Peter Norton
@norton.bsky.social
Historian; author of Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, and of Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.
The forgotten sit-in of 1906:
Citing a judge’s opinion, a carload of Brooklynites questioned the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company’s right to charge a second 5-cent fare. When the conductor insisted, they refused to pay. ...
Citing a judge’s opinion, a carload of Brooklynites questioned the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company’s right to charge a second 5-cent fare. When the conductor insisted, they refused to pay. ...
November 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM
The forgotten sit-in of 1906:
Citing a judge’s opinion, a carload of Brooklynites questioned the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company’s right to charge a second 5-cent fare. When the conductor insisted, they refused to pay. ...
Citing a judge’s opinion, a carload of Brooklynites questioned the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company’s right to charge a second 5-cent fare. When the conductor insisted, they refused to pay. ...
Affordable public transportation is not a new issue in New York.
Brooklyn, 1906: A judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge riders a second 5-cent fare for passage to Coney Island. The BRT disagreed. ...
Brooklyn, 1906: A judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge riders a second 5-cent fare for passage to Coney Island. The BRT disagreed. ...
November 16, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Affordable public transportation is not a new issue in New York.
Brooklyn, 1906: A judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge riders a second 5-cent fare for passage to Coney Island. The BRT disagreed. ...
Brooklyn, 1906: A judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge riders a second 5-cent fare for passage to Coney Island. The BRT disagreed. ...
“Given the contradictory statements, someone is obviously not telling the truth.”
Since his forced resignation of June 27, James E. Ryan, president of the University of Virginia from 2018 to 2025, has observed a diplomatic silence. ...
Since his forced resignation of June 27, James E. Ryan, president of the University of Virginia from 2018 to 2025, has observed a diplomatic silence. ...
November 15, 2025 at 4:33 PM
“Given the contradictory statements, someone is obviously not telling the truth.”
Since his forced resignation of June 27, James E. Ryan, president of the University of Virginia from 2018 to 2025, has observed a diplomatic silence. ...
Since his forced resignation of June 27, James E. Ryan, president of the University of Virginia from 2018 to 2025, has observed a diplomatic silence. ...
Affordable public transportation is not a new issue in New York.
In 1906, when a judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge passengers a second 5-cent fare to reach Coney Island, passengers refused to pay it. ...
In 1906, when a judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge passengers a second 5-cent fare to reach Coney Island, passengers refused to pay it. ...
November 15, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Affordable public transportation is not a new issue in New York.
In 1906, when a judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge passengers a second 5-cent fare to reach Coney Island, passengers refused to pay it. ...
In 1906, when a judge said the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company could not charge passengers a second 5-cent fare to reach Coney Island, passengers refused to pay it. ...
“Rosie Zeits, five years old, who was riding to Coney Island to join her mother and sisters, and had only five cents to pay her fare, was asked for the extra nickel by the conductor of the car. She began to cry and said she had no more money. ... ”
November 14, 2025 at 12:45 PM
“Rosie Zeits, five years old, who was riding to Coney Island to join her mother and sisters, and had only five cents to pay her fare, was asked for the extra nickel by the conductor of the car. She began to cry and said she had no more money. ... ”
Lillian Wald on the right to (get out of) the city:
“Ten cents for a ride to Coney Island practically closes that resort to the families I have in mind.”
Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement and was a founding member of the NAACP. She was a suffragist and a pioneer of public health nursing.
“Ten cents for a ride to Coney Island practically closes that resort to the families I have in mind.”
Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement and was a founding member of the NAACP. She was a suffragist and a pioneer of public health nursing.
November 13, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Lillian Wald on the right to (get out of) the city:
“Ten cents for a ride to Coney Island practically closes that resort to the families I have in mind.”
Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement and was a founding member of the NAACP. She was a suffragist and a pioneer of public health nursing.
“Ten cents for a ride to Coney Island practically closes that resort to the families I have in mind.”
Wald founded the Henry Street Settlement and was a founding member of the NAACP. She was a suffragist and a pioneer of public health nursing.
The New York Evening World’s reply to Henri Lefebvre, six decades in advance:
The right to the city includes the right to get out of the city.
Here the World condemns the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company for demanding two five-cent fares for service to Coney Island.
The right to the city includes the right to get out of the city.
Here the World condemns the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company for demanding two five-cent fares for service to Coney Island.
November 12, 2025 at 5:03 PM
The New York Evening World’s reply to Henri Lefebvre, six decades in advance:
The right to the city includes the right to get out of the city.
Here the World condemns the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company for demanding two five-cent fares for service to Coney Island.
The right to the city includes the right to get out of the city.
Here the World condemns the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company for demanding two five-cent fares for service to Coney Island.
La « vérité » d’une question sociale et scientifique ... se construit de façon plurielle. La sécurité routière n’y échappe en rien et emblématise même ce processus multifactoriel de construction de savoir.
— Mathieu Flonneau
— Mathieu Flonneau
November 12, 2025 at 2:53 PM
La « vérité » d’une question sociale et scientifique ... se construit de façon plurielle. La sécurité routière n’y échappe en rien et emblématise même ce processus multifactoriel de construction de savoir.
— Mathieu Flonneau
— Mathieu Flonneau
In other forms, demands for fare-free public transit have a long history. In New York their ancestor is the demand for the fixed, five-cent fare. In 1900, when the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company began charging a second nickel to passengers going to Coney Island, many New Yorkers objected.
