Notes from America with Kai Wright

We’re finally back in the streets -- but are we ready to reimagine how we share public space? This week, a trip through the century-long fight between cars, bikes, and people.

Kai Wright takes us on a bike tour across Brooklyn - alongside Streetsblog New York reporter Dave Colon - to survey the ways in which inequity is built into the blacktop. Former New York City Traffic Commissioner Sam Schwartz a.k.a. Gridlock Sam shares a behind-the-scenes look at the history of the city’s streets and how our relationship to public space has transformed - for better or worse. 

WNYC transportation reporter Stephen Nessen talks about Vision Zero, the push for biking infrastructure and why mayoral candidates’ rhetoric about safe streets is revolutionary. Read Stephen's latest reporting on Gothamist, including “Who Will Be The Next Vision Zero Mayor?”

And we hear a clip of an artistic rendition of the battle for the city’s streets through “A Marvelous Order,” an opera conceived by three artists: composer Judd Greenstein, poet Tracy K. Smith, and visual artist and director Joshua Frankel. The selection features Megan Schubert as Jane Jacobs; with Eliza Bagg, Kelvin Chan, Marisa Clementi, Tomás Cruz, Lucy Dhegrae, Christopher Herbert, and Kamala Sankaram; conducted by David Bloom, and instrumentals by NOW Ensemble.

Companion listening for this episode:

“Government: A Love-Hate Story” (4/12/21)

How did Americans come to think so poorly of government? And how did Joe Biden come to be the first modern president who’s even tried to change our minds?

“Zoned for Resistance” (7/10/20)

Chicago’s Little Village has been hit hard by COVID-19, but after a botched demolition left it coated in dust, one lifelong activist and her community are standing together while apart.

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