Sarah Goodyear

There's a great discussion going on over at Jarrett Walker's Human Transit blog about how to integrate cycling with transit to solve the persistent "last mile" problem. It's one of the biggest barriers to transit use -- the final mile or so between the bus or train stop and your destination. And it's a perfect distance to cover on a bicycle.

What are people looking for when they search for a place to live? This morning on the Streetsblog Network, we're featuring a couple of posts from people who have been trying to find home. Obviously, different people want different things from their residences at different stages of life. But what struck us about both of the posts was the high value the writers put on walkability -- a trend highlighted by the use of tools like Walk Score on real estate sites around the country.

Over the weekend, I went to visit family in the high desert of Nevada and had to spend quite a bit of time behind the wheel -- there's simply no other way to get around. As a matter of fact, the main road through the town I was staying in is so dangerous that I decided I had to travel to the restaurant across the street from my hotel in the car -- with an eight-year-old in tow, the six lanes of speeding traffic were just too unpredictable to hazard on foot.

If you are a Twitter user, you may have noticed a new hashtag in the last couple of weeks — #30daysofbiking. It’s pretty self-explanatory. People all around the country and the world have pledged to ride their bikes every day for the month of April, and they’re tweeting about it. (Around the block counts.)

We asked. You delivered. Again.

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we're featuring an impressive example of community organizing from Charleston Moves, in South Carolina.

Reports of transit-related victories are coming from two cities with bloggers in the Streetsblog Network this morning.

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we hear about new plans for Bus Rapid Transit from the blog of the Metropolitan Planning Council (the MPC is "an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization…[that] serves communities and residents by developing, promoting and implementing solutions for sound regional growth").

One of our favorite blogs in the Streetsblog Network is Rustwire.com, a great source of news and opinion from the Rust Belt of the Midwest. Today they're featuring a guest editorial that asks some tough questions about smaller cities in the region that are struggling to retain young, ambitious citizens. Often, those youthful strivers want to go to where the perceived regional action is -- Chicago. Is this an inevitable shift? What do smaller cities have to offer? Can they or should they try harder to retain young professionals?

Earlier this week, David Brooks wrote a column in the New York Times about the real roots of personal happiness that got a lot of attention. Among other things, it contained the news flash that commuting makes us miserable.