Elana Schor
Recent Posts
New Study Shows $56 Billion in Hidden Health Damage from Autos
| | No Comments
Transportation’s effects on public health are rarely discussed by policy-makers, but they remain very real — and the National Research Council (NRC) put a number on them today, reporting that cars and trucks have about $56 billion in "hidden" health costs that are not reflected in the price of oil or electricity. (Photo: MetroDCLiving.com) In […]
Transportation Allowances in the Climate Bill: A Tale of Two Modes
| | No Comments
To understand why the climate change bill is a top priority for urbanists, it’s crucial to understand the emissions allowances that the legislation distributes. The allowances essentially put the "trade" in "cap-and-trade" — whichever industry or state government holds them can benefit from their monetary value or use them to emit pollution under the "cap." […]
Transport Debate Still Stalled As Oberstar Decries ‘Lack of Political Will’
| | No Comments
Halfway through the extra month that Congress gave itself to resolve a long-simmering dispute over funding the nation’s transportation system, Democratic leaders remain deadlocked over whether — and how long — to wait before debating a broad reform of federal infrastructure policy. The Transportation Secretary and the president have a stalemate on their hands. (Photo: […]
The Oversight Gap in Team Obama’s High-Speed Rail Plan
| | No Comments
The White House’s economic stimulus law included several large new spending programs, from $4 billion for broadband to $2.4 billion for electric car batteries. But nothing has aroused so much interest — and criticism — as the $8 billion for American high-speed rail. (Photo: Streetsblog LA) Under the circumstances, one might think that lawmakers would […]
What Washington Can Do For — And Alongside — Metro Area Planners
| | No Comments
At one point midway through yesterday’s Brookings Institution forum on metropolitan planning, moderator Chris Leinberger quipped that Portland was deliberately not represented. It’s not that Portland isn’t a model of sustainability, he explained, but that "we all have Portland fatigue" — that urban policy thinkers are eager to expand the models of local development beyond […]
Obama Ally Breaks With White House on Timing of New Transport Bill
| | No Comments
Sen. Dick Durbin (IL), the No. 2 Democratic leader in the upper chamber of Congress and a close ally of the president, broke with the White House yesterday and called for a new long-term transportation bill to pass by early next year — not after the Obama administration’s preferred 18-month delay. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin […]
How Congress Can Help Create Suburbia 2.0
| | No Comments
As Obama administration adviser Shelley Poticha noted this week, building more energy-efficient and hospitable cities — not to mention suburbs and rural areas — starts with clear terminology. "Sustainability" and "livability" are positive concepts that can be hard to define, but how can "transit-oriented development" be brought home to someone unfamiliar with the nuts and […]
Bush DOT Chief Urges More Transport Tech Funding
| | 2 Comments
Former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters, who served for eight years in George W. Bush’s DOT, sat down with Streetsblog Capitol Hill this week to urge that Congress add a dedicated funding stream of $1 billion each year for transportation technology to the next long-term infrastructure bill. Since leaving office, Peters has transitioned to private consulting […]
When $1 Billion Doesn’t Buy What it Used To — And When it Does
| | No Comments
Since Washington’s economic recovery debate first began last fall, advocates for greater infrastructure investment have invoked one phrase more often than almost any other: "Every $1 billion spent on transportation creates 47,500 jobs." How many transportation jobs could this $1 billion create? (Photo: Infosthetics) Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) used that […]
Two More Senate Dems Back Plan to Devote Climate Money to Transit
| | No Comments
This week has brought news of a brewing compromise on the Senate climate change bill, introduced last month amid signals that the upper chamber would give only a bit more to clean transportation than the House’s meager 1 percent set-aside of revenue from cap-and-trade carbon regulations. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) (Photo: Sun-Sentinel) The stirrings of […]
BART Signs Deal to Upgrade Transit Technology
| | No Comments
IBM’s Smarter Planet project, which uses technology (and sometimes plain old polling) in an effort to revamp urban infrastructure, today signed deals with transit agencies based in Oakland, New York City, and Washington D.C. to "smartly" manage the ins and outs of keeping trains and buses running. BART, New York’s LIRR, and Washington D.C.’s Metro […]
Obama’s Engaged With Transit More in 9 Months than Bush Did in 8 Years
| | No Comments
The Obama administration has brought both good news and bad news to transit riders. But here’s a positive sign you haven’t heard before, straight from Federal Transit Administration (FTA) chief Peter Rogoff: In the nine months of the new presidency, the FTA has fielded more requests for information "directly from the White House" than in […]