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Sophia Lebowitz

@sophlebo.bsky.social

2.5K followers 380 following 130 posts

Reporter @ Streetsblog NYC I also make documentaries: https://www.sophialebowitz.com/film

www.sophialebowitz.com

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Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · 2d

The "solution" is these temp racks at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd entrace, but these never feel as secure as real bike racks.

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · 2d

The Davis Center bike racks in Central Park are finally opened, but they are still in the middle of the park's biggest downhill, and inaccessible to those who would want to bike in from Harlem.

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · 2d

An Uber driver hit someone on a scooter after making an illegal u-turn, but it was Uber's in-app GPS that told him to do it. The ongoing lawsuit shows how Uber's drivers' pervasive fear of customer complaints results in reckless driving and following the app over individual judgement.

Under Pressure: Uber's Navigation System Endangers the Public With Reckless Driving Directions - Streetsblog New York City

An Uber driver made an illegal u-turn and hit someone, but the in-app navigation told him to do it and the company won't give up the code.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Gersh Kuntzman @realgershkuntzman.bsky.social · 7d

Another great post by @sophlebo.bsky.social about the federal Drug Enforcement Administration's seizure of the NYC DOT's great 10th Avenue bike lane. But this great story also comes with a video of me protesting the illegal takeover by taunting DEA with a doobie! nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/10/01/w...

West Side Pols Call on Trump Administration to Stop Illegally Blocking 10th Ave. Bike Lane - Streetsblog New York City

The DEA blockade of the 10th Avenue bike lane continues, and local politicians are demanding the federal agency stop denying cyclists safety.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Kevin Duggan @kevinduggan.bsky.social · 8d

DOT's crusade against a Council bill for universal daylighting was able to peel off support by Council Member Gale Brewer, after agency officials told her it would remove 13,000 parking spots in her Upper West Side district. nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/09/30/g...

Gale's A-Blowin': Brewer Abandons Daylighting Bill After Push By Parking-First DOT - Streetsblog New York City

DOT's anti-daylighting "scare tactics" have peeled off Council Member Gale Brewer, who says the policy will gobble up too many parking spots.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Kevin Duggan @kevinduggan.bsky.social · 13d

"Since the [Delivery Service Partners] are separate companies, Amazon argues that it can't be held liable for union busting, since the workers don't technically work for them." -- via @sophlebo.bsky.social nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/09/25/n...

New Bill Would Force Amazon To Directly Hire Its Delivery Drivers - Streetsblog New York City

Council Member Tiffany Caban wants Amazon to have to directly hire it's employees who make deliveries across the city.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · 14d

This is your bike lane on drugs!!

Federal Drug Agents Seize New 10th Avenue Bike Lane - Streetsblog New York City

The Department of Transportation is letting the DEA effectively redesign a block that should have a protected bike lane.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Jehiah @jehiah.cz · 14d

Streetsblog is catching up to my posts a year later, covering the dispute affecting completion of this one block of 10th Ave bike lane.

cc @sophlebo.bsky.social

nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/09/24/f...

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · 16d

In order to enforce the newest delivery worker minimum pay laws, DCWP needs more funding. The agency's low budget, less than 1% of city total, has left it struggling to respond to worker abuse complaints.

Agency Needs More Funding To Expand Delivery Worker Protections - Streetsblog New York City

The agency tasked with protecting NYC's workers needs more money to implement recent laws passed to expand protections for delivery workers.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · 22d

DOT warns against a Council bill which would allow FHVs to park in commercial loading zones. Uber and Lyft have over 80K drivers on the road, in contrast to around 13K taxi medallions. The companies don't provide "bases," all are competing for the few city run Taxi Relief Stands.

DOT Warns City Council Against Letting Taxi Drivers Park in Loading Zones - Streetsblog New York City

A bill to let for-hire vehicle drivers park in delivery zones will cause more double parking and congestion, New York City officials warned.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · 29d

The city's first-of-its-kind "deliverista" minimum wage is working: previously underpaid gig-workers are taking home more money per hour and delivery app companies are getting more orders than ever.

Have Cake, Eat It Too: Delivery Workers Earning More, Industry Booming With Minimum Pay Standard - Streetsblog New York City

New data shows record-setting consumer revenue for delivery apps, but Instacart is still pushing back on a minimum wage for its workers.

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Kevin Duggan @kevinduggan.bsky.social · 29d

The city's first-of-its-kind "deliverista" minimum wage is working: previously underpaid gig-workers are taking home more money per hour and delivery app companies are getting more orders than ever, reports @sophlebo.bsky.social nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/09/09/h...

Have Cake, Eat It Too: Delivery Workers Earning More, Industry Booming With Minimum Pay Standard - Streetsblog New York City

New data shows record-setting consumer revenue for delivery apps, but Instacart is still pushing back on a minimum wage for its workers.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · Sep 3

NEW: The police officer who fatally struck a man in Flushing Meadows Corona Park was not even looking at the road while driving on the usually car-free path, two witnesses said — confounding the pain of a grieving family that says it has been completely left in the dark by the NYPD. buff.ly/LEy1XIh

Cop Who Fatally Struck a Man in Flushing Meadows Park Wasn't Even Looking: Witnesses - Streetsblog New York City

And the NYPD has completely clammed up about the crash caused by one of its officers. State AG Letitia James is now investigating.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Sep 2

Instacart is now claiming it "supports" minimum wage for its workers, abandoning its (unsuccessful) argument that the policy would raise grocery prices for low income families. But the company still doesn't really support a fair wage, experts say.

