Brooklyn and Manhattan using mainly paint (to delineate where cars could and could not go), planters and outdoor furniture. Not all of her initiatives succeeded. The Bloomberg adminis- tration proposed a congestion pricing system that would have charged people for driving into downtown Manhattan during busi- ness hours, but the state legislature (which was required to approve revenue collection programs in New York City) refused to take the plan up.


Some neighborhoods initially resisted New York’s now-popu- lar bike sharing program, arguing that bike racks would be eyesores and block sidewalks. Even bike lanes generated backlashes in some areas, although the administration ultimately prevailed. Many other cities have faced similar debates, as Sadik-Khan points out. In her view, bikes are not the problem — they simply spotlight the need for better streets.


“Road rage directed at bike riders obscures the underlying de- sign flaws of streets that bring riders, walkers and drivers into con- flict in the first place,” she asserts. “Safe, inclusive street designs have the power to settle these arguments before they escalate into conflict and danger.” Beyond New York, “Streetfight” describes innovative trans- portation strategies in cities around the world. Sadik-Khan also looks back at the great struggle that still frames development choices in New York: the standoff between Robert Moses, who pushed for huge parkways, bridges and ex- pressways, and Jane Jacobs, who fought to protect neighborhoods and street-scale urban life. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses, she contends: Moses destroyed neighborhoods and displaced people, but Jacobs’ perspective is often invoked now to justify NIMBYism that can block much-needed fixes. City planning, in her view, needs to fuse Jacobs’ street-level perspective and Moses’ ability to move projects forward in real time.


If you have never thought much about traffic patterns, you may find yourself looking at the streets around you differently after read- ing “Streetfight.”


The title is aggressive, but the message is positive. New York- ers expect more access to their streets now, and as Sadik-Khan con- cludes, “If you can remake it here, you can remake it anywhere.”


Jennifer Weeks, a former SEJ board member, is an environment and energy editor at The Conversation (www.theconversation.com)


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Liko scuba dives and learns about his Hawaiian heritage. Uncle Keahi, who works at the Hawaii Department of Water, Wind and Sun, investigates an explosion.


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EJ Academy...Continued from page 20


in a fast-growing city in Tennessee. I am a greenish white guy with a noticeable accent when I


speak. I can’t walk unnoticed through the neighborhood. Being an outsider is an obstacle most journalists have to overcome at one point or another in their careers and NNB is a good testing ground for students to learn the necessary skills.


The way I teach my students to overcome this barrier is through basic reporting and community journalism techniques. First, listen, observe, research and learn. Pay attention to the details and don’t make assumptions. Learn the formalities and the cultural localisms. Learn as much as possible about the people in the community and how things work. It’s similar to ethnography. Second, talk with people, not to people. Every interaction is a learning experience. We are not parachuting into the community just to take their stories and run back to the safety of a distant newsroom. We are embedded in the community to learn and share their experi- ences. In other words, we must care about the people whom we cover. Finally, as community journalists, we are there to serve the


community. We cannot detach ourselves from the consequences of our stories. We have to report truthfully, thoroughly, but also thoughtfully. Midtown has gone from a bustling and prospering African American Main Street to an economically depressed neighborhood. Even if Midtown is currently in the middle of a turnaround, failing schools, teenagers being shot and killed, closing businesses and a myriad of problems take center stage in the news. Lost in the overall narrative are stories about the people who invest, heal, beautify, build, teach, play, share, feed, protect, suc- ceed, learn, help and connect with each other in Midtown. These are not just personal interest stories. In NNB, we try to discard the lens that portrays Midtown’s residents as powerless vic- tims and replace it with the lens that captures Midtown for what it really is, a place where people do both harm and good. A place where people suffer from the actions of others, but also act to ad- dress issues, fix problems and learn from each other. I am now building tools to measure the impact of NNB, but the anecdotal evidence from the past 10 years is telling. Students publish their stories in professional news outlets, they build their portfolio and they get jobs and internships because of their experi- ence with NNB. In my opinion, though, the most important is that they become wiser, more courageous, knowledgeable, prepared and empathetic human beings. That, ultimately, is the stuff that makes the best journalists.


A classroom and a laboratory


NNB is a newsroom, but it is also a classroom, a laboratory, a community service office, a showroom for my academic institution and much more. Networking, creating and managing partnerships, promoting and planning events, managing graduate assistants, con- ducting research for NNB, and searching for and securing funding are all part of the job.


I recruit the help of my peers and delegate functions to the best students I have. I ask local journalists and partners to talk about photojournalism, investigative techniques, audio storytelling, video editing or how to research public records and historic artifacts. It saves me prep time.


22 SEJournal Fall 2016


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