No one can deny the tides are turning when it comes to how people in this country get around. While the majority still drive everywhere, they number fewer every day, with more people joining the ranks of the straphangers, bicyclists, and walkers. This country is waking up to what we can gain by investing in healthy, sustainable transportation and vibrant urban development.

Federal transportation officials recognize this and are trying to re-think the country’s transportation networks to fit the future, not the auto-centric past. But Congress is still writing blank checks to states, which spend the money without regard for key national priorities.

We hold state and federal officials accountable by keeping a tight focus on how transportation decisions either add transportation choices or allow sprawl to metastasize, reduce carbon emissions or contribute to the obesity epidemic, create public space or choke our cities with automobile traffic. No other media outlet does what Streetsblog does — and today, we’re asking you to give us your support.

In the halls of Congress, in state DOTs, in metropolitan planning agencies, people are reading Streetsblog to get the inside, in-depth story about sustainable transportation and urban design. We’re grateful to you for reading, too. And we hope you’ll consider donating to our spring pledge drive. We’re trying to raise $40,000 by June 1 and we know that we can count on our committed and generous readers to get us there.

If you give $50 or more (or sign up as a monthly donor of at least $5) during the pledge drive, you’ll be entered to win this Dahon folding bike. Tell me this doesn’t make you swoon:

Best of all, your gift helps us keep bringing you the news, commentary, and analysis you count on. And it lets us know you’re out there, you’re paying attention, and you’re fighting the good fight.

Thanks for making Streetsblog possible. Your tax-deductible gift will help keep us going through 2013 and beyond.

Sustainably yours,

Tanya