This AM New York cartoon, currently making the rounds on e-mail, was surely a ridiculous exaggeration when first published in 2004. But it's not as far off the mark today. As the Times reports, Florida is the latest state to start giving away free "gas for life" as a lottery prize. And though the jackpot, in reality, is $2,600 in prepaid gas cards every year until the winner's death, some Floridians say they would prefer that prize to the game's $250,000 cash payout, regardless of which would actually be more valuable.

"If gas keeps going up and up - and I expect it will - then I'd rather have free gas for life," said Robert Acosta, who spends about $50 a week on fuel for his four-cylinder Toyota Scion and bought a $5 Summer Cash ticket in anticipation of the first drawing, this Wednesday.

Were the 44-year-old Mr. Acosta to win, and live to be twice his current age, the total payout to him in free gasoline would be $114,400. That is far short of the first prize, particularly since virtually all the gas prize would be paid in future dollars.

But with a gallon of unleaded regular in South Florida costing an average of about $4.30, some players are ready to forgo the math.

"Gas has become more precious than cash now," [lottery retailer] Bernard Feldman said.

In these shots from tipster Jeff Prant (more after the jump), Brooklyn Heights residents take advantage a car-free Montague Street this past weekend. Though the July 4th holiday, overcast skies, and inadequate publicity are all suspected to have affected turnout on its first week, those who missed out can enjoy Montague "Summer Space" events on Sundays through the rest of the month.

From the Australian Bicycling Council comes word of a new amenity for bicycling commuters In Brisbane, Australia. Called cycle2city, it provides secure weekday parking and showers for up to 420 members, who will pay between $5 and $7 a day for the privilege of using the facility (that and other figures quoted here are Australian dollars, which are close to even in value with the US dollar these days).

The $7-million bike center in Brisbane's central business district was funded by the Queensland government and the Brisbane City Council, and is operated by a private company. The first of its kind in Australia, it offers swipe-card access and some pretty swank-looking accommodations. The cost of membership is roughly comparable to the local transit fare, depending on what type of ticket one uses.

Local government officials, quoted on OurBrisbane.com, see it as one element in an overall strategy:

State Government and Brisbane City Council have welcomed the centre as part of the battle against traffic congestion. Brisbane City Councillor Jane Prentice said the people of Brisbane now had the perfect reason to ditch the car in favour of more active, healthy and sustainable travel options.

"King George Square Cycle Centre demonstrates our commitment to encouraging people to live a more active, healthy and sustainable lifestyle," said Cr Prentice.

"The more people we get travelling on two wheels or two legs, the more cars we take off the road enabling us to live healthier and greener lifestyles that will contribute to ensuring Brisbane's long-term sustainability."

Transport Minister John Mickel said that, by using the King George Square Cycle Centre, the average commuter could save more than $25 dollars per day.

"The average car commuter can spend up to $33 per day on off-street parking alone when travelling into the CBD," Mr Mickel said.

Think a paid bike commuter facility like this one could fly here in New York, say in Midtown or the Financial District?

Gary Reilly, the Brooklynite whose petition drive for subway service improvements drew thousands of signatures last summer, is running to replace term-limited Bill de Blasio on the City Council. A Carroll Gardens resident and neighborhood blogger, Reilly has made transit the centerpiece of his campaign.

"For me, investment in transportation infrastructure is the key to the continued success and prosperity of our city," Reilly tells Streetsblog. "Within my own corner of Brooklyn, I envision robust F/V and G service along the Culver Line, with express and local service. I see a Smith/Ninth Street Station that is ADA compliant. And I see better bus service, particularly along a re-imagined B61 line, perhaps split into two routes to better insure against disruptions."

Reilly, a 33-year-old attorney, says he would work for a "sustainable funding regime" for citywide transit and livable streets infrastructure and initiatives, including curbside parking reform and "some form of congestion pricing." If elected, he says, "there will be at least one loud and clear voice for transit, for pedestrians and for cyclists on the Council."

As noted in today's New York Times, the 2009 campaign season is well underway, and Reilly has a crowded field to contend with in District 39. CB6 District Manager Craig Hammerman, Pratt Center for Community Development Director Brad Lander, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats President Josh Skaller, and Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation Executive Director Bob Zuckerman are also vying for the seat. (The Brooklyn Paper has short profiles of all five.) All of the candidates are Democrats. All except Reilly live in Park Slope.

Photo: Tom Callan/The Brooklyn Paper

A couple of weekends ago, FIGMENT, a non-profit art and culture festival, held its 2008 event on Governors Island. Streetfilms contributor Nick Whitaker was there.

Partnering with Governors Island, the producers of FIGMENT hope to increase the enjoyment of art by placing it in an under-utilized public space just minutes from downtown.

FIGMENT is free to the public. More info, including submission guidelines and volunteer opportunities, is available here.

9th St. and 4th Ave.: "A dangerous crossing that divides surrounding neighborhoods and inhibits street life."

Transportation Alternatives is seeking proposals to reinvent the intersection of 9th Street and 4th Avenue in Park Slope. "Designing the 21st Century Street," a competition open to the general public, will reward the three most promising submissions with up to $6,000 in prize money.

