How to Spot a Highway Boondoogle
With the Trump Administration purportedly gearing up to spend $1 trillion on infrastructure, it's time for a refresher on the perils of highway boondoggles.
April 18, 2017
Why the Mortgage Interest Tax Deduction Has Got to Go
The mortgage interest deduction costs the federal government more than all rental subsidies combined. All that money promotes sprawl by encouraging people to buy more house, while transferring wealth to the upper tiers of the income ladder.
April 17, 2017
Tesla’s Parking Problem Says a Lot About Elon Musk’s Brand of Tech Saviorism
It's fitting that the Palo Alto headquarters for Elon Musk's flagship company, Tesla, has an epic logistical problem caused by the spatial inefficiency of its core product.
April 14, 2017
The “Jaywalker” Brutalized By Sacramento Police Was Stopped for No Reason at All
When the line between a legally justifiable stop and outright harassment is so thin, it can easily become a pretext for racial profiling.
April 13, 2017
We Know the Solution to Transit’s Last Mile Problem — It’s Walking
To solve the "first and last mile problem," there's no substitute for walkability.
April 12, 2017
Enough With the Gondolamania Already
In American cities, gondolas have mainly served as a distraction from bigger problems facing urban transit systems.
April 10, 2017
Who’s Gonna Get Stuck With the Bill for Seattle’s Highway Tunnel Misadventure?
Seattle's massive downtown highway tunnel, originally slated at $3.1 billion, is now expected to cost at least $4 billion when all is said and done. Who's going to pay?
April 7, 2017
3 Steps to Fight Street Harassment
Cat calls, patronizing enjoinders to "smile," and more aggressive forms of harassment can make walking or biking uncomfortable or threatening. Katie Matchett, an urban planner who writes about pedestrian issues at Where the Sidewalk Starts, still recalls getting harassed on the streets of San Diego as she was beginning her career 20 years ago. She says it's up to everyone -- men and women -- to combat it.
April 6, 2017
Is Portland Losing Its Resolve Against Highway Expansions?
In the 1970s, some American cities revolted against highway expansion and kept the worst excesses of the interstate construction spree in check. Those cities tend to be the most walkable and transit-oriented places in the nation today. But in Portland that legacy is in jeopardy.
April 5, 2017
The GOP Case for Cutting Federal Transit Funding Isn’t Principled — It’s Tribalism
The insistence that transit is a local priority while highways are a national concern has become an article of faith in the world of right-wing think tanks. But today highway spending mostly serves the same type of trips that Republicans purportedly believe are inappropriate for federal funding.
April 3, 2017
