Air Quality
Streetsblog Basics
City Approves Subsidized Yankee Stadium Parking
Yes, the Yankees' season is over. But on the bright side, this morning the city handed the team a nice consolation prize: $225 million in tax exempt bonds for parking deck construction at the new Yankee Stadium.
October 9, 2007
National Media Noticing the Urban Bicycling Trend
Apparently unaware of New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's assertion that "human-powered vehicles are never going to be the answer," USA Today reports that several large U.S. cities are accelerating their efforts to encourage commuting on two wheels. The article cites New York for the new separated bike lane, and for putting bike racks where cars once parked.
October 9, 2007
The World’s Greenest, Most Livable Cities
Writing in this month's Reader's Digest, Matthew Kahn, an environmental economist at UCLA's Institute of the Environment, analyzed data from 141 nations and ranked the planet's greenest, most livable places.
October 8, 2007
Yankees’ Subsidy Deal Gets Stranger and Stranger
The Yankee Stadium subsidy package is the gift that keeps on giving. If you're the Yankees.
October 3, 2007
Doubts About DOT Congestion Prescription in Jax Heights
Community activists in Jackson Heights have been complaining about congestion at the corner at 73rd St. and 37th Ave. (right) for years. A major traffic study of the area is underway, but according to a DOT spokesman, the department didn't want to wait to implement "short-term initiatives" that could ease the problem. Problem is, some of the activists--including Will Sweeney of the Western Jackson Heights Alliance--aren't necessarily thrilled with the department's solution.
October 3, 2007
Fresh Direct Responds to Environmental Critics
FreshDirect, the company that has built a grocery empire, in part, by using New York City's free, public streets as their virtual warehouse, sent out an e-mail yesterday to let customers know of five new environmental initiatives the company is undertaking. While the company's non-union truck drivers may still be double-parking, creating traffic congestion and driving recklessly through your neighborhood, rest assured that their trucks' tailpipe emissions will smell more like greasy Chinese food than diesel particulate matter:
October 2, 2007
Variable Pricing at MTA Bridges and Tunnels Would Ease Traffic
Over the past few weeks, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign has been collaborating with environmental economist Charles Komanoff to assess the impact of various value-pricing scenarios on travel patterns at MTA toll facilities, like the Throgs Neck Bridge, at right. From this week's Mobilizing the Region:
September 26, 2007
Making the Case for Compact Development
From the people at Smart Growth America comes word of a new book, Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change, just out from the Urban Land Institute. In the book, researchers argue that more compact development (such as Atlantic Station, a mixed-use complex in Atlanta built on reclaimed industrial land, shown at right) must play a key role if this country is to reduce emissions:
September 21, 2007
No Vote on Stadium Deal by Bronx Borough Board
We wrote a couple weeks back that one of the problems with the new Yankee Stadium parking subsidy deal is that the Bronx Borough Board has yet to vote on it -- perhaps because board members, along with the borough president himself, are still waiting for information on the project from the Industrial Development Agency.
September 20, 2007