Friday’s Headlines from Around America
Protests continue across the country. But there was also plenty of news on a busy Thursday.
By
Blake Aued
12:56 AM EDT on June 5, 2020
- Here’s the New York Times‘s roundup of the latest in the George Floyd protests.
- From urban renewal to regulations encouraging “eyes on the street” to designing public plazas as “defensible” spaces, U.S. cities are designed for oppression, and planners have failed to grapple with the impact of their work on black communities. (City Lab)
- House Democrats’ $494-billion stimulus and climate bill would boost funding for transit by 54 percent (Roll Call, Streetsblog MASS).
- Planned transit projects could fall through thanks to state and local governments’ budget crunches unless Congress acts to approve more funding. (Transportation for America)
- The U.S. DOT announced $891 million in funding for 12 transit projects, including heavy rail in Los Angeles and the South Shore commuter rail line in northern Indiana. (Transportation Today)
- Uber and Lyft were forced to suspend service during curfew hours in New York, Oakland, San Francisco, L.A. and parts of Minneapolis. (Complex)
- Metro Transit has restored service in Minneapolis, but still shut down buses early Thursday night. (Star Tribune)
- Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is not a fan of Virgin Trains’ proposal for the county to pay the private company $60 million to operate its Brightline extension. (Herald)
- Tolling should be up and running on I-5 through Portland by the time the Rose Quarter expansion is complete. While congestion pricing is nice, the whole project is still unnecessary and should be scrapped. (Oregon Public Radio)
- The Federal Highway administration re-evaluated the environmental impact of widening I-30 in Little Rock after a lawsuit, but ruled that the project can move forward. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
- A study found that most Washington, D.C. sidewalks are too narrow for social distancing. (WJLA)
- Here’s a pro-transit piece from a business publication. (Crain’s)
- Montgomery County, Maryland released a draft of its Complete Streets guidelines. (Planetizen)
- Although the bike-share service appeared popular, Zagster is pulling Pace bikes out of Knoxville, blaming the financial effects of the pandemic. (News Sentinel)
- This guy abusing kids who were putting up signs commemorating Floyd’s death brought shame to cyclists everywhere. (Twitter)
Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.
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