BY KEEGAN STEPHAN  |  Bill de Blasio promises to eliminate traffic deaths by 2024. He calls this plan “Vision Zero” after the successful campaign launched by Sweden in 1997 that has been modified and implemented in cities around the world. A cornerstone of Vision Zero — and the entire urban planning and Safer Streets movement read more here »

BY ROBERT S. TRENTLYON  |  I must differ with The Villager editorial of Oct. 31, “Being prepared for the hurricane next time,” specifically, the statement, “We think Mayor Bloomberg’s idea of removable storm barriers along Lower Manhattan’s edge is a good idea.” These fences would consist of 6-foot-tall stanchions permanently installed along the west side of read more here »

BY CHRIS MCGINNIS  |  I’m a board member of Downtown United Soccer Club. We want to thank The Villager for recently highlighting some of our programs at Pier 40 and J.J. Walker Field (“DUSC program kicks youth soccer movement up a notch,” sports article, Nov. 28). Our volunteer-directed 501(c)(3) nonprofit has been fortunate to be read more here »

BY CARL STEIN  |  Recently, there has been much discussion in the community and in the press about The Greenwich Lane, the Rudin development on the old St. Vincent’s Hospital site. Either tacitly or explicitly, much of this discussion centers on attempting to define what constitutes appropriate development, particularly in communities with strong historic or read more here »

BY DANIEL B. MELTZER  |  On the Friday that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated I was a P.F.C. in training to become a Morse code and radio-teletype operator at Fort Gordon, outside of Augusta, Georgia. I was looking forward to a weekend pass and two days in Atlanta. We were learning how to tune Army radios, read more here »

BY DOTTIE WILSON  |  Mad Max wannabees on motorcycles and amateurs riding Citi Bikes are dangerous. The M.T.A. Select Bus Service, which doesn’t stop at St. Mark’s Place and bypasses most of the East Village, is annoying / criminal. And, as if that wasn’t enough, simply walking on an empty sidewalk these days has become a nasty accident just read more here »