Hip Williamsburg party hails ‘Street Fight For People Space’
When former Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan celebrated the release of her new book “Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution” this past Thursday, it made sense that she chose Brooklyn Bowl as the location for the launch party. The hip Williamsburg music venue and nightclub was buzzing with a youthful energy that night, reflecting the former commissioner’s unique ability to generate popular interest in the DOT and issues of public transportation. When Sadik-Khan took the stage, urban transportation policy, often associated with red tape and bureaucratic drudgery, suddenly became sexy.
The presentation she gave highlighted some of the progress made by the DOT during her tenure from 2007 to 2013, including the installation of 400 miles of bike lanes, 60 pedestrian plazas and the launch of CitiBike, NYC’s first bike share program, which recently became the largest bike share in North America. She was also excited to announce that “New York City is leading the way in data-driven approaches to reducing traffic fatalities.”
Sadik-Khan, referred to by her colleagues as “JSK,” is perhaps most well-known for spearheading the transformation of Times Square into a pedestrian plaza, which she irreverently referred to as “the living room of New York City.”