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Iris Weinshall
Appointed by Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2000, Iris Weinshall served as commissioner of the
New York City Department of Transportation
for nearly seven years before departing in April 2007 to become the vice chancellor for facilities planning, construction, and management at the City University of New York.
Livable streets advocates gave Weinshall's tenure a mixed review. Transportation Alternatives+ said Weinshall "upheld the cars-first status quo" as commissioner [1]. And in 2006, the person she had appointed to serve as the DOT's Bicycle Program director resigned, saying that Weinshall did not give sufficient attention to bike safety issues [2].
Still, during Weinshall's tenure, several new DOT initiatives aimed to reduce the city's dependence on car traffic. For example, the DOT added hundreds of miles of new bike lanes. Despite the dire warnings of traffic engineers, Weinshall pushed for new traffic patterns at the deadly crosswalk along Queens Boulevard [3]. She is widely credited with reducing pedestrian deaths to their lowest rates since 1910 [4].
Weinshall is married to Charles Schumer, the Democratic senator from New York.
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ALSO ON THE LIVABLE STREETS NETWORK
- Streetsblog: The Iris Weinshall Renaissance, - Oct. 13, 2006.
- Streetsblog: NYC DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall Resigns - Jan. 29, 2007.
- Streetsblog: Weinshall Watch - multiple dates.
REFERENCES
Each source is referred to by the same number every time it is cited. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1] Transportation Alternatives on the Resignation of DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall and a To-Do List for Her Replacement. Transportation Alternatives, Jan. 31, 2007.
[2] Bridges Burning at DOT. Streetsblog, July 10, 2006.
[3] The Iris Weinshall Legacy: Queens Boulevard. Streetsblog, March 2, 2007.
[4] Iris Weinshall, Vice Chancellor for Facilities Planning, Construction, and Management, City University of New York: Administation. 2007.
PICTURE REFERENCES
Pictures are cited in the order they appear above. Please keep citation style consistent.
[1]
[2]
FURTHER READING
- Faster Buses, Safer Cycling, Better Pedestrian Protection and Other Plans for the Future — Gotham Gazette
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KEYWORDS
New York City DOT, Transportation Commissioner, bicycle infrastructure, pedestrian safety, car culture.
