Sarah Goodyear

If you're interested in transportation policy (and we know you are!) it can sometimes seem as if all the problems plaguing America have their root there. Today, we have a reminder from Streetsblog Network member Cap'n Transit that not even transportation can cure all ills. But we also have some very hopeful news from columnist Neal Peirce on the Oregonian's website about the blossoming connection between transportation and urban policy at the federal level (H/T to Portland Transport).

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we hear about the possible misuse of stimulus funds for the widening of the Garden State Parkway and New Jersey Turnpike in New Jersey. Network member blog Mobilizing the Region, the voice of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, reports that the TSTC has sent a letter to Gov. John Corzine about the matter:

Today Streetsblog Network member blog Hub and Spokes picks up on an interesting story from the LA Times about how falling real estate values could mean an opportunity to develop more public spaces:

These days good news can be hard to come by, which is why Kaid Benfield's most recent post on NRDC Switchboard caught our eye. It's about the Old North neighborhood of St. Louis, and how revitalization efforts there have taken off:

America has a fat problem. You knew that, right? But it's not just the people who are fat. It's the roads.

As today's post from Seattle Transit Blog acknowledges, criticizing the place where someone lives is one of the surest ways to create division and contention when discussing planning issues:

This just in from the Streetsblog Network: Greater Greater Washington takes Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski to task for supporting car sales tax breaks -- and asks how that money could be better spent:

Some thoughts today from one of the newest members of the Streetsblog Network — from Missoula, Montana, Imagine No Cars. The blog’s author is a University of Montana student who is chronicling his year of living without a motor vehicle. He calls the blog “a journal of my journey to live a car-free lifestyle. An … Continued

Today on the Streetsblog Network, we're talking sidewalks. Specifically, Greater Greater Washington is talking about the lack of sidewalks in many parts of DC where there is a concentration of people who are particularly in need of them: senior citizens.

A couple of weeks ago I left the transit-rich confines of New York City and headed down South to visit family. I made it all the way to Meridian, Mississippi without getting in a car (I rode the subway to Penn Station and took Amtrak from there), but once I got off the train in Meridian, I did what everyone else in America does: I put my rear end in the driver's seat and started driving. Driving to visit the relatives. Driving to the store to buy allergy medicine for my kid. Driving to buy food for dinner. Driving driving driving. It drove me crazy. And for my seven-year-old, who is not used to doing time in the back seat, it was torture.