Contributed Photo
Piscitelli with ECC award-giver David Streever.
Mike Piscitelli has a new job at City Hall. His fans in the community wanted to offer him with one last reminder of his old one.
Bicycle advocates gave Piscitelli a plaque Monday night with this inscription: “ElmCityCycling Golden Chainrings for Distinguished Service to the City of New Haven and the Cycling Community. Awarded to Michael Piscitelli, January 10th, 2011.” The plaque featured three gilt bicycle cogs meshing with a single chain, symbolizing the interdependence of the city, the public, and ElmCityCycling in achieving progress for the bicycle community.
The plaque was awarded at Elm City Cycling’s regular group meeting. Members worked for years with Piscitelli in his capacity as city director of transportation; they helped him craft a new safe-streets policy aimed at making it easier and safer for cyclists and pedestrians to share New Haven’s roads with drivers of cars and trucks.
In his tenure as transportation chief, Piscitelli developed a reputation for keeping his door open to concerned citizens and including them in the process of crafting city policy.
Piscitelli’s new gig is as assistant director of economic development. The cyclists will still be hearing from him, and vice versa; a key component of that new safe-streets policy is to weave traffic-calming ideas into development projects.
A well-deserved recognition -- congratulations, Mike!