Streetsblog.net

Street-Level Intelligence from the Streetsblog Network

by Sarah Goodyear on December 16, 2008

268365040_ca77fa1446_1.jpgPavement view, Times Square, by Moriza via Flickr
One of the great things about following the feed of the Streetsblog Network is the sense you get of what is happening quite literally on the street level of communities all over America. Take one of our top picks this morning, a post from Portland. The other day, the Pacific Northwest had a storm that left the streets slicked with ice and cars sliding every which way. In contrast, network member Portland Transport writes,

I'm finding life here in my neighborhood relatively calm. Yesterday I was able to walk (albeit a little carefully) to two markets and a video store to stock up for two family dinners and some entertainment.…So perhaps the idea of a 20-minute neighborhood isn't just about reducing auto-dependency and promoting more active living, but also has a few other advantages.

On a more negative note, in Los Angeles, the Bus Bench talks about the problem of sexual harassment for women who walk and ride transit in that city:

[A]t first I really tried to ignore this, but I find more and more that some people’s behavior is completely out of line. And you can’t ignore people. You are forced to be pleasant to these individuals…. On three separate occasions before I just decided to be “nice” I had to leave a train car owing to being cursed out by men who didn’t appreciate me ignoring their advances.

Also on the network today, a post from Kansas about an Oklahoma senator who seems to have a problem with bicycles, an update on the future of high-speed rail in the US, and more stimulus talk from Seattle.