Wednesday’s Headlines to Speed You Through Midweek
Really the best story of the day was The Verge's test drive of the biggest Cadillac Escalade ever. It's horrifying. Plus the other news.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on October 21, 2020
- Absurdly tall, three-ton behemoths like the 2021 Cadillac Escalade are the reason pedestrian deaths are rising. But what’s it like to drive? Answer: Horrifying. (The Verge)
- Alan Boyd—who fought for transit and rail funding as the first U.S. transportation secretary and later become president of Amtrak—has died at the age of 98. (New York Times)
- The pandemic could spell the end of ride-sharing. (Car and Driver)
- The L.A. Times and San Francisco Chronicle have overviews of Prop 22 — Uber, Lyft and delivery apps’ effort to overturn a California labor law classifying drivers as employees.
- Portland is trying to grapple with a legacy of racism in transportation by passing a payroll tax to invest in light rail, buses and pedestrian improvements in Black and brown neighborhoods, but companies like Nike that say they support equity oppose the tax (City Lab). Streetsblog had it earlier this month.
- Houston may have fixed one intersection where drivers killed two people on bikes in the past three years, but officials don’t seem to have the will to address the thousands of others that are equally dangerous in the notoriously auto-centric city. (Texas Observer)
- The Charleston Post and Courier delves into how highways destroyed Black neighborhoods during urban renewal in that South Carolina city.
- Nashville Mayor John Cooper is seeking more public input as his administration finalizes a $1.6-billion transit plan. (Fox 17)
- Hillsborough County, Florida, will resume pre-pandemic bus and streetcar service next month. (Tampa Bay Times)
- A Pittsburgh developer is paying $9,000 a space for a parking lot to build even more parking. (Post-Gazette)
- A Washington, D.C. city council member has introduced legislation to overhaul regulations on sidewalk vendors. (WAMU)
- A federal judge threw out jaywalking charges against an African-American man in Iowa City, calling it a case of “walking while Black.” (KCRG)
- Surprise, surprise: Underground Tesla tracks in Las Vegas won’t carry as many people as Elon Musk promised. (Tech Crunch)
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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