Monday’s Headlines Are Snatchin’ Manchin
The West Virginia senator pulled the plug on fellow Democrats' climate change agenda. But at least the U.S. and Colorado DOTs are moving away