Noah Kazis

Southern Brooklyn isn't necessarily known as the epicenter of New York City cycling. Car-ownership rates are some of the highest in the city, and elected officials from the area tend to be particularly vocal livable streets opponents. But a recent, admittedly unscientific, survey shows that there's a hunger for bike infrastructure from Sheepshead Bay to Mill Basin.

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When it comes to getting people to give up their cars, Hoboken is taking the direct approach. If you give up your parking permit, and with it your car, Hoboken will give you rewards worth more than $500.

Manhattan Community Board 11's transportation committee voted in favor of a slate of safety improvements along the Harlem River waterfront last night, a project that will give New Yorkers better access to the underutilized Harlem River Park. Changes like pedestrian refuge islands, sidewalk extensions, and leading pedestrian intervals got a thumbs up from committee members, but they put on hold a plan to reverse the direction of a service road along 135th Street. DOT's full plan is available for download in this PDF.

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

The largest federal transit investment in American history is on its deathbed, reports Andrea Bernstein at Transportation Nation. Three sources have told Bernstein that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is ready to pull the plug on the plan to double rail capacity under the Hudson River this week, though Christie denies his mind is made up.

Last week, the MTA announced it lost another $16.7 million to an Albany raid [PDF]. Because of lower-than-expected federal assistance for Medicaid, Albany instituted an across-the-board budget sweep of 1.1 percent, cutting state spending and also siphoning off theoretically separate revenue streams dedicated to specific programs and agencies, like the MTA. It's a reminder that the state's budget crisis is dragging the MTA and New York City transit riders down with it.

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The Bloomberg administration released its annual greenhouse gas inventory last week [PDF], presenting some great environmental news: The city's annual greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 12.9 percent between 2005 and 2009. But inside the report is a worrisome statistic for sustainable transportation advocates. Barely any of that decrease is attributable to a greener transportation system. In fact, greenhouse gas emissions from private cars actually increased by 1.86 percent over those four years.

When Andrew Cuomo released his "New York Works" economic development plan earlier this week, much attention was paid to the fact that he did it in Carl Paladino's backyard. But there's also a full chapter on rebuilding New York State's infrastructure, particularly its transportation system, buried in that document.