NYC DOT - Curb Enthusiasm Podcast

The Curb Enthusiasm podcast offers unique insight on what’s new, innovative, and exciting in the world of transportation and urban planning. Created by NYC DOT, the podcast is focused on issues at the local, national, and international level and features guests who discuss the most consequential transportation work happening all over the globe.

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Episodes

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and other major streaming platforms, or watch on YouTube.

Episode 5: Making Transportation More Inclusive with Veronica Davis

Emily Weidenhof and Diniece Mendes are joined by Veronica Davis, author of Inclusive Transportation: A Manifesto for Repairing Divided Communities, to discuss the importance of collaboration among planners and engineers, the need to have empathy and curiosity in transportation projects, tips for practical community outreach, and equity in urban planning across neighborhoods.
Episode 5 Transcript

Episode 4: Building Better Bike Networks with NACTO Executive Director Ryan Russo

On this episode, Emily Weidenhof is joined by Shawn Macias, director of the bike unit at NYC DOT, for a conversation with National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) Executive Director Ryan Russo. The conversation focuses on the process of building bike networks in cities across the country, the role equity plays in transportation planning, how streets serve different road users, the impact of public support and outreach on projects, and so much more.
Episode 4 Transcript

Episode 3: Innovation, Infrastructure, and Equity in Transportation with MTA Board Member Midori Valdivia

Our hosts Emily Weidenhof and Diniece Mendes chat with Midori Valdivia, a board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and a veteran of major transportation agencies in New York City, including the MTA, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. The conversation focuses on the importance of buses, how transportation needs evolve at different stages of life, how street safety can be fun and make neighborhoods more livable, how cities can work together on transportation, equity and opportunity in the transportation field, and much more.
Episode 3 Transcript

Episode 2: The High Cost of Free Parking with Donald Shoup

On this episode of Curb Enthusiasm, Emily is joined by NYC DOT Director of Freight Mobility Diniece Mendes for a conversation with Donald Shoup, UCLA professor and author of The High Cost of Free Parking. Donald’s research focuses on land economics, public finance, transportation, and parking. Shoup describes how cities can benefit from a change in curb parking rates based on market pricing, how cities can better manage limited curb space, and what the future of urban parking looks like in major cities.
Episode 2 Transcript

Episode 1: The Future of Transportation in the United States

Our guest, United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg, discusses the transportation sector’s role in addressing the climate crisis, reconnecting communities divided by urban highways, reducing traffic fatalities, building the support needed to bring big ideas to fruition, and her proudest accomplishments at U.S. DOT, among other topics. In true Curb Enthusiasm fashion, she also opines on the most annoying breach of subway etiquette. This episode was recorded in July 2024.
Episode 1 Transcript

The Host

Each episode of Curb Enthusiasm is hosted by Emily Weidenhof alongside a guest host from NYC DOT.

Emily Weidenhof serves as the assistant commissioner of public realm at NYC DOT working closely with community organizations throughout the five boroughs to transform their streets as public space. Her focus for over a decade has been strengthening communities through the creation of plazas and shared streets to retooling the curb lane to innovative programming and concessions as well as the comprehensive Broadway Vision Plan, which employs a range of tools to reimagine the corridor from Union Square to Columbus Circle to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists. Emily led on the creation of pandemic response programs to support neighborhoods and businesses citywide including the Open Restaurants outdoor dining program and Open Streets. Most recently Emily helped evolve Open Streets into a permanent program, helped shepherd the expansion of the Public Space Equity Program, and developed a series of public realm design strategies that have transformed corridors like 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights and the Berry Street and Underhill Ave Bike Boulevards in Brooklyn.

Emily has worked as an architect and urban designer in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York including at the NYC Department of City Planning. She has researched and edited two publications with The Earth Institute at Columbia University on the potential impacts of natural gas extraction to the Upper Delaware community and on strategies for maintaining sustainable agriculture in the Catskill Region. She has researched and lectured on the importance of open space in the chawls in Dharavi in Mumbai, India and the role of streets and public space in preserving cultural heritage in rapidly developing Asian cities such as Hong Kong. Emily received her B. Arch from the Pennsylvania State University and her M.S. in Arch & Urban Design from Columbia University where she was an adjunct assistant professor of architecture and taught for five years with the MSAUD Studio.