Delucchi Study Finds That U.S. Motorists Do Not Pay Their Way
A dozen or so years ago, back when congestion pricing was a distant dream and New York City's number one transportation priority was to squeeze more transit funding from government, the Tri-State Transportation Campaign commissioned me to determine which was greater: the dollars that New York State governments took in from drivers, or the dollars spent on drivers' behalf. I spent months immersed in bookkeeping arcana, parsing revenue pots like the statewide Petroleum Business Tax and expenses like fire department equipment for prying crash victims from mangled vehicles, before I emerged with an answer.
September 20, 2007
The Weekly Carnage
Chad Rachman / S.I. Advance Police view Honda in which Michelle Arout, 17, died in Veterans Road drag race.
July 27, 2007
The ‘Burbs: Extremely Safe or Especially Dangerous?
Long Island is safe. So safe that police recruits are flocking to the island's two counties, according to an article in last Tuesday's New York Times:
May 30, 2007
When Traffic Enforcement Doesn’t Include Moving Violations
The streets of Soho, where trucks roam free
March 21, 2007
The Times Applauds Cycling… The Times of London, That Is.
Here's an editorial one wouldn't expect to see in The Times: An unabashedly pro-bicycle manifesto anointing cycling as "the cheap, green answer to so many contemporary troubles" and urging city authorities to use congestion-charging revenues to create a first-class cycling infrastructure.
February 23, 2007
Crack Down on Drivers, Not iPods
Two pedestrians were killed in New York City last December by private sanitation trucks, one on Park Avenue South in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn Heights. Both deaths followed the most common pattern of pedestrian death in New York -- the peds were crossing the street, in the crosswalk, with the light, and a turning vehicle ran over them.
February 12, 2007
Public Health and Livable Streets: Making the Connection
Thirty years ago the health arguments against car-dependence were 90 percent about air pollution and 10 percent about physical inactivity. Now, with tailpipe pollution down and obesity and diabetes up, those percentages are reversed. The latest evidence is a valuable new report, Steps to Get New Yorkers Moving (PDF file), from the Public Health Association of New York City.
January 11, 2007