TA lays out some of the obstacles at hand on the competition web site:

Ninth Street is excessively wide and allows motorists to travel at speeds greater than the posted City speed limit of 30 miles per hour. Furthermore, Ninth Street was recently treated with a new bicycle lane that leads people to and from Prospect Park. Though the reasons for placing a bike lane on this street are clear ... the bike lanes have attracted some controversy because of the rampant double-parking that occurs in the neighborhood.

Fourth Avenue has a raised median to separate travel direction for the length of the avenue. At this intersection, the median has been shaved away to create dedicated turning lanes. This is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements and is not a safe refuge for pedestrians, particularly the children and elderly, who can not make it across the street in the allotted time.

To be contenders, TA says, "Competitors must re-imagine this intersection as a healthy, safe and sustainable street that serves pedestrians and bicyclists first, while functioning as a transit hub and truck route."

Jury members include city planning and transportation staff, along with "Gridlock" Sam Schwartz and Danish planner Jan Gehl. Entrants must register by July 18 and submit proposals by August 18.

Care to get the ball rolling, Streetsbloggers? 

Photo: Transportation Alternatives

Streetsblog regular BicyclesOnly is posting shots of Midtown bus lane violators on his Flickr photo stream. He writes:

[T]his cop is manually writing tickets for blocking the bus-only "red lane" on 57th St. instead of dealing with more serious crimes ... For every violator ticketed, several others get away scot free. Plus FedEx ends up paying a reduced fine thanks to NYC's stipulated fine program. Way to rationally manage those streets!

While bus riders wait for cameras and/or concrete curbs to help keep drivers out of the way, we're seeing the makings of a new public service blog. My Bus Lane, anyone?

Last month, DOT striped buffered bike lanes on Vernon Boulevard (right), part of a package of safety improvements for the north-south corridor that parallels the western Queens waterfront [PDF]. Bike facilities are scarce in this part of the city, and the addition of the new lanes, which eliminated a lane of parking along parts of the route, has not come without opposition from the local community boards, CB1 and CB2. But as Transportation Alternatives' Queens Committee Chair Mike Heffron reports, residents also organized to voice support for the project.

When Streetsblog last checked in, CB2 had tabled discussion of the plan following the land use committee's unanimous vote in favor of it. Long before the proposal came to CB2 -- in early 2007 -- the T.A. Queens Committee wrote up a letter to DOT supporting the bike lanes. Thirteen local groups signed on, including residents of Queensbridge Houses, who live next to the route, as well as several park organizations. In May of this year, a letter backing DOT's final project proposal came from City Council Member Peter Vallone, Jr. DOT took members of CB1 and CB2 on tours of the route and distributed brochures explaining the project to local businesses.

Ultimately, the community boards were not swayed. CB2 never took up discussion of the project at a general meeting, says Heffron, and neither did CB1. Instead, CB1 let its position be known by sending DOT and local elected officials a letter opposing the Vernon Boulevard bike lanes.

In this Streetfilm by Elizabeth Press, New Yorkers enjoy a block party on West 87th Street in Manhattan. The June event was one of dozens sponsored this summer by the New York City Streets Renaissance, many of them still to come. At over 3,000 block parties per year, New Yorkers mark their independence from traffic and pollution. How are you celebrating your car-freedom this 4th of July weekend?

Too good to be true, right? But that's the slant of the front-page headline in today's Times, "Politics Failed, but Fuel Prices Cut Congestion":

Soaring gas prices and higher tolls seem to be doing for traffic in New York what Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's ambitious congestion pricing was supposed to do: reducing the number of cars clogging the city’s streets and pushing more people to use mass transit.

The article reports that traffic on MTA bridges and tunnels within the city and the Port Authority's Hudson River crossings was down this spring by 4-5 percent compared with a year ago -- within hailing distance of the 6.3 percent drop sought by the mayor's plan.

Good news, but how much of the decline is due to the price of gas and how much to the toll increases that took effect around the same time?

Three days after the debut of Bx12 Select Bus Service, Bronx resident and Tri-State Transportation Campaign Associate Director Veronica Vanterpool rode the route from Co-op City to Inwood. On Mobilizing the Region, she reports that riders are becoming accustomed to the pre-payment system and rear-door boarding, with the help of bus drivers and New York City Transit personnel.

Vanterpool's trip was unobstructed -- for the most part.

Fordham Road, a dense shopping district, is one of the most congested areas along the route and it was refreshing to see cars backed up in Fordham Plaza while the bus cruised by in the empty bus lane. However, a few blocks ahead, our smooth sailing was interrupted by a NYCT van and two delivery vans.

Vanterpool says police are continuing to monitor the lanes, and that nearly 100 tickets were handed out on Monday, the first weekday of SBS service. Her ride was 48 minutes, compared to the pre-SBS average of 65. Vanterpool predicts that time savings will increase as passengers get used to the system's features, as long as "vigilant enforcement" of bus lanes continues.

Photo: Mobilizing the Region

Why have Danes again been named the happiest people on the planet? Early this year ABC News cited bikes as "perhaps ... the best symbol of Danish happiness," and in this clip from "Contested Streets" it isn't hard to see why. Here, livable streets guru Jan Gehl and others explain the many ways an increase in bike traffic (now one-third of all commutes) has improved life in the capital city of Copenhagen.

But it didn't happen overnight. Rather, it took four decades of gradual change to make Copenhagen the place it is today. As for replicating that success elsewhere, says Gehl: "if you don't have enough nice spaces, you can see these [become] overcrowded spaces. Then you should just make more spaces."