Car Culture
Streetsblog Basics
Report from Atlanta: Don’t Walk This Way
I can't get behind Prevention Magazine's ranking of New York as 39th among the nation's most walkable cities. But after spending three days in Atlanta for a conference recently, I have no problem understanding why it rates 86th.
March 9, 2007
“People Act as Though the Hybrid Could Solve All Our Problems”
In a lengthy interview with Spiegel, Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn defends his company's environmental record:
March 8, 2007
Feds Withhold Fatal-Accident Info from Public
An article in the LA Times (reg required) details how the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has systematically withheld information on fatal accidents from the public, even going so far as to deny Freedom of Information Act requests from researchers.
March 8, 2007
The Greening of the Times
Today's New York Times has an entire section on "The Business of Being Green" (Times Select), which includes articles on economies of scale in alternative energy, carbon-offset shopping, the possibly endangered practice of truck idling, Danish wind farms, and environmental litigation.
March 7, 2007
Pay Here to Park for Free
George Costanza, who never pays for a garage, fights for on-street parking on Seinfeld.
March 6, 2007
Why Is DOT Reorganizing Park Slope Traffic? Because.
Last Wednesday we learned about the Department of Transportation's plan for a major reorganization of traffic flow through Park Slope, Brooklyn. In Streetsblog's comments section, Andy Wiley-Schwartz of Project for Public Spaces asked: What problems are DOT's traffic engineers trying to solve with this particular set of solutions? Or, to put it another way: What triggered this initiative? Why now? I put the question to DOT and here is what the press office came back with:
March 5, 2007
Commissioner Weinshall Agrees: Two-Way Streets Calm Traffic
While Michael Primeggia, DOT's Deputy Commissioner for Traffic Operations is trying to sell one-way mini-highways through Park Slope as a pedestrian safety improvement, his boss, DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall, is hawking the exact opposite. On Thursday, March 1, at the City Council Transportation Committee oversight hearing on the Mayor's Long-Term Planning initiative, Weinshall touted two-way streets as successful traffic calming measure for Downtown Brooklyn. From her lips to your ears:
March 5, 2007
Old Gray Lady Gets on the Bandwagon
The New York Times came out advocating for progressive transportation policies in its Sunday City section editorial, saying that the departure of DOT Commissioner Iris Weinshall presents "a great opportunity to take bold action on a vexing quality of life and health issue: traffic congestion."
March 5, 2007
NYC on Alert for Motor Vehicle-Based “Noise Terrorism”
Speaking of automobile advertiser shamelessness, check out the marketing campaign that, reportedly, rolled through the Lower East Side last night at around 3:00 a.m. courtesy of Microsoft and Toyota:
February 26, 2007