City Experiences: What a Day!

Okay, the last six hours were probably some of the nerdiest hours I’ve spent since becoming a planning student. Check the timeline:

6:00pm – 7:00pm: Photograph traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge. Ask traffic cops about their jobs managing the intersections around one Brooklyn Bridge exit. Record actions of traffic cops at the exit (how long they have the cars wait vs what the light dictates). Go back to ask follow-up question and be told I’m asking too many questions.

7:00pm – 7:30pm: Bike to class at Pratt Manhattan. Spy the super-secret NYPD Taxi IN ACTION on the way uptown!! I took a picture, but I was too afraid to take a close one cause I thought they might confiscate my camera or something. It’s in mid-strobe, but trust me, that thing was flashing up a storm.

7:30pm – 9:30pm: Talk shop with an awesome DOT guest speaker at my Transportation Planning class. He rides to work, too. Tell him that the DOT is doing a good job with the bike boxes and that they make cyclists feel like they are part of the equation of the intersection. Watch him nod approvingly.

9:30pm – 10:30pm: [Redacted]

10:30pm – 11:00pm: On my way home, find a new protected cyclepath off the Manhattan Bridge that actually brings me within a block from my old apartment almost entirely via bike lane.

11:00pm – 11:15: Gawk at the NYPD Auxillary car parked outside my local bodega. Explain to my bodega owner that part of the magic of the new look for these cars is that they give the appearance of more police on the streets, thus projecting an image of safety. Watch him nod approvingly. Then tell him that the flip side is that at the time when you really need a cop to protect you, the fact that this looks like a squad car works against you. Watch him nod again, this time not so approvingly.

11:15: Finally get home to see that the construction that I thought was a water main repair this morning is actually a bulb-out for the street corner!!