Tuesday’s Headlines as We Kick Off Our Annual Donation Drive
As we kick off our annual donation drive, here are today's headlines.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EST on December 1, 2020
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- Rahm Emmanuel appears to have the inside track on being Joe Biden’s transportation secretary (Axios) despite being a divisive figure (Streetsblog Chicago), but Sarah Feinberg, interim president of the New York City Transit Authority, is a dark-horse candidate (E&E News)
- By 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. The new book, “Metropolis: A History of the City, Humankind’s Greatest Invention,” explores the past, present and future of urban life — including how cars have robbed them of their vitality and the environmental damage caused by sprawl. (Fast Company)
- Traffic stops are down by more than half in San Francisco this year, even though enforcement is a key part of the city’s failing Vision Zero plan. And despite the decline, people of color are still disproportionately more likely to be pulled over. (Examiner)
- Seattle is opening 28 new light rail stations over the next four years. (The Stranger)
- A major transportation workers union official, Larry Willis, has died in a bike crash. He was 53 (Washington Post). How key was Willis? President-elect Biden tweeted his condolences.
- Faced with fewer toll collections during the pandemic, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission is borrowing $550 million to make required payments to the state DOT to fund transit. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
- Improving conditions for workers in Philadelphia’s private parking industry is a worthy cause, but Mayor Jim Kenney should veto a recently passed bill because it also includes a goal of cutting the city’s parking tax at a time when the city should be discouraging driving and needs progressive forms of tax revenue. (WHYY)
- D.C. drivers who rack up crashes or traffic violations will soon be getting warning texts or letters about their unsafe driving. (Greater Greater Washington)
- Ford is restoring Detroit’s long-vacant Michigan Central train station and turning the surrounding neighborhood into a walkable mobility district with transit service every 20 minutes. (ITS International)
- St. Louis’s Metro Transit is replacing two bus lines with on-demand vans. (Post-Dispatch)
- Chicago cyclists are getting washed out to sea — or rather, out to lake — as strong winds and waves pound the Lakefront Trail. (ABC 7)
- Biking — and bike thefts — are up in cities worldwide, but Paris’s 19th arrondissement has become the Bermuda Triangle of stolen and stripped bikes. The city is fighting back by creating secure spaces to store them. (City Lab)
- Behold, the best of Strong Towns’ annual #BlackFridayParking campaign.
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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