Air Quality
Streetsblog Basics
Smoggy China to Observe World Car Free Day
The Financial Times reports that China's cities will participate in this year's World Car Free Day. These actions have a measureable effect. A recent
study found that when Beijing ordered 800,000 cars off the roads for three days last year, local nitrogen oxide air pollution fell by 40 per
cent.
May 11, 2007
Swerve and Protect: Boston’s Bicycle Bible
In this month's issue of the Boston Phoenix, a 20 page supplement called the Bicycle Bible offers advice on bicycle safety and how to stay alive on the streets of Boston. Although there is a nice piece on Boston's Livable Streets Alliance, the paper may have done more harm than good. With subtitles like "Urban Bikers Need to be Careful, Prepared, and Paranoid" and "Biking on the Defensive," bike commuting is presented as a fringe activity for people with an urban death wish.
May 11, 2007
High-Emission Vehicles to Pay £200 ($400!) to Enter London
London mayor Ken Livingstone, whose congestion-pricing plan has served as a model for Mayor Bloomberg's, is expected to unveil today an even more radical measure aimed at reducing pollution in his city. According to the Guardian, Livingstone's proposal would target high-emission commercial vehicles:
May 10, 2007
There Are Certain Facts That We’ve All Got to Face Up To
Given that it was only a few months ago that Mayor Michael Bloomberg could be heard saying, "We like traffic, it means economic activity, it means people coming here," his pitch for a whole new set of progressive transportation policies at last week's meeting of the Regional Plan Association was all the more remarkable:
May 10, 2007
Sadik-Khan and Congestion Pricing: Ready for Prime Time
Janette Sadik-Khan has one week to go before taking over as
the city's new transportation commissioner. Not surprisingly, a public appearance Friday found her well prepared to push Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC congestion pricing program.
May 7, 2007
New York Magazine Casts a Cynical Eye on “Bloomtopia”
New York Magazine's Chris Smith, who calls congestion pricing a trojan horse, suspects fewer cars and more trees may be a "green screen" for mayor Bloomberg's real estate development agenda:
May 1, 2007
Ken Livingstone on Congestion Pricing in New York
In his most recent article for the Guardian, London mayor Ken Livingstone applauds Mayor Bloomberg's plan to introduce congestion pricing in New York City:
April 26, 2007
Black Clouds Over China
The balloon says: Drive one day less and look how much carbon dioxide you'll keep out of the air we breathe.
April 26, 2007