Aaron Naparstek

Who is Aaron Naparstek?

Aaron Naparstek is the founding editor and creator of Streetsblog, a web site providing daily coverage of transportation, land use and environmental issues in New York City. Since its founding in June 2006, Streetsblog has emerged as an influential forum for New York City's Livable Streets Movement, dedicated to reclaiming cities' public spaces from the automobile and improving conditions for pedestrians, cyclists and transit users. Streetsblog is published by the OpenPlans.

Before launching Streetsblog, Naparstek wrote the Department of Traffic column for the alternative weekly newspaper, the New York Press and was the author of Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage, a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the unique brand of motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window in Brooklyn. Naparstek also worked as a campaign coordinator for Transportation Alternatives where he helped to organize campaigns to eliminate motor vehicles from Prospect Park, calm traffic in Downtown Brooklyn and enhance New York City's bicycle network.

Prior to his involvement in New York City transportation policy and local politics, Naparstek worked for six years as an independent interactive media producer, designing and developing original content, e-commerce and live webcast products for major corporations, start-ups, non-profits and Internet-oriented venture capital firms. In 1999 he collaborated with his mother, Belleruth Naparstek, the noted psychotherapist, author and producer of the Health Journeys line of guided imagery audio programs, to produce a web-based complementary healthcare service called DesktopSpa.