Streetsblog New York City

Reports on federal transportation policy -- like campaign fundraisers and lobbying groups -- seem to proliferate in Washington, most of them drawing a few days' worth of news coverage before fading from memory. (Remember the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission and the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Commission?)

But the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) National Transportation Policy Project released a document this morning that hopefully will have a longer public shelf life. The project's 26 members, some of whom represent familiar allies and foes of livable streets advocates, managed to suggest a pretty ground-breaking overhaul of transportation funding that aims to do what many Streetsblog readers have longed for: put highways and transit on an equal footing in competition for federal funds.

Former GOP senator turned lobbyist Slade Gorton, one of the project's co-chairman, described the report as pushing lawmakers to support "the best investments, regardless of whether" they are in transit, inter-city passenger rail or roads. The BPC proposed winnowing down the U.S. DOT's 108 programs to six, all of which would award money in a "mode-neutral" fashion -- that is, without forcing transit to take a pre-determined, and tiny, slice of the federal funding pie.

Perhaps because many of its members are closely aligned with road-building interests, the project took an artificially dismissive approach to the current inequities in the system, lamenting that

many transportation policy discussions continue to be dominated by endless debates about what is more subsidized or disadvantaged: highways vs. transit, trucks vs. rail, and passengers vs. freight.

It's been proven pretty conclusively that highways don't face a 77-year backlog, but leaving political antagonism aside gave the BPC project some room to embrace several other worthy conclusions.

Continue...

If you live in Williamsburg or Greenpoint, you can't miss this community board action. DOT will present its revised plan for Kent Avenue tonight to Brooklyn CB1. Public support for the proposed two-way protected bike path will be critical, and if you sign up by 6:15 p.m., you can speak in favor of an improvement that will make cyclists safer and establish the footprint of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway.

Here are the meeting details courtesy of TA, who reminds everyone to keep the speeches short and sweet:

DOT Presentation on Kent Avenue
Tuesday, June 9th
Sign up to speak by 6:15 pm
Swinging 60s Senior Citizens Center
211 Ainslie Street (Corner of Manhattan Avenue) Brooklyn

Just about every New York City neighborhood has to deal with the consequences of dirt cheap on-street parking. When you practically give away spaces at rock-bottom prices, it guarantees double parking and endless cruising for spots by bargain hunting drivers. Which is bad news for all the bus riders, cyclists, and delivery drivers who have to contend with the clogged curbs, extra traffic, and lane-blocking vehicles that result.

For the past month, Fifth Avenue in Park Slope has been experimenting with DOT's PARK Smart program, which adjusts the price of metered spaces during peak hours and promises to eliminate some of the curbside dysfunction. A few Park Slope business owners also see their neighborhood's PARK Smart pilot as a good opportunity to eliminate something else: the Fifth Avenue bike lane.

This January, at the same time that DOT and Brooklyn CB6 were discussing the launch of PARK Smart, the Fifth Avenue BID approached the community board about doing away with the Class 2 bike lane that runs from Carroll Street to 24th Street.

The contention from BID director Irene LoRe, proprietor of the restaurant Aunt Suzie's, is that the bike lane interferes with deliveries and customer access. Even though parked cars, not two stripes of thermoplast, are what prevent delivery trucks from parking legally. And despite the fact that, according to several Fifth Avenue merchants who were unaware of the BID's request, tickets for double parking were just as common before the bike lane arrived (about five years ago).

Nevertheless, CB6 District Manager Craig Hammerman told Streetsblog last month that he thinks the BID has a point. "Previously the trucks could double park; now that there’s a bike lane, you can't load or unload," he said, agreeing with the notion that the lane is causing headaches for business owners and delivery drivers. "The idea is to share the roads. We'd love to see some sort of compromise."

What sort of compromise, exactly?

Continue...

