Running Scared

The green movement is gaining influence and looking for 10% of the revenue for carbon credits. But this is scary to the highway movement as their influence and scare tactics wear thin.

According to Greg Cohen, president of the American Highway Users Alliance, the changing partisan guard in Washington has made highway groups wary of the focus on transit funds. “People are much more nervous about being on the chopping block,” he said. “It seems like the anti-highway crowd has much more influence than they had in the past.”

Anti highway? How about pro livable communities.

Music Monday: Not Too Late for Coffee

We'll hit that all night diner...act like big city kids in a small town.

Pushing Back on the Status Quo

And if you didn't think JSK rocked, here's your quote of the day:

And more than a little ironic, seeing as Moses constructed his empire of roads and highways while serving for 26 years as the city’s Parks commissioner. One wonders what he would think of a Transportation commissioner who dismantled New York’s most famous street and turned it into a park.

Elections Do Matter

Even in the transit world...

But supporters of the Portland expansion as well as transit advocates nationally said that making the announcement so early in the new administration and allowing the Portland project to leap over other projects sends an unmistakable message of federal support for transit.
...

Wyden and DeFazio, both Democrats, were more direct.

"The real answer is, elections matter," Wyden said. "The priorities are different now, and they are very much more in tune with the needs of the people of Portland."

DeFazio agreed. "The Bush administration had set up a black box test that no streetcar proposal would have ever been able to pass," he said. "They were not following the law, and this administration is."

It's interesting to see how the cost-effectiveness measure will be used by the Obama FTA. Considering the problem is that there isn't enough money for all projects, there will have to be a way to figure out which projects deserve funding and which don't. Will it be now the lack of livability planning with transit?

Still Not Getting It

States are still pushing for an 80-20 funding split for highways and transit. If we keep going down this route, nothing will change. LaHood talks a big game, but I'm still waiting to see proof. I think people have been a little too easy on him of late. Yeah he says nice things but what have we seen happen so far? States are still calling for 80-20, which to me is a failure to communicate how important livable communities and alternative transportation really are. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that highways do not = livable communities. Look what we got from that over the last 60 years. What does ASHTO think they are going to spend that 80% on? If its all highway money, that is a lot of expansion.

Streetcars in New York? Ask JSK

A visit to exchange ideas could possibly spark the New York Streetcar renaissance. Janette Sadik-Kahn will visit the city to talk about bikes and the big changes in New York but might come away excited about streetcars, something Toronto never left behind.

Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner of Transportation of the City of New York, is in Toronto tomorrow to celebrate Earth Day and to see a Toronto icon that she wants to bring back to the Big Apple: the streetcar. “I’m very jazzed about my visit,” Ms. Sadik-Khan said today from her New York office. “The streetcar program is something that I’m looking at here. We threw away our streetcars, and you kept them. I think it’s a great economic development tool.”

I don't think that New York should adopt the streetcar model of Toronto exactly. For one thing the single cars are more like buses instead of the sleeker more comfortable european trams that can be of greater size due to modular designs. You would lose out on some of the benefits of greater capacity and energy usage. Toronto is currently looking to replace the existing vehicles so we'll probably see them make the switch soon as well. Also it's likely that a dedicated lane for streetcars will be necessary to make the lines even more efficient, something Toronto is starting to do.

Perhaps we'll see some sort of study soon. And perhaps New York can look to some of Scott Bernstein's ideas on using funding from electric companies to bring them to scale. Not everywhere, but on a few key routes that could use the capacity.

A Compelling Argument for Conservatives & Livability

After the passing of Paul Weyrich, I was wondering if there would be anyone to take up the mantle of conservatives and livable communities. While I'm not sure anyone would have the power or influence on the movement that Paul did, there are certain a few folks filling the void. This commentary by a former researcher at the Center for Neighborhood Technology tries to get at livable communities and their association to social conservatism. I think it puts together a lot of the things many of us in the movement believe in, whether on the left right or in the center. David Alpert expands the argument, and rightfully so to bikes as well. Check it out.

Signs in the Concrete

I went for a bit of a walk today in my neighborhood. Here are some of the signs I found. Not so much transit, but planning related. The most interesting one to me is the anti-google sign. I've seen them a number of times, and have heard complaints, not to mention seen how expensive housing has become in the neighborhood in even the three years I've been here. In any event here are some photos:

Water Department Cover


The Google Bus Stop. At the place where Google kids hop on the bus, someone painted this into the concrete. It says "Trendy Google Professionals Help Raise Housing Costs".


Obamaism


Vegans for McCain


Stop the War, March 19th


Mr. Seahorse Knows That No One Is Illegal


There were also some interesting signs and murals:

Good Fricken Chicken


Emmy's Spaghetti Shack. Get the Spaghetti and Meatballs...mmm


Dewar's Ad


I'll post more interesting things I found later, but I thought the signs and stencils were funny.

Streetsblog San Francisco

Coming soon to a browser near you.

Do You Have Friends in Cul De Sacs?

They probably have lots of friends! According to a study in the UK, the less traffic you have, the more friends you have.

Protect Traditional Sidewalk Values

Keep those freshman off the sidewalk!

H/T Americablog

Obama Writes to the T4 Campaign

The letter was released a bit late for the election, but I think it says what we all like to hear. Now its that implementation thing that's tricky. My favorite section:

I will also re-commit federal resources to public mass transportation projects across the country. I’ve worked to improve transportation access to jobs for people with lower incomes since my time in the Illinois State Senate, and I will continue this work as President. And I will further promote transit by creating incentives for transit usage that are equal to the current incentives for driving.

As you know, all of these measures will have significant environmental and metropolitan planning advantages and help diversify our nation’s transportation infrastructure. Everyone benefits if we can leave our cars, walk, bicycle and access other transportation alternatives. I agree that we can stop wasteful spending and save Americans money, and as president, I will re- evaluate the transportation funding process to ensure that smart growth considerations are taken into account.

I will build upon my efforts in the Senate to ensure that more Metropolitan Planning Organizations create policies to incentivize greater bicycle and pedestrian usage of roads and sidewalks. And as president, I will work to provide states and local governments with the resources they need to address sprawl and create more livable communities.

Help Out Some Bike Advocates

This message came over the wire. Help some bikers out.

Let's Go KC is working with Kansas City, Missouri to fund a bicycle/pedestrian trail on the Paseo Bridge. We need to collect $100,000 in pledges by November 24, 2008 to get a trail by 2011, otherwise the trail will not be built for many years! MoDOT will build it if the local community provides the money, and it will be cheaper and easier to do it now.

To meet our goal we need 5000 people to pledge only $20! There is no cash needed now. The money will be collected only if needed to build the ramps to the bicycle/pedestrian trail on the bridge.

I pledged up $25. I think this is one of the things that the transport blogosphere could become really good at, raising money for local causes to drown out the opposition. This just happens to be a local project and a very inventive way to provide a local match. If so inclined, help out.