A Farewell to Elana Schor, and a Note About Our National Coverage

As regular readers of the Capitol Hill blog already know, yesterday marked Elana Schor's last day covering the national transportation policy beat for Streetsblog.

On
behalf of the Streetsblog staff in New York, San Francisco, and Los
Angeles, as well as the Streetsblog Network, I'd like to share my
appreciation for Elana's work over the past year. She created her beat
from scratch, and quickly became an indispensable daily read for Hill
staffers, administration officials, seasoned transportation wonks and
advocates of all stripes. When it came to national transportation
policy news, Elana scooped everybody.

If you'd like to keep up with Elana's work, she'll be writing for Greenwire,
the environmental news service. Be sure to check for her byline on the
New York Times online, which syndicates some Greenwire content.

Elana set the bar high for Streetsblog's national coverage. With the major national transportation bill
still brewing in Congress, there's an urgent need to continue her
excellent work. Big stories are developing at this very moment: A $2 billion transit operating aid bill could stave off disastrous service cuts in dozens of cities; President Obama pledged yesterday to pass major energy and climate legislation; and the U.S. DOT's livability program is increasingly becoming a flashpoint for debate. On the local scene, state DOTs are still plowing ahead with ill-considered highways, neglecting opportunities to build infrastructure for walking and biking, and allowing bridges to rot until it's too late to salvage them.

We've
begun a national search for a reporter who can synthesize local stories
from across America with news from inside the beltway to help make the
case for transportation reform. While that search for a full-time
replacement progresses, we're also looking for freelance contributors
to write lively, engaging stories to keep Streetsblog readers up to
speed on national issues. If you're interested in writing about the
movement for green, equitable, 21st-century transportation, send us
your resume and a short note about your areas of expertise to tips@streetsblog.org.