Instacart Now Claims it 'Supports' Worker Minimum Wage That It Fought To Defeat; Experts See 'Corporate Spin' - Streetsblog New York City

After an all-out campaign against a minimum wage for its workers, Instacart now claims it "supports" the bill. But that's just "a flat-out lie," said one worker advocate.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · Aug 28

More than 150 injuries from traffic crashes could have been avoided.

Nearly a quarter-million bus riders could have had faster commutes.

Instead, Eric Adams’s City Hall stymied several redesigns at the behest of powerful interests. nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/08/28/s...

'Safety for Sale': How City Hall Corruption Hurt New Yorkers and Slowed Bus Riders - Streetsblog New York City

Mayor Eric Adams's interventions into DOT projects at the behest of campaign donors hurt New Yorkers — literally.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Aug 28

I looked into all the other projects Mayor Adams has stalled, reversed, or watered down in favor of those with outsized influence. Ingrid Lewis-Martin allegedly accepting bribes to stop the McGuinness Blvd redesign is an outlier in a political system where legal bribery is easy to pull off.

MONEY TALKS: Business Interests Call the Shots in Eric Adams's New York - Streetsblog New York City

The rich and powerful have the fast track stop street safety projects in Mayor Eric Adams's New York City.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

City Nolan @ndhapple.bsky.social · Aug 22

Vet of famously fast-to-publish ProPublica checks has thoughts

A dumb skeet

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · Aug 15

End your day with our funny Friday video of cops entrapping cyclists at the Williamsburg Bridge. Come for the bad road design, stay for the blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo of Streetsblog editor Gersh Kuntzman:

Friday Video: Poor Bike Lane Design Shouldn't be a Ticketable Offense - Streetsblog New York City

The Manhattan entrance to the Williamsburg Bridge bike path is confusing and dangerous, but that hasn’t stopped police from preying on cyclists.

Reposted by Sophia Lebowitz

Streetsblog NYC @nyc.streetsblog.org · Aug 14

BREAKING: City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams eviscerates Mayor Adams — and cites Streetsblog's @sophlebo.bsky.social — in her promise to override his veto of a delivery worker minimum wage bill:

City Council Vows To Override Mayor's 'Senseless' Vetoes - Streetsblog New York City

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams had choice words for the mayor who vetoed her colleagues' worker protection bill.

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Aug 14

Spoke to researchers in the labor and food justice spaces who said the mayor and Instacart's arguments against minimum pay don't carry any water.

City Council Vows To Override Mayor's 'Senseless' Vetoes - Streetsblog New York City

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams had choice words for the mayor who vetoed her colleagues' worker protection bill.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Aug 14

Speaker Adams says she'll override the mayor's "senseless" vetoes of expanding minimum wage: "Despite [Instacart's] efforts to deceive the public, these bills do not increase the cost of groceries. Any added fees are about padding their own profits and not the cost of groceries, be not deceived."

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Aug 12

In a quarterly earnings call last week, executives for the publicly traded company told shareholders that business was indeed booming. The key? Reducing the amount the company spends on pay to workers — which it calls "shoppers" — by "batching" orders.

As Mayor Adams Preps Veto of Minimum Wage Bill, Instacart Boasts 'Squeezing' Its Workers - Streetsblog New York City

Instacart's months-long campaign against pay parity for grocery delivery workers appears to have borne fruit with a mayor who claims he supports workers.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Aug 12

Went to Wegmans and got a few things, spent $27.25. Replicated the order on Instacart and the total was $47.84. Instacart is arguing that it's a lifeline for low income families, and that a worker minimum wage would force them to raise prices for consumers... how does this make sense? It doesn't!

Vital 'Lifeline' or Blatant Ripoff? Instacart Makes Groceries 75% More Expensive - Streetsblog New York City

Instacart is arguing that its services are a lifeline to low income New Yorkers, but the app makes groceries 75 percent more expensive.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Aug 6

Construction has begun on NYC's "deliverista hub," converting an abandoned City Hall newsstand into a place for workers to charge their batteries, access resources, and park their bikes. The hub will be a small piece of a larger patchwork of city infrastructure these 80,000 plus workers rely on.

Construction Begins On Deliverista Hub Highlighting Need For More Infrastructure - Streetsblog New York City

It's one small hub for a few humans, but what's needed is a giant leap for humankind.

nyc.streetsblog.org

Sophia Lebowitz @sophlebo.bsky.social · Aug 6

The mayor wont confirm whether or not he will sign a package of bills which would close the "Instacart loophole" and expand delivery worker minimum wage to all workers. But in 2022, his administration put out a report that promised to do just that.

Eric Adams May Veto Grocery Delivery Minimum Wage that Eric Adams Championed - Streetsblog New York City

A 2022 report from the former Democrat promised to expand labor protections to more app delivery workers, but he won't commit to supporting Council bills trying to do just that.

nyc.streetsblog.org