Elections
Streetsblog Basics
Let’s Hear More About Transit Policy That NYC’s Next Mayor Can Control
Four of the Democratic mayoral candidates appeared on MSNBC with Chris Hayes Sunday morning, and for a short while the subject turned to transit. About two minutes into this segment, Hayes prompted former City Council member Sal Albanese to discuss his proposal to band together with other mayors to lobby Washington for more transit funding. John Liu, Bill Thompson, and Bill de Blasio then took turns discussing their various ideas for getting the feds and/or Albany to direct more funding to the city's transit system.
March 25, 2013
At Transit Forum, Albanese, Allon, and Carrión Support Rational Tolls
Friday's transit forum hosted by Transit Workers Union Local 100 and a coalition of rider advocacy groups offered an opportunity for a more more detailed discussion of transit policy than this year's mayoral race has seen so far. While the candidates offered few specifics about how they would improve transit for the millions of New Yorkers who depend on trains and buses, clear differences emerged, especially on the question of how to increase funding for the debt-ridden MTA.
February 25, 2013
St. Louis Mayoral Contender Lewis Reed Hopes to Bike to City Hall
Via the Kansas Cyclist, here's a campaign ad from St. Louis mayoral hopeful Lewis Reed that would seem strangely inconceivable in NYC's current political climate.
February 20, 2013
How the Mayoral Candidates Stack Up on Safe Streets for Biking, So Far
Matt Flegenheimer got five leading mayoral candidates on the record about bike lanes for a story in the Times today, and one of the encouraging things about it is that you can start to see the candidates running against each other (and not just the three-term, lame duck incumbent) on bike policy.
February 13, 2013
With Joe Lhota’s Impending Mayoral Run, Transit Can’t Be Ignored in 2013
A few quick thoughts on the news that MTA Chair Joe Lhota is going to leave the agency at the end of week to clear the way for a mayoral run...
December 19, 2012
Why Traffic Deaths Are More Common in Red States Than in Blue States
Public interest journalist Stuart Silverstein at FairWarning.org has uncovered the fact that red states (defined as those that went for Mitt Romney in the last election) have higher traffic fatality rates than blue states (those that went for Barack Obama). The correlation is striking, Silverstein says, but he's at a loss to explain it:
November 20, 2012
Communities Vote to Tax Themselves to Support Transit
In addition to some of the high-profile measures that we covered already, Election Day brought many successes on some smaller ballot initiatives. According to the Center For Transportation Excellence, pro-transit campaigns had an 80 percent success rate this year at the ballot box, with more ballot measures coming up for a vote than any previous year.
November 9, 2012
Mixed Bag for Closely-Watched Local Transit Races
Last night delivered some good results -- and some disappointment -- for transit-related ballot initiatives around the country.
November 7, 2012
Election Reveals Who Will Shape the Next Transportation Bill
Yesterday's election made history on many different fronts: gay marriage, immigration, consumer protection, and more. But America also voted to maintain essentially the same balance of power in Washington that has brought about so much gridlock. In the transportation arena, that gridlock meant three years of dithering on a national bill and, ultimately, a new law that failed to make many of the reforms needed to help the country build a greener, safer, 21st century transportation system.
November 7, 2012
Where to Get Your 2012 Transportation Ballot Results
It's Election Day -- finally! The top of the ticket has sucked most of the oxygen out of the room, but don't forget that there are 19 transportation-related measures on ballots across the country. So far this year, pro-transit measures have an 86 percent success rate at the ballot, and there are more transportation amendments being voted on this year than any other in recent memory. Here's Streetsblog's overview of the big ones.
November 6, 2012