see the city in a different way. You know
if I can get up on the bike looking like Kermit the Frog riding down
the Hudson, you know anybody can do it. There’s a scene in the
Muppet Movie where Kermit begins by riding his bicycle and my style
on the bike has been compared to his. We’ve seen poll after
poll that has shown that the public supports bike lanes. Despite
a lot of negative publicity, that support seems to be holding pretty
steady. In New York you ought to be able to drive your car, you
ought to be able to take a subway, you ought to be able to take a bus,
you ought to be able to walk, and you ought to be able to ride your
bike. Over the last few months I think people were very frustrated
in some of the coverage they were reading and seeing around biking issues
here, and I’m not in the business of telling the media what to do,
I am in the business of telling our story, to get out the facts, to
make sure people know just how safe bike lanes make the city, how well
used they are and we’re going to continue to make biking a safer,
more accessible option for more New Yorkers. </font> <br>
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