Transportation Policy
Streetsblog Basics
Wiki Wednesday: Complete Streets
With all the brouhaha over Broadway Boulevard lately, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the concept of Complete Streets. In a recent StreetsWiki entry, Andy Hamilton gets back to the basics.
September 3, 2008
Sarah Palin, Transit Advocate?
John McCain may not be big on public transportation, but as mayor of a small town in Alaska, his running mate Sarah Palin secured millions in federal earmarks for rail and bus projects.
September 3, 2008
How Do We Make Clean Transportation Part of the National Discussion?
Like Joe Biden, Barack Obama also mentioned Amtrak in his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention, but only in reference to his running mate's preferred mode of transportation.
August 29, 2008
Pew Poll: Most Americans Want More Transit Investment
A new Pew Research Center study on political preferences includes polling data that show almost three-fourths of Americans favor more spending on public transportation:
August 27, 2008
Who Loves Traffic? Dan and the Highway Lobby
U.S. PIRG has picked a winner in its "21st Century Transportation" video contest, and it's this irony-soaked entry. Meet "Dan," a guy who just can't get enough stop-and-go time on the highway. He loves sitting in traffic, and the last thing he wants to see is adequately funded transit giving people an attractive alternative to car commuting.
August 21, 2008
Leaving Cars Behind, Seniors Find Streets Inhospitable
A recent poll conducted by AARP finds that Americans over the age of 50 are cutting down on car trips due to rising gas prices, but are finding public infrastructure, or lack thereof, to be an obstacle.
August 20, 2008
Report: NYC’s Off-Street Parking Policy Will Set Off a Traffic Explosion
Adjacent blocks in Park Slope, one built before parking requirements took effect, and one built after.
August 18, 2008
Transit Stimulus Bill Needs Co-Sponsors in Senate
Two weeks ago, Hillary Clinton introduced a bill in the Senate to provide emergency funds for local transit agencies. Since then, the rest of the delegation from New York and New Jersey appears to have lined up behind the legislation. "We believe that Senators Schumer, Lautenberg, and Menendez support it," says Larry Hanley of the Amalgamated Transit Union, which helped to push the bill forward in both chambers of Congress (the House passed it in June). That leaves 56 votes to achieve a filibuster-proof Senate majority.
August 15, 2008
McCain Impressed by US Trains, So Long as They Don’t Stay in US
Our friend Sean Roche sent us a link to this brain-bending video of John McCain stumping in Pennsylvania. Just before the 1:00 mark, after McCain gives an ambiguous plug for electric cars, he unloads this doozy:
August 13, 2008
Obama’s Energy Platform Has a (Small) Livable Cities Plank
When Barack Obama gave his big energy speech on Monday, his campaign released an eight-page fact sheet [PDF] to go with it. All the way at the end, at the very bottom of the last page -- after the parts about plug-in electric vehicles, oil shale, and clean coal technology -- there's this paragraph:
August 7, 2008