Aaron Naparstek

 

Arrest Her! T.A. membership coordinator Abby King tears up the streets on a "sport utility bicycle."

The Tri-State Transportation Campaign's new Mobilizing the Region blog is really starting to come alive. If you haven't added it to your daily news feed yet, it's probably time to do it.

A new Quinnipiac Poll shows that New York City voters would support congestion pricing by a 53-41 margin if it "prevents a hike in mass transit fares."

Alan Durning, executive director of the Seattle-based Sightline Institute has been doing some great writing on Livable Streets and sustainable transport issues over the last year. If you haven't run across his work, he is writing a pair of ongoing series that I think will be of particular interest to Streetsblog readers.

Realizing that it's generally considered passé if not altogether wacky to talk about New York City transportation policy and politics in the context of global energy business, a Wall Street Journal story this morning confirms that global fossil fuel production appears to be hitting a plateau. In other words, Peak Oil is no longer a crazy idea and the faster that New York City can reduce its dependence on gas-guzzling cars and trucks, the better off we'll likely be. From this morning's paper:

Hundreds of Straphangers Attend MTA Workshop Saturday (NY1)  Feds Approve $1.3 Billion for 2nd Ave. Subway (NYT) Definitive IPCC Report Says Action on Climate Change is Essential (Grist) City Institutes First of Nine Holiday Gridlock Alert Days (NY1)  Developers Present Proposals for Manhattan’s West Side Railyards (NYT, Sun) Who Needs Pricing? Krueger Launches Truck Emissions … Continued

In response to its "Request for Expressions of Interest," the New York City Economic Development Corporation has received proposals from 30 companies interested in implementing New York City's congestion pricing pilot project. "This large number and quality of responses clearly indicates that the market place believes that the implementation of the City's congestion pricing plan is feasible," EDC writes.

After months of debate including criticism from cyclists who want a physically-separated bike lane built on dangerous Houston Street and local car owners who want to protect their right to cheap on-street parking, a freshly painted green bike lane was spotted on Prince Street late last night at the corner of Mott. As Ariel Sharon used to say, there's nothing like "facts on the ground" to end an argument. Though, come to think of it, they're still arguing in the Middle East.

In an op/ed piece in Monday's Daily News, Brooklyn-based transportation consultant Brian Ketcham proposed some changes to Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan. Ketcham, who has been pushing for some form of congestion pricing since his time working for the Lindsay Administration more than 30 years ago, argues that New York City should: