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The Car Habit Is Tough to Break
"People are addicted to their cars," said John Street, the Mayor of
Philadelphia, at a panel on transport yesterday during the C40 Large
Cities Climate Summit. He was identifying what he saw as the major
challenge for cities striving to make their transport systems more
environmentally sustainable.
May 17, 2007
Double-Parking in a Bike Lane? There Isn’t Even a Check Box.
Those of you who are sick of reading about DOT's plan for Park Slope's 9th Street and the small but well-organized group of car-owning residents who are opposed to it, will be pleased to know that whole affair may soon be resolved.
May 11, 2007
Smoggy China to Observe World Car Free Day
The Financial Times reports that China's cities will participate in this year's World Car Free Day. These actions have a measureable effect. A recent
study found that when Beijing ordered 800,000 cars off the roads for three days last year, local nitrogen oxide air pollution fell by 40 per
cent.
May 11, 2007
Swerve and Protect: Boston’s Bicycle Bible
In this month's issue of the Boston Phoenix, a 20 page supplement called the Bicycle Bible offers advice on bicycle safety and how to stay alive on the streets of Boston. Although there is a nice piece on Boston's Livable Streets Alliance, the paper may have done more harm than good. With subtitles like "Urban Bikers Need to be Careful, Prepared, and Paranoid" and "Biking on the Defensive," bike commuting is presented as a fringe activity for people with an urban death wish.
May 11, 2007
Ninth Street Update: Robert’s Rules of Order
First off, please accept my apologies for continuing to torture you with the intensely parochial drama taking place on Park Slope's 9th Street. I justify all of this coverage by imagining that this story may be useful for advocates working towards Livable Streets goals in other neighborhoods.
May 8, 2007
Sadik-Khan and Congestion Pricing: Ready for Prime Time
Janette Sadik-Khan has one week to go before taking over as
the city's new transportation commissioner. Not surprisingly, a public appearance Friday found her well prepared to push Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC congestion pricing program.
May 7, 2007
Cancer: Brought to You by the Internets
So this morning I read, and then linked from Streetsblog, a story about how the mythologized "new car smell" is actually caused by a mixture of potentially carcinogenic toxins. A short while later the ad pictured above showed up at the bottom of an incoming e-mail.
May 3, 2007
This is How State Senator Eric Adams Celebrates Bike Month?
Sources say that first-term Brooklyn State Senator Eric Adams has delivered a lengthy letter to Department of Transportation Acting Commissioner Judith Bergtraum expressing opposition to DOT’s 9th Street traffic safety and bike lane plan. Though the Senator, a former cop, has no urban planning or traffic engineering background, he questions DOT’s assertion that its plan … Continued
May 2, 2007