We are excited to announce the official launch of Streetsblog Capitol Hill. With major transportation, climate and energy legislation coming before Congress in the next year or two we felt that it was critical to have a talented journalist down in Washington D.C. covering the issues on a daily basis. With the financial support of the Surdna Foundation and the Wallace Global Fund the Livable Streets Initiative has hired reporter Elana Schor to cover the federal beat for us. DC.Streetsblog.org (as it's known to your web browser) will be her new home. Sarah Goodyear, editor of our national blog nework, and talented writers like Ryan Avent will be contributing to Streetsblog Capitol Hill as well.

Broadly speaking, we hope to do two things with this new edition of Streetsblog. First, we aim to make it a high-quality daily source for news and analysis of federal transportation policy and related issues. We want to create a blog that is a daily must-read for the advocates, lawmakers, Congressional staffers, urban planning practitioners, policy wonks and lobbyists who are working to shape the future of America's transportation systems.

Our second goal for Streetsblog Capitol Hill is to help bring outsiders into the federal transportation policy-making process. For decades, transportation policy on Capitol Hill has mostly been an arcane, complex insiders game -- a game that's been played best by highway lobbyists. Streetsblog Capitol Hill will put locally-oriented livable streets advocates on the playing field and help them better understand the rules of the game. As the 293 bloggers who are now members of the Streetsblog Network make clear every day, a vibrant, grassroots movement for sustainable transport, smart growth and livable streets is active and growing increasingly powerful in cities and states nationwide. Streetsblog Capitol Hill will help connect these local activists to the important action taking place inside the Beltway. 

The RSS feed for Streetsblog Capitol Hill can be found here.

I've been trying a little experiment lately as I ride around town on my bike: doing my level best to follow the letter of the law. I've been inspired by both the carrot and the stick. In the carrot department, Transportation Alternatives' new Biking Rules handbook has made a very nice case for more rule-based cycling in the city: "the simple principle that our responsibility to others on the street increases in relation to our potential to cause harm. With Biking Rules, NYC cyclists are taking the lead to create safer, saner streets." I would like to be a part of that sanity, even if I think it would be more appropriate for law enforcement to take the lead by enforcing the laws that apply to motorists. So I'm giving it a shot. So far I've gotten thanks from two pedestrians for stopping at red lights, and that felt pretty good.

In the stick department was the $50 ticket I got for riding on a path in Madison Square Park a couple of months ago. The Parks Department employee who wrote it didn't care that there were no pedestrians within 50 yards of me, or that I had chosen to ride through the park rather than on 23rd Street because of the hazardous mash of traffic conditions (buses stopped diagonally across the lanes, construction vehicles, double-parked cars, etc.) that existed there at that minute. She was just enforcing a rule, and I had to admit that I had broken it. (She also suggested that I fight the ticket, which seemed just bizarre to me. I paid it instead.) 

I've tried this experiment before, back in the dark ages of the late '80s, when I was commuting by bike from Morningside Heights to the Gramercy Park area. As I recall, Mayor Ed Koch had told the cops to crack down on cyclists, and tickets were being handed out rather liberally. I was poor and didn't want to get one. What I got instead, as I waited for the light to change one day near Grand Central, was rear-ended by a taxi that evidently expected me to run the light. I wasn't badly hurt, but I did need a new rear wheel, and I've been skeptical of being law-abiding ever since.

As I read the posts from bloggers around the country about cycling and the law, I'm continually struck by the confusion and misinformation that seems to prevail almost universally. Today we're featuring a post from SoapBoxLA that discusses a tragic case in which a woman riding a bicycle was struck and killed in a crosswalk:

Continue...

The House is poised this week to take up the so-called "cash for clunkers" bill, which aims to boost the slumping U.S. auto market by giving out tax credits of $3,500 and up to anyone who trades in a gas-guzzling car for a more efficient model.

The plan was originally touted as environmentally friendly, given that it would theoretically encourage the use of more fuel-efficient vehicles, but it has long since morphed into a thinly disguised gift to the auto industry. The "cash for clunkers" deal that the House will vote on, sponsored by Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH), offers money to truck drivers who improve their ride's fuel economy by as little as 1 mile per gallon.

