Political Courage with Brad Lander

Political Courage with Brad Lander

Author: The War on Cars, LLC September 9, 2025 Duration: 1:07:51

Brad Lander has been a fixture in New York's progressive political scene for nearly two decades now, and has earned a reputation as a strong advocate for bike lanes, bike share, driver accountability, and congestion pricing. This year, though, he's become known in a new way. As a candidate in a crowded Democratic mayoral primary, Brad cross-endorsed Zohran Mamdani, who eventually won the race with a margin that shocked the Democratic establishment. And in June, mere days before the primary ended, Brad was escorting a man named out of an immigration hearing when he was arrested by federal agents. Brad joins us to explain how his defense of the Prospect Park West bike lane as a then-new member of the New York City Council became a formative experience in his political career and why the courage and coalition building it takes to stand up for safe streets are also the same tools it takes to fight fascism.

Support The War on Cars on Patreon and receive ad-free versions of regular episodes, exclusive bonus content, Discord access, presale tickets for live events, merch discounts, and free stickers!

***Our new book, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile, will be published on October 21, 2025. Pre-order now.***

Purchase tickets for our Life After Cars publication party and live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn on October 28th. And find don't miss our events in San Francisco, Vancouver, Washington, DC, and more.

The War on Cars is produced with the generous support of the Helen & William Mazer Foundation.

This episode was sponsored by Cleverhood and Upway. Listen for the latest discount codes.

www.lifeaftercars.com


Imagine a world not built around traffic jams and parking lots, but shaped for people. The War on Cars is a dispatch from the front lines of that effort, a collective conversation questioning the automobile’s dominance over our cities, our environment, and our daily lives. Each episode digs into the real-world fight to reclaim public space, examining everything from the politics of a new bike lane to the history of how cars came to rule. You’ll hear from urban planners, activists, historians, and ordinary people pushing back, offering a mix of sharp analysis, on-the-ground reporting, and compelling narratives. This isn’t just about transportation; it’s about the culture and societal choices that have led us here, and the tangible, often inspiring work to create safer, quieter, and more connected communities. Tune in for a thoughtful and necessary critique of the status quo, a podcast dedicated to the idea that our streets can-and should-be for so much more.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

The War on Cars
Podcast Episodes
PREVIEW: Sean Duffy's Great American Road Grift [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:21
This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, becom…
Taking the Transportation Fight to Congress from NY-7 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 2:05:22
Antonio Reynoso, Claire Valdez, and Julie Won are all running in the June 23 Democratic primary for New York's 7th congressional district. That's the seat that opened up when veteran Democratic politician Nydia Velazquez…
A Physical Education with Casey Johnston [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:51
Just as it is with road safety, so much of how Americans talk about health pushes the responsibility for eating right and exercising onto the individual, ignoring the many structural barriers that prevent people from mak…
Streets for Play, Streets for Freedom [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:33
Streets can be more than places to move and store cars—they can be places for children to grow and thrive. Alice Ferguson and Tim Gill are the UK-based authors of a new paper called "Streets for Play, Streets for Freedom…
A Doctor's View of Traffic Violence [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 56:56
We talk with a guest who knows firsthand just how destructive cars can be. Dr. Rex Tai is a physician who works in long-term care. Many of his patients are the victims of traffic violence. His experience providing care f…
PREVIEW: Let's Get Political [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 8:46
This is a preview of a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. For complete access to this and all of our bonus content, plus ad-free versions of regular episodes, merch discounts, presale tickets to live shows, and more, becom…
Tony Kushner on The Pushcart War [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:45
The Pushcart War—written by Jean Merrill and illustrated by Ronni Solbert and first published in 1964—is a charming and provocative children's novel that tells the story of a band of pushcart vendors who fight against th…
America's Hidden Desire to Live Car-Free [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:54
Do people really like our all-enveloping autocentric system quite as much as everyone keeps saying they do? What kind of communities would they live in if given the choice? The answers, as a new study shows, are not exac…
Planning Livable Downtowns with Brent Toderian [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:40
Brent Toderian has decades of experience in city planning, urban design, and transportation. He was chief planner for the city of Vancouver from 2006 to 2012, a time when the city hosted and was transformed by the Winter…