Rebekah Scheinfeld
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CDOT Open to Phone Hacking to Combat Distracted Driving as Police Stop Issuing Citations
Chicago transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld is voicing support for a proposal to use a device known as a "textalyzer" to crack down on distracted driving with cellphones. Two aldermen, Anthony Beale Beale (9th) and Edward Burke (14th), have introduced a resolution asking the Chicago Police Department to look into using a $10,000 device from Cellebrite, which makes phone data extraction and hacking tools, that would allow officers to immediately copy the data on a motorist’s phone to determine if they had been using it while driving.
April 21, 2017
Scheinfeld Laments State, Federal Funding Problems, Asks for Help With Vision Zero
At a talk earlier this afternoon for the City Club of Chicago, transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld blasted Donald Trump’s efforts to abolish federal funding for transit, as well as Governor Rauner’s withholding of state funds for Chicago projects.
March 27, 2017
Bicycling Gives Chicago the Award for Best Biking City – Do We Deserve It?
This morning’s announcement that Bicycling magazine has ranked Chicago as the best cycling city in the U.S. in its biennial ratings, up from second place to New York in 2014, was surely a head-scratcher for many people who ride bikes in our city on a regular basis.
September 19, 2016
CDOT: Citizen Support is Necessary For Us to Redesign City Streets
About 45 "civilians" – people who weren't obligated to attend – showed up for yesterday's Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Council meeting yesterday, making it one of the most democratic MBAC meetings ever. The council, which meets quarterly at City Hall during the workday, usually draws only about 10-15 attendees who aren't there in an official capacity, many of whom are regulars who show up for almost every meeting.
September 8, 2016
What to Expect at Next Week’s Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Council Meeting
Soon after I heard that Lisa Kuivenen had tragically died while riding their bike after a truck driver tried to merge across the Milwaukee Avenue bike lane I got a little furious. I was upset that her fatal crash was continuing a pattern of cyclist deaths – Blaine Klingenberg and Virginia Murray died after commercial vehicle drivers made turns at intersections and ran them over. I was also upset that there aren't enough protections on the streets to protect cyclists from drivers who aren't paying attention.
September 1, 2016
Union Station Transit Center Will Open Sunday, Easing Train/Bus Transfers
This afternoon officials cut the ribbon on the Union Station Transit Center, a new facility across the street from the Amtrak and Metra hub that will make it easier to make transfers and will better organize West Loop traffic. The transit center opens to the public this Sunday. It’s the latest step in the development of the Loop Link bus rapid transit route, which debuted on Washington and Madison Streets last December.
August 30, 2016
Chicago Needs More Street Redesigns to Reduce Pedestrian and Bike Deaths
Last week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a report showing that all traffic fatalities increased significantly on U.S. roads from 2014 to 2015, by 7.7 percent to reach 35,200, the worst death toll since the 2008 economic crash. Streetsblog USA's Angie Schmitt pointed out that, while Americans drove 3.5 percent more during this period, that's "not enough to explain the rising death toll." U.S. pedestrian and bike fatalities rose even more during that period, by 10 and 15 percent, respectively.
July 8, 2016
Chicago Joins Vision Zero Network While Pedestrian Fatality Rate is in Flux
At yesterday's quarterly meeting of the Mayor's Pedestrian Advisory Council, Chicago Department of Transportation commissioner Rebekah Scheinfeld mentioned the "somber" statistics that there was a significant increase in Chicago pedestrian fatalities in 2015 compared to previous years.
February 4, 2016
Cold Comfort: Fines for Shoveling Scofflaws Went Up, But Not Enforcement
[The Chicago Reader recently launched a new weekly transportation column written by Streetsblog Chicago editor John Greenfield. This partnership will allow Streetsblog to extend the reach of our livable streets advocacy. We’ll be syndicating a portion of the column on the day it comes out online; you can read the remainder on the Reader’s website or in print. The paper hits the streets on Thursdays.]
January 11, 2016
CDOT Didn’t Hit 100-Mile PBL Goal, But They Did Transform the Bike Network
First, let’s get one thing straight. Despite what was stated today in the Chicago Department of Transportation’s press release, and local news reports based on it, the city has not achieved Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s goal of installing 100 miles of protected bike lanes in four years.
October 9, 2015