Wednesday’s Headlines: Pete and Pete
The word of the day is "investment." Plus, undoing urban renewal in Atlanta, a deadly highway in Maryland and more headlines.
By
Blake Aued
12:01 AM EDT on May 12, 2021
- From talking about equity to performatively riding a bike to work, other transportation secretaries said and did the same sorts of things as Pete Buttigieg. Can one of the cabinet’s weakest agencies really shift policy? (Governing)
- The Eno Center for Transportation argues that “infrastructure” is better thought of as “investment,” and it’s been declining for a long time. The U.S. may no longer have the political will to spend big on things that will benefit us down the road (Washington Post).
- “Investment” is a word that came up quite a bit in The Verge‘s recent lengthy interview with Buttigieg.
- Voters nationwide seem willing to pass local tax initiatives to fund transit and other measures for fighting climate change. (Clean Technica)
- The American Jobs Plan includes $20 billion in funding that could be used to mitigate the effects of the Downtown Connector and I-20 plowing through Black neighborhoods in Atlanta. (Journal-Constitution)
- A rapid shift to electric vehicles is coming up in the next few years, and gas stations are going to have to adjust. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
- Cleveland is seeking input on its 30-year, $13 billion transportation plan. (Plain Dealer)
- A woman and her husband were killed on the same stretch of Georgia Avenue a years apart, and county officials are finally pushing for action (WTOP). As writer Dan Reed put it, as long as it’s designed like a highway, drivers will treat it like one.
- A Virginia prosecutor is seeking an investigation into state troopers who illegally stopped a Black motorist and terrified her by ordering her to get out of the car without telling her why. (CNN)
- March’s federal COVID stimulus is allowing Sacramento expand transit. (Bee)
- The college town of Fayetteville, Arkansas, is improving its bike network faster than any city in the country. (Next City)
- As they try to fight climate change, European cities are turning again to the 100-year-old technology of trams. (Politic0)
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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