The likely passage of Sutton's bill this week could be bad news for a stronger "cash for clunkers" plan that's being promoted by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who displayed welcome candor last month in calling the Sutton plan "the auto industry's version" of "cash for clunkers" and "unacceptable" to American drivers.

Feinstein's proposal would require drivers to achieve a 25 percent fuel-efficiency increase before receiving a tax credit for ditching their clunkers. But Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) is pushing for a trade-in tax credit that's very similar to Sutton's -- truck owners would only have to increase their fuel efficiency by 2 miles per gallon to be eligible.

The requirements for car trade-ins aren't much better under the Stabenow and Sutton plans, with a mere 4 mpg increase in fuel economy triggering the $3,500 tax credit.

If Sutton's plan wins House approval this week, Stabenow's Senate counterpart could potentially get a leg up over Feinstein's.

Meanwhile, the larger question of whether the whole idea of "cash for clunkers" makes sense is getting much less attention than it should. The Obama administration continues to support Sutton's effort, despite the fact that it would give drivers new incentive to buy trucks getting as little as 20 mpg. Doesn't this risk undercutting the president's plan to force trucks to reach an average of 30 mpg and cars to reach 39 mpg by 2016?

A reader sends in these shots of weekend car-free street activity. Above, the crowd takes in a performance from the Fourth Arts Block "Meet the Street" series on East 4th Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue in Manhattan; below is a scene from the first Saturday of Williamsburg Walks, taken at North 6th and Bedford.

To be included in our Flickr pool, add the "streetsblog" tag to your Summer Streets shots.

Thousands of riders turned out for Sunday's 5th Annual Tour de Brooklyn, sponsored by Transportation Alternatives. Elizabeth Press caught the action for Streetfilms, filming cyclists along the 23-mile route, which started and ended in Coney Island.

According to TA, more than 2,000 participated in this year's ride, with all online registration slots reserved in less than 24 hours.

Bike Month has officially come and gone, but in Brooklyn the festivities continue into June with BikeBKLN, which leads this week's upsurge in activity on the Streetsblog Calendar. Here are the highlights.

• Monday: The Transportation Alternatives Brooklyn Committee has a full BikeBKLN schedule planned. Two events are today: Bike From Work Day snacks on the Williamsburg Bridge and Bike valet parking at Celebrate Brooklyn, featuring David Byrne. 5:30 - 7 p.m. and 6 - 11 p.m., respectively.
• Tuesday: DOT Kent Avenue Bike Lane Presentation to Brooklyn Community Board 1. DOT will present its plan for a bi-directional bike lane along Kent Avenue to Brooklyn CB 1 this evening. The lane is not only a sound compromise between varied community interests, but is also a groundbreaking design that establishes space for the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. It's imperative that bike lane supporters and neighborhood residents who believe that a safe, secure space for cyclists on Kent Avenue is in the best interest of the community show up and speak out. Sign up to speak by 6:15 p.m.
• Tuesday: Bus Rapid Transit Phase II Workshop -- Metrotech. New York City Transit and DOT continue their series of public workshops on Select Bus Service expansion. Tonight's meeting is a Polytechnic University in Brooklyn. 6:30 p.m.
  
• Wednesday: Sustainable Flatbush Presents an Evening of Streetfilms. Sustainable Flatbush invites you to celebrate BikeBKLN by visualizing a future of livable streets. Featured Streetfilms will showcase street life in Copenhagen, Paris, Curitiba, Bogota and New York City. Discussion and party to follow. 8 - 11 p.m.
• Thursday: Harlem River Promenade Design and Programming Workshop. The Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation invites you to participate in a design and programming workshop to guide the redevelopment of the Harlem River Promenade, below the High Bridge at Depot Place. 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
• Friday: Two Billion Cars and the Transformation of Transportation. The world is headed toward two billion vehicles. Is this sustainable? Not without transforming vehicles, fuels, and transportation -- not only in the U.S., but virtually everywhere. Baruch College Conference Center, 9:30 a.m.

