Janette Sadik-Khan is the current Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation . Appointed by Mayor Bloomberg on April 27th, 2007 [1], she replaced Iris Weinshall , who served as commissioner from 2000 to 2006 and was a holdover from the Giuliani administration.  Prior to Sadik-Khan’s appointment, Streetsblog hailed her as “intellectually curious and in touch with her field’s global innovators” [2].  Most importantly, she was “not a traffic engineer” [2]  and therefore not a cars-first candidate.   

She was discussed as a possible candidate for Secretary of Transportation in Barack Obama’s cabinet.

Several days a week, she commutes by bike to her office in the financial district. 

 

Career

Janette Sadik-Khan has spent her career working for progressive transportation reform.  As Mayor David Dinkin’s Transportation Advisor, Sadik-Khan advocated tolling the East River Bridges, an early congestion pricing proposal [3] . She served as vice president of the global engineering firm Parsons-Brinkerhoff, leading an important traffic congestion study, Growth or Gridlock [4], that was released in 2006.  She was also deputy administrator at the Federal Transit Administration where she initiated their Art in Transit Program [1].   Having written extensively on transportation issues, she served on the board of the New York Transportation Journal.  Here, she published interviews with Jan Gehl and Enrique Penalosa [2].  With a law degree from Columbia University, Sadik-Kahn is a member of the New York State bar. 

Changing direction at the DOT

Under previous commissioner Iris Weinshall, the DOT was seen as upholding New York’s automobile culture.  However, toward the end of her tenure, Weinshall did shift attention from automobiles to transit, biking and walking [5].  She is praised for improving pedestrian safety along the Boulevard of Death in Queens.  

However, Janette-Sadik-Khan is widely credited for bringing about major change in the policies of the Department of Transportation, realigning the DOT away from its former car-focus toward the creation of complete streets.   She has moved beyond simple mobility issues to placemaking efforts, embracing street transformations as the key to quality of life in New York.  To this end, she has directed the construction of many new bike lanes and pedestrian plazas as well as worked on pedestrian and bicyclist safety. In 2007, New York Magazine listed her on their list of "Reasons to Love New York City" at #35 [6], noting that "Recently, the DOT has been championing some very un-DOT ideas. It has replaced parking lots and traffic lanes with chairs and umbrellas in Dumbo. The difference can be summed up in one name: Janette Sadik-Khan...".  In her groundbreaking work in New York City, she continues to draw upon the successes of London, Copenhagen, San Francisco and other cities that are at the vanguard of the livable streets movement.  

 

Key Accomplishments as NYC Transportation Commissioner

•    “Broadway Boulevard”.  The DOT converted two car lanes on Broadway into a network of pedestrian plazas with outdoor seating.
•    Placed a physically separated bike lane on 9th Avenue, working toward the complete streets concept here .
•    Summer Streets
•    Public Plaza Initiative, a plan to establish a public plaza in every New York City community, as part of PlaNYC.  The Pearl Street pocket park in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn is an example [7]. 
•    Meat Market Plaza.  This popular new public plaza replaced a traffic lane, breaking up the dangerous and lengthy crosswalk at 9th and 14th Aves.
•    Bus Rapid Transit – Select Bus Service is New York's first BRT line.   
•    Design contest for the official New York City bike rack [8]
 

ALSO ON THE LIVABLE STREETS NETWORK

• Streetsblog:  Janette Sadik-Khan, “Guerilla Bureaucrat”
• Streetsblog:  Sadik-Khan Said to be Obama Cabinet Contender
• Streetsblog:  Jan Gehl:  New York Could Have World’s Best Streets
• Streetsblog:  The Build for America Plan
• Streetsblog:  Janette Sadik-Khan:  A Reason to Love NYC in 2007
• Streetsblog:  City Launces Public Plaza initiative at DUMBO pocket park
  
• Streetfilms:  Biking the Falls
• Streetfilms:  City Officials Talk Up Bike Month
• All Streetfilms with Janette Sadik-Khan
• All Streetsblog articles on Janette Sadik-Khan
  
  
  

 

REFERENCES

Each source is referred to by the same number every time it is cited. Please keep citation style consistent.

[1] Commissioner Biography.  New York City Department of Transportation. 

[2] Mayor Bloomberg at the Crossroads:  Who Will Run DOT?  Streetsblog, March 20 , 2007.   

[3] Congestion Charging in NYC:  The Political Bloodbath.  Streetsblog, December 4, 2006. 

[4] Growth or Gridlock: The Economic Case for Traffic Relief and Transit Improvements for a Greater New York (pdf file).  Partnership for New York City.

[5] The Iris Weinshall Renaissance.  Streetsblog, October 13, 2006.  

[6] Reason #35 to Love New York.  New York Magazine

[7] Create or enhance a public plaza in every community.  Open Space Initiatives.  PlaNYC.  City of New York, 2008. 

[8]  ‘Hoop’ Wins Bike-Rack Design Contest.  City Room Blog - The New York Times, November 14, 2008. 

 

PICTURE REFERENCES

Pictures are cited in the order they appear above. Please keep citation style consistent.

[1] Streetsblog. 

[2]

FURTHER READING

• Street Fighter.   The American Prospect.  November 24, 2008
  
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