John Surico

3 weeks ago | streetbeat.substack.com | Thomas Frank |John Surico

And welcome to this newsletter. It's where I (John Surico) talk each month about cities & their discontents: streets, climate, cultures, people, food, form, etc. This month, we cover:- The race to be New York City’s next mayor;- Funding five years after the pandemic;- How mutual aid can save lives;& much, much more. Later this year, New Yorkers—or, at least, some fractionof them—will choose their next mayor. And, to put it bluntly, the race is a shitshow.

2 months ago | curbed.com | John Surico

St. James Towers, a Mitchell-Lama complex in Bed-Stuy. Late last year, a clip of Timothée Chalamet uttering the words “Mitchell-Lama” on Theo Von’s podcast went viral, and housing advocates everywhere had a minor meltdown. Von had asked the actor about his childhood in New York City, and Chalamet gave a shout-out to Manhattan Plaza: a Hell’s Kitchen apartment complex for professional artists where other celebrities, like Alicia Keys and Larry David, also grew up.

2 months ago | news.bloombergtax.com | John Surico

The first few weeks of 2025 have been busy for Rob Reiter, a security consultant who specializes in protecting people from hostile vehicle attacks. It’s a brand of urban mayhem that ranges from storefront crashes to acts of terror like the one that occurred in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, where a man plowed a rented pickup truck through crowds of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring at least 35.

2 months ago | bloomberg.com | John Surico

The first few weeks of 2025 have been busy for Rob Reiter, a security consultant who specializes in protecting people from hostile vehicle attacks. It’s a brand of urban mayhem that ranges from storefront crashes to acts of terror like the one that occurred in New Orleans early on New Year’s Day, where a man plowed a rented pickup truck through crowds of revelers on Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring at least 35.

2 months ago | nyc.streetsblog.org | John Surico

New York City’s flimsy bollards can barely survive the daily onslaught of heavy duty trucks and careless drivers. That’s turned me into a man with a mission — to get as many flexposts fixed as possible. Bollards are the city’s objet du jour for protecting all sorts of streetscape tweaks: bike lanes; curb extensions that "daylight" intersections; amenities like Citi Bike docks, outdoor seating, trash containers, and the coming wave of "microhub zones," public e-bike charging, and beyond.