Around the Block
Streetsblog Basics
Get Ready for Uber’s “Flying Cars” Conference to Generate Lots of Dumb Headlines
Whizzing above the city may sound appealing in a Jetsons sort of way, but Uber's thinking on this technology is completely untethered from its impact on the cities and towns below, where the people are.
April 25, 2017
It’s Hard to Overstate the Health Benefits of Biking to Work
A massive new study of commuters in the United Kingdom reveals that people who bike to work tend to live longer and are at lower risk of heart disease and cancer.
April 24, 2017
The Human Toll of Normalizing Distracted Driving
Nowhere is the culture of permissiveness more apparent, or deadly, than in Texas, where about 3,500 people lose their lives in traffic every year. It is one of just four states that doesn't ban texting and driving.
April 19, 2017
How to Spot a Highway Boondoogle
With the Trump Administration purportedly gearing up to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, it's time for a refresher on the perils of highway boondoggles.
April 18, 2017
Why the Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction Has Got to Go
The mortgage interest deduction costs the federal government more than all rental subsidies combined. All that money promotes sprawl by encouraging people to buy more house, while transferring wealth to the upper tiers of the income ladder.
April 17, 2017
Tesla’s Parking Problem Says a Lot About Elon Musk’s Brand of Tech Saviorism
It's fitting that the Palo Alto headquarters for Elon Musk's flagship company, Tesla, has an epic logistical problem caused by the spatial inefficiency of its core product.
April 14, 2017
The “Jaywalker” Brutalized By Sacramento Police Was Stopped for No Reason at All
When the line between a legally justifiable stop and outright harassment is so thin, it can easily become a pretext for racial profiling. That's what happened to Nandi Cain, Jr., who was beaten by Sacramento police during what officials called a jaywalking stop.
April 13, 2017
We Know the Solution to Transit’s Last Mile Problem — It’s Walking
To solve the "first and last mile problem," there's no substitute for walkability.
April 12, 2017
Is Your Local Government Falling for the Hyperloop Fantasy?
There are no functional, real-world examples of a Hyperloop, Tesla founder Elon Musk's long-distance transport concept that involves shooting people through vacuum-sealed tubes in pods that travel at up to 760 mph. And yet a surprising number of government agencies are treating the Hyperloop as a serious proposition.
April 11, 2017
Enough With the Gondolamania Already
In American cities, gondolas have mainly served as a distraction from bigger problems facing urban transit systems.
April 10, 2017
