Khan Honored by Advocacy Groups

NYC Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan doesn’t have many friends among the car driving populace. After adding bike lanes all over the city and closing parts of 34th street and Times Square to traffic, everyone from taxi drivers to local politicians have expressed concern.

However, among the cyclists and express bus riders, Khan is their anointed queen. Through her actions, Khan has begun a bicycle renaissance in the city. As a result, the average bike rider has more access and space than ever before.

On the steps of City Hall yesterday morning Khan and the city were honored by members of over a half-dozen transportation activist groups. At the event, a thank you card with the signatures of 1,700 supporters was presented.

Khan was not present.

“I think that all the improvements help move more people across the city,” said bicyclist Timothy Mathews, who rides to work from Brooklyn to Midtown. “It takes me 45 minutes to get to the West side every morning on my bike. I love it; it gets my blood flowing.”

Those who get stuck in traffic might not be as quick to agree. The same goes for train-riders, who have suffered through increasingly limited service and higher fares. However, city advocacy groups believe Khan has done her job. According to city numbers, traffic fatalities at their lowest since 1910 and over 200,000 bicyclists on the street every day.

“The streets are safer now than at any point in the last 100 years,” said Gene Russianoff, senior attorney for the Straphangers Campaign.

Over the past year, Khan has garnered cult-hero status in the transportation advocacy community. Poised to eliminate as many cars off the streets and promote greener ways of getting around, the city’s travel landscape has changed considerably. Planning yesterday’s event since the summer, Kate Slevin, the executive director of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, believed Khan wasn’t being recognized for her work.

“There is a fear of change,” said Slevin. “But we’re here to say that we like the changes that are in place, and the city is safer for everyone because of them.”

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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