Keep an eye on the calendar for updated listings. Got an event we should know about? Drop us a line.

Have regional planning efforts in Morris County, New Jersey played a key role in stopping sprawl? And can they provide a model for communities around the country?

Those are the questions being asked today by Streetsblog Network member Hugh Bartling, who cites an article in the Morris County New Jersey Daily Record about the cessation of large-scale residential subdivisions in that part of the state:

Speedwell Lake in Morris County, NJ, where protections for open space and water quality have helped stall sprawl. Photo by iceage366 via Flickr.

While the economic downturn, depressed housing prices, and the credit crunch may also have had something to do with halting development, the article emphasizes the power of a 2004 state legislative initiative -- The Highlands Act -- as being the primary reason.

The Act was established to protect open space and water quality in northern New Jersey.  My understanding is that the seven counties and over 80 municipalities that are located in the Highlands area have to insure that their plans are in compliance with the regional Highlands Plan.  Additionally, the Plan is governed by a regional council that has veto power over large development decisions.

This type of regional decision making power is essential to minimize the negative consequences that accompany the typical fragmented land use decisions seen elsewhere in North America.  If it seems like the Highlands Plan is really influencing the trajectory of development in northwestern New Jersey, it might be a useful model for other states to follow in order to bring some coherence to metropolitan development.

Other news from around the network: Trains for America reports that Memphis wants in on the high-speed rail action; Baltimore Spokes has a post on an 11 percent increase in the number of Americans riding bikes for transportation and recreation in 2008 compared to the previous year; and Bike Blog NYC has the video of a guy who commutes 40 miles to work each way -- by bicycle.

Writer, cartoonist, cyclist and transit advocate Ken Avidor points us to this video, which he used in a recent Daily Kos diary entry. Writes Ken:

The Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) Pod People are always challenging me to prove that PRT promoters are anti-Light Rail Transit (LRT). Here is a video by one of these libertarian, "free-market" guys claiming LRT is old and expensive and PRT is more modern and won't cost the taxpayers a dime. The fact is PRT is a Nixon-era concept and there is no evidence to prove it can pay for itself.

PRT, Avidor says on his "PRT Is a Joke" website, is often used as a "stalking horse" to undermine the funding and build-out of real-world mass transit projects. Its supporters include Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who, among other transgressions, opposes the expansion of that state's Northstar commuter rail line.

Judging from the above video, trashing new light rail service in Phoenix, the thrust of the pro-PRT argument goes something like this: 

Dude! It goes like a hundred miles an hour! You wouldn't have to read books or sit beside weird people -- AND you could listen to AC/DC!

On your iPod, of course.

We've been meaning to post this vid from culture mag ANIMAL New York (h/t Gothamist), which neatly undercuts the argument that the newly pedestrianized Broadway is "only for tourists." Sure, the tourists are grateful not to be jostling for space right next to traffic anymore, but so are lots of people from the five boroughs. It is, after all, where 158,000 people go to work every day. Take that, Andrea Peyser.

We just received this urgent S.O.S. from Transportation Alternatives to people living or working near Smith and 9th Streets in Brooklyn:

From: Paul White, Executive Director, Transportation Alternatives
Sent: Friday, June 05, 2009 2:48 PM
Subject: Urgent mission to save the Tour de Brooklyn

Dearest Bicycle-Savvy Denizens of the Slope and Surrounding ‘Hoods--

Our Budget rent-a-truck broke down at the corner of Smith and 9th. This truck is filled with material for this Sunday’s Tour de Brooklyn. Whomever meets me there at 5pm today to help us transfer this stuff into an operable truck gets free beer and a snack immediately afterward. Many hands will make light work!

Deal?

I need some help here! Thanks!

Sustainably yours,

Paul Steely White
Executive Director
Transportation Alternatives