Paul Steely White | Transportation Alternatives

http://www.transalt.org

Paul Steely White is the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, the non-profit advocacy group that is catalyzing the rapid growth of New York City’s bicycle lane network and car-free public spaces. Paul joined Transportation Alternatives in 2004 after seven years as Projects Director for the New York City based Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. (itdp.org) Founded in 1973, the mission of Transportation Alternatives (transalt.org) is to “reclaim New York City streets from the automobile and promote bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives.” Under Paul’s leadership, Transportation Alternatives has released dozens breakthrough studies and pioneered a host of new advocacy strategies such as citizen-led traffic enforcement and the playful (if quasi-legal)occupation of car parking spots. In the past four years, Transportation Alternatives’ dues-paying membership has doubled to 8,100, its staff has quadrupled to 20 and its base of subscribers, activists and volunteers has grown to 32,000. In 2010, T.A.’s priorities for New York City streets include a public bicycle share program similar to the popular Velib system in Paris. Paul has an MS in Environmental Science from the University of Montana at Missoula, where in addition to his coursework he worked to spark a local flowering of bicycle culture and infrastructure. Paul has appeared hundreds of times in local and national media, and has shared his advocacy strategies with diverse audiences around the world. When he is not fighting for a less car-centric city, you may find Paul playing in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park with his wife Zoe and their baby daughter, Anna Jane White.