Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Transportation Policy

What If a Rep From NYC Chaired the Assembly Transpo Committee?

By Ben Fried | Sep 15, 2008 | 5 Comments

As the Ravitch Commission’s first public hearing on how to fix the MTA’s budget woes gets underway, this paragraph from today’s Times story on the Rochester Regional Transit Service (annual budget: $62 million) bears mentioning: Just four years ago, the Rochester authority was in financial straits and facing large deficits. Since then, it has lobbied […]

Urbanism: Not Just for Lefties

By Ben Fried | Sep 11, 2008 | 13 Comments

The American Prospect reports on a bi-partisan panel at the University of Minnesota last week where some dyed-in-the-wool Republicans declared their affinity for urbanism and opposition to sprawl: Policies in favor of dense development shouldn’t be viewed on a left-right spectrum and certainly needn’t be filtered through culture-war rhetoric, the panelists said. In fact, one […]

U.S. Senate Getting Serious About Transit Stimulus

By Ben Fried | Sep 9, 2008 | 8 Comments

The Wall Street Journal reports that momentum is building in the Senate for additional federal transit funding: The Senate banking committee will hold a hearing Tuesday to examine how the government can strengthen mass-transit options as a way to reduce dependence on imported oil. Meanwhile, House and Senate leaders debating a new energy bill are […]

Palin to RNC: It’s Drill or “Do Nothing at All”

By Brad Aaron | Sep 4, 2008 | 5 Comments

If there was any question as to where a John McCain-Sarah Palin White House would stand on transportation, the prospective VP’s speech to the Republican National Convention left little room for doubt. Here’s Palin from last night, via Grist: "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems […]

Wiki Wednesday: Complete Streets

By Brad Aaron | Sep 3, 2008 | No Comments

With all the brouhaha over Broadway Boulevard lately, we thought it would be a good time to revisit the concept of Complete Streets. In a recent StreetsWiki entry, Andy Hamilton gets back to the basics. A Complete Street is a roadway designed to safely accommodate all users — pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists, transit riders, and those […]

Sarah Palin, Transit Advocate?

By Brad Aaron | Sep 3, 2008 | 7 Comments

John McCain may not be big on public transportation, but as mayor of a small town in Alaska, his running mate Sarah Palin secured millions in federal earmarks for rail and bus projects. The Washington Post reports that during Palin’s two terms as mayor of Wasilla, when it had a population of 6,700, the town […]

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