BILL ROSEN HAS BEEN MY CO-CONSPIRATOR THROUGHOUT THE WRITING of this book and is just about the best-read and most intelligent person I’ve ever met. I’m convinced Bill can pick up almost any topic and become an expert in just a few months.
Marisa Cortright, my colleague at Sam Schwartz Engineering, provided illumination into the world of Millennials and has been a member from the start of the triad who put this book together.
David Gurin was in effect my teacher of “walking” and cities when we worked together at NYC DOT. His review of an early draft of this book helped affirm the tenor of the book and his criticisms were well-taken.
Cristina Roman finds doors I don’t see and provided a perspective I wouldn’t have realized on my own.
Many people deserve thanks for rounding out this book: Lloyd Ultan, the Bronx historian, for background on the Grand Concourse. Alain Kornhauser, from Princeton, for his cutting-edge take on self-driving cars. Karen Lee, a medical doctor with the goal of making us all healthier with the best medicine of all: walking and becoming active. David Bragdon for his research on the latest trends in transportation. Adria Civit, commissioner of mobility in Barcelona, who explained the secret to safe streets. Ranjani Sarode and David Smucker for great help with graphics. Gabrielle Lewis helped in fact checking. Thank you, John Tauranac, for sharing the very best subway map of New York City.
Many others helped on background, history, and insights. I apologize to those I may have overlooked. In no particular order: Andres Pazmino, Eric Shabsis, Jon Gerlach, Charlie Komanoff, Joe Iacobucci, Morgan Whitcomb, Mark de la Vergne, Danny Garwood, Ben Rosenblatt, Dan Schack, Jeff Smithline, Fred Cannizzaro, Larry Kallman, John Reinhardt, Joan Verbon, Mateu Hernandez Maluquer, Art Cueto, Scott Kubley, Janet Campbell, Jae Kang, and “Uncle” Joe Cortright.
The Perseus PublicAffairs team was terrific in first reaching out to me after a glowing op-ed appeared in the New York Times, especially Clive Priddle and Susan Weinberg, for supportively challenging me to form this book from the myriad ideas and experiences I had in my mind. Maria Goldverg for fine-tuning the book. Rachel King, Melissa Veronesi, and Melissa Raymond for all their hard work seeing the book through production. My publicity team: Jaime Leifer, Chris Juby, and Kristina Fazzalaro. David Steinberger, Perseus’s CEO and my old colleague at DOT—it has been great working together again. Special thanks to my agent Carol Mann for her input and guidance throughout.
And to my wonderful parents whom I miss greatly, David and Frieda Schwartz, for raising me in Brooklyn and not succumbing to the lure of the suburbs.