Can D.C. use a bag tax to fund public transportation? Photo by nicasaurusrex.
Yesterday, the D.C. Council finalized the five cent tax on paper and plastic bags at grocery, drug, convenience and liquor stores. This is a good move for the environment, but I’m particularly happy that four of the five cents go directly toward cleaning up the Anacostia River. It makes the tax more transactional. It doesn’t feel like the government is stepping in and taking away your plastic bags, which people would resent; it feels like you’re paying a nickel to get a clean city. That’s very smart framing for the environmental movement, which too often is painted as a bunch of killjoys, and I’m sure part of the reason the Council was able to pass it unanimously.
Times Square is transforming itself into a pedestrian- and cycle-friendly public space. Photo by Lorrie McClanahan.
I wrote yesterday about SmartBike DC, the capital’s new bike sharing program, and its plans to expand dramatically in the next two years.
It looks like New York City is also planning a major bike sharing program. Although their plans are still in the early stages, the New York City Department of Transportation has put out a long feasibility study outlining the benefits of bike sharing, best practices from around the world and what models would work best in New York. There’s a lot in there, but the headline is 89,500. That’s the number of bikes they expect their program to have. 89,500 bikes!
A rendering of a car-free Times Square. Illustration via Streetsblog.
Two of the most heavily congested stretches of Broadway St. - Times Square and Herald Square - will become car-free, pedestrian plazas in May to reduce traffic and pollution.
The $1.5 million pilot project will ban vehicles from seven blocks along Midtown’s famous diagonal street, known for its shops and theaters. “The plan is the latest move by [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg to change the way the city thinks of its streets, making them more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists and chipping away at the dominance of the automobile,” the New York Times reports.
The areas between the streets would be filled with chairs, benches and café tables, similar to what happened during the “Broadway Boulevard” experiment last summer (download the vision of that project, as sketched out by Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of New York City’s Department of Transportation.) Here’s a rendering of the new changes that might occur, as published on Streetsblog. If it works, the changes could become permanent. Read the rest of this entry »
David Byrne of the Talking Heads (a well-known band from the 1980’s) and the Department of Transportation are promoting awareness for biking in the Big Apple through bike racks inspired by the various neighborhoods of New York City. Through July of 2009, 9 districts feature eye-catching, designer bike racks suited to their temporary homes:
Byrne, a long time bicycle enthusiast, was originally selected a juror for a design competition to modernize city bike racks with the DOT. He was so inspired by the city’s efforts to promote bicycling that he offered 9 of his own original designs.
While designer bike parking hardly seems like a necessity in urban transportation issues, a giant guitar or designer shoe bolted to New York’s busy sidewalks will certainly bring more attention and awareness to biking in the Big Apple, proving in the true New York fashion that even sustainable transport can be stylish.
From more information, the original article from the New York Times.
Most streets in New York bring to mind urban warfare instead of urban renaissance, but on the Upper West side, residents, businesses, and advocates have recently launched a blueprint to revitalize their community and create more livable streets to their area. The video by Robin Urban Smith and Street Films presents the Upper West Side Streets Renaissance Campaign
Some highlights of the blueprint are:
Longer pedestrian crossing times
Curb extensions
Chicanes and other measures to slow traffic on side streets
Bike lanes, bike boxes, and segregated bike lanes all in green paint
Extend bike lanes through intersections
Increase bike parking
Increase the price of car parking as to discourage cars
A very interesting study released earlier this month counters conventional wisdom, suggesting that a clear majority of people support tolling and road pricing. As the authors of the study, which analyzed numerous national and international public opinion surveys, clearly write in the conclusion of their report, “…in the aggregate, the public supports tolling and road pricing.”
The study’s findings will come as a surprise to many policy makers and elected officials who offer the standard response that tolling and road pricing are unpopular, and should therefore not be implemented lest they defy their constituents.
Traditionally, attempts to solve congestion have focused on building new roads or widening existing ones. But it’s clear that the strategy has not worked. That’s in large part because there’s a cyclical logic to road construction: as more roads are built more people want to drive cars, which in turn, drives the demand for ever more road construction. For decades now, there have been proposals for reducing the demand for road space by charging drivers who use it. But these proposals more often than not went nowhere in large part because of politics. Read the rest of this entry »
Photo by padawan.
China: China’s Olympic anti-pollution plan to start in July[AFP]
China: Beijing Stops Construction for Olympics[New York Times]
United States: Push for Urban Parkland Takes Root[USA Today]
New York: ‘Biking Is the New Golf!’[New York Observer]
Washington DC: Metro Accessible Ball Park Anchors An Areas Revival[New York Times]
Yesterday, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announced that Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing bill would not move through Albany, a huge blow to New York City’s livable streets movement and Bloomberg’s ambitious PLANYC, which had congestion pricing as its centerpiece. The congestion pricing plan, which had the support of New York City’s City Council, called for charging drivers $8 for entering Manhattan below 60th street. Using the funds generated by charging drivers, New York City planned to inject an infusion of cash into the mass transit system which is strapped for cash and experiencing increasing ridership. With congestion pricing killed, it’s unclear where the funding for the city’s mass transit infrastructure will come from.
Congestion Pricing. Photo by 
Photo by 
Photo by 
Recent Comments