Mike Lydon

The Benevolent Landlord of St. Marks Place

“Rather than money, Mr. FitzGerald said he cared about adventure, culture and trees.”

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/27/r...

Reads like AV companies learned how to avoid liability from auto-centric traffic engineering.

Sure, rpa.org’s Urban Design Manhattan Vision (1969) laid out a pedestrianized Broadway, but did you know it also proposed drones?! 🤣

I took this pic while in New York City, walking around Brooklyn with @mikelydon.bsky.social chatting about better streets and cities. I take a LOT of pictures, and it’s always fun seeing where I can end up using them years later.

Please keep taking (and sharing) lots of pictures of cities, folks.

Large dumps of snow certainly have their inconveniences in the city but on the plus side it provides an easy forum for meeting neighbors and building community. 👍🏻

If our neighborhood is any indicator, DSNY did a much better job out of the gate with this larger storm. The Bedford Ave PBL even looks passable for the school drop-off / office commute tomorrow, which took more than a week to achieve after the last storm. #BikeNYC

Thanks to the @cnunewurbanism.bsky.social board meeting, I was able to check out Trilith, a new town inclusive of a massive film production hub in Fayetteville, GA. The urban pattern is supported by a mix of architectural styles and full network of public spaces, many internal to the block structure

UMich Urbanism Club builds unsanctioned bus stop benches Last December, the Urbanism Club at the University of Michigan handcrafted and placed benches at multiple inbound bus stops around Ann Arbor.

🙋🏻‍♂️Taubman alumn here… I approve of this message! #TacticalUrbanism

www.michigandaily.com/news/ann-arb...

Data: New Yorkers Keep Biking In This Cold, Cold World - Streetsblog New York City Even in the city's historic deep freeze, New Yorkers are getting around by bicycle, according to publicly available data.

Me and my boys haven’t missed a day all winter but it certainly wasn’t very pleasant over the past few weeks as the network remains full of snow-filled gaps. #CargoBike #VikingBiking

nyc.streetsblog.org/2026/02/11/d...

This is all obviously gross but as a parent I can’t let go of “Nannies.” Plural.

NYC residents who own cars make 2x those who don’t. @mayor.nyc.gov doesn’t need to tax the rich to close the looming $12.6 billion budget gap, he just needs to make them pay market rate for parking.

JFC

The memeification of walking is a clarion call for reclaiming our basic human rights to access what we need close to where we live. 🤦🏻‍♂️

I haven’t seen this kind of comparison before, but that’s just shocking. #ClimateCrisis

Myrtle Avenue is a vital retail corridor and this building, as interesting as the balconies and gardens are, does nothing for it.

I read Justin Davidson’s New York Mag piece about the city’s best recent architecture with great interest. Some good projects highlighted but I disagree with the inclusion of SO-IL’s 144 Vanderbilt. Few other projects have treated their corner with as much disdain for the pedestrian as this one.

My people 🦞✊🏻

We helped triple cycling in Jersey City in 5 years, with 25 miles of PBLs. In line with the mode shift goals identified in the 2019 bike master plan.

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.

Stay free

The same circumstances are true when it comes to metro systems.

China opened more metro lines in 2025 alone than exist in the entire countries of Russia, UK, or France. Over the past 4 years, China built 2.5x as much metro lines as the US has in total.

Whoever achieved this level of winter bikeway maintenance deserves to be put in charge of the entire city.

@mayor.nyc.gov has received high marks for managing his first snow storm but our family will withhold judgement until the Bedford Avenue protected bike lane is safe enough for us to use in the morning. As of 2pm today it’s not looking good.

@nyc.streetsblog.org

Classic ‘sneckdown’ at the corner of Bedford and Monroe, now featuring daylighting where people driving routinely park up to the crosswalk. ❄️🚶🏻‍♂️

@nyc.streetsblog.org

More Cities Are Taking Responsibility for Clearing Sidewalks of Snow — Streetsblog USA Rochester, Burlington, Minneapolis, Duluth and Syracuse have either started clearing sidewalks or are moving in that direction.

Reminder that some US cities have teams clearing sidewalks -- not just roads -- when a major snowstorm strikes. Yours could, too.

What gets plowed when underscores a city’s priorities. The plow has passed by us at least 4x today. Around the corner, the Bedford Avenue PBL, which we rely on to get kids to school daily, remains buried under a foot of snow. Hoping it’s clear by Tuesday @nyc.streetsblog.org 🚲❄️🤞🏻

I am trying not to post on these events in this state of mind but: I hope people understand what the observers are doing is brave and dangerous.

Not sure but we may found out, as Hochul won’t back a tax increase on the wealthy. There have been murmurs of this idea being taken a little more seriously of late because pricing is increasingly accepted given the positive impact of congestion pricing.

A $12.6 Billion Budget Gap May Complicate Mamdani’s Affordability Plans

One way to eradicate the Eric Adams deficit and then some is to simply make residents pay a nominal fee for on-street parking annually, and raise prices to match demand in commercial parking zones.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/n...

When it comes to transit expansion in the US, Seattle has shown itself to be the adult in the room.