Month: March 2010
Streetsblog LA
Cycling Coming to Google Maps in Los Angeles…Today?
The bike blogs and even some traditional news outlets are buzzing with the news that Google Maps will be launching a "bike directions" application later today at the National Bike Summit in Washington in 150 cities, including Los Angeles. The New York Times reports:
March 10, 2010
U.S. Transit Trips Hit 10.2B in 2009, With Light Rail Up in Nine Cities
(Photo: Model D Media) The nation’s transit systems hosted 10.2 billion trips last year, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reported yesterday. While that figure represents a 3.8 percent decline from 2008, APTA’s data showed light rail ridership rising in nine cities and the long-term increase in transit use continuing to outpace growth in population … Continued
March 10, 2010
Today’s Headlines
NBC Look at Fare Hikes. LaHood as "Enviro. Change Agent of the Year?" More at DC Streetsblog.
March 10, 2010
Study: Clean-Car Subsidies Alone Can’t Meet White House’s Climate Goals
Government subsidies for hybrid and electric cars, while
"politically seductive," will fail to achieve the Obama
administration's national pollution-reduction goals if they are not
coupled with a significant increase in fuel prices, according to a new study by Harvard University researchers.
March 9, 2010
Fight Brewing Between Council and Mayor Over Street Furniture Funds
With all the bleak news about the City of Los Angeles' budget woes, and the ridiculously poor state of the same city's Transit Oriented Development program; the last thing one might expect to hear out of city hall is a fight over how the city spends its "Street Furniture Revenue Fund." Yesterday, when Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced a veto of Councilman Tony Cardenas' request to use street furniture funds to pay for his office staff, that's exactly what we got.
March 9, 2010
Dodd Vows to Pass Livability Bill Amid Skepticism From Rural Senators
Even as the Obama administration ramps up its work on a sustainability initiative that treats
transportation, housing, and energy efficiency as interconnected
aspects of development policy, the effort remains without an official
congressional authorization -- a situation that Senate Banking
Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-CT) vowed to fix yesterday.
March 9, 2010
Next Week’s L.A. StreetSummit: Workshops and Pre-Registration
Photo: Lisa “no relation” Newton/Flickr Last year’s Bike Summit is this year’s StreetSummit, taking place next week – Thursday March 18th and Saturday March 20th. The summit features opening keynote speakers, and a day full of workshops and networking. It’s hosted by the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, which urges attendees to pre-register online by … Continued
March 9, 2010
A Fresh Look at American Sprawl
American
advocates for livable streets know that our addiction to the automobile
is almost without peer. We know that we've given our land to driving
lanes and parking lots and our air to exhaust fumes. Nevertheless, it
can be hard to step outside of the car culture we've spent our lives
marinating in and see the country with a new perspective.
March 9, 2010
Using Social Media to Fix Transit That Fails
At Streetsblog Network member blog Planning Pool, this week is being billed as "Fail Week" -- a full five days on "information about bad planning, lack of planning, and planning generally gone awry." We can't wait to see what they'll be doing. There's certainly no shortage of potential topics.
March 9, 2010