November 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM
In other forms, demands for fare-free public transit have a long history. In New York their ancestor is the demand for the fixed, five-cent fare. In 1900, when the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company began charging a second nickel to passengers going to Coney Island, many New Yorkers objected.
Be more careful than I was, Virginians. I need to vote early. I typed "voting early in albemarle county" into the search box. The top link read "Vote Early - Find Your Polling Place Today - Check Polling Locations." I clicked it and started entering my information. Only then did this box appear.
October 28, 2025 at 2:51 PM
Be more careful than I was, Virginians. I need to vote early. I typed "voting early in albemarle county" into the search box. The top link read "Vote Early - Find Your Polling Place Today - Check Polling Locations." I clicked it and started entering my information. Only then did this box appear.
This is not patriotism. This is not conservatism. This is not sanity.
DT and all his apologists disgrace themselves and disgrace the United States.
DT and all his apologists disgrace themselves and disgrace the United States.
October 28, 2025 at 12:55 PM
This is not patriotism. This is not conservatism. This is not sanity.
DT and all his apologists disgrace themselves and disgrace the United States.
DT and all his apologists disgrace themselves and disgrace the United States.
The flag is not magic.
It cannot make every abomination it touches “conservative.”
It cannot make every abomination it touches “conservative.”
October 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
The flag is not magic.
It cannot make every abomination it touches “conservative.”
It cannot make every abomination it touches “conservative.”
If you object to DJT’s lie that this absurd vanity project would not even touch any part of the existing White House, or if you object to the unannounced demolition of the entire East Wing, the president’s sycophants want you to know that you are an “unhinged leftist.”
October 23, 2025 at 8:17 AM
If you object to DJT’s lie that this absurd vanity project would not even touch any part of the existing White House, or if you object to the unannounced demolition of the entire East Wing, the president’s sycophants want you to know that you are an “unhinged leftist.”
This development “comes after the university surprised some administration officials by publicly rejecting a Trump administration proposal to link preferential treatment for federal funding to a school’s public commitment to Pres. Trump’s higher education ideology.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
October 22, 2025 at 9:37 AM
This development “comes after the university surprised some administration officials by publicly rejecting a Trump administration proposal to link preferential treatment for federal funding to a school’s public commitment to Pres. Trump’s higher education ideology.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/u...
In a speech in Iowa on January 19, 2004, presidential contender Howard Dean screamed “yeah!” The utterance lasted about 1 second. Within a week, the consensus was that this moment of spontaneity was unpresidential, and so undignified that Dean could no longer be considered a serious candidate.
October 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
In a speech in Iowa on January 19, 2004, presidential contender Howard Dean screamed “yeah!” The utterance lasted about 1 second. Within a week, the consensus was that this moment of spontaneity was unpresidential, and so undignified that Dean could no longer be considered a serious candidate.
“I could not in light of these firm and repeated commitments carry out your direction.”
October 20: On this day in 1973, Elliot Richardson set the example we need in 2025.
Rather than accede to a president’s personal interference in the Department of Justice, the Attorney General resigned.
October 20: On this day in 1973, Elliot Richardson set the example we need in 2025.
Rather than accede to a president’s personal interference in the Department of Justice, the Attorney General resigned.
October 20, 2025 at 10:51 AM
“I could not in light of these firm and repeated commitments carry out your direction.”
October 20: On this day in 1973, Elliot Richardson set the example we need in 2025.
Rather than accede to a president’s personal interference in the Department of Justice, the Attorney General resigned.
October 20: On this day in 1973, Elliot Richardson set the example we need in 2025.
Rather than accede to a president’s personal interference in the Department of Justice, the Attorney General resigned.
There was a time when the White House federalized a state national guard to protect Americans’ human and constitutional rights under the First Amendment to the freedoms of peaceable assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
October 18, 2025 at 3:31 PM
There was a time when the White House federalized a state national guard to protect Americans’ human and constitutional rights under the First Amendment to the freedoms of peaceable assembly and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
October 13, 1925: One hundred years ago today, Miller McClintock was hired to serve as the director of the new Albert Russel Erskine Bureau for Street Traffic Research, endowed at the Southern Branch of the University of California (today’s UCLA). ...
October 13, 2025 at 11:04 PM
October 13, 1925: One hundred years ago today, Miller McClintock was hired to serve as the director of the new Albert Russel Erskine Bureau for Street Traffic Research, endowed at the Southern Branch of the University of California (today’s UCLA). ...
Charles Thompson was an accidental pioneer.
The Los Angeles Traffic Ordinance of 1925 went into effect 100 years ago this year, on January 24. It was not the first such ordinance, but it was by far the most successful – and the one that became the model for the nation. ...
The Los Angeles Traffic Ordinance of 1925 went into effect 100 years ago this year, on January 24. It was not the first such ordinance, but it was by far the most successful – and the one that became the model for the nation. ...
October 13, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Charles Thompson was an accidental pioneer.
The Los Angeles Traffic Ordinance of 1925 went into effect 100 years ago this year, on January 24. It was not the first such ordinance, but it was by far the most successful – and the one that became the model for the nation. ...
The Los Angeles Traffic Ordinance of 1925 went into effect 100 years ago this year, on January 24. It was not the first such ordinance, but it was by far the most successful – and the one that became the model for the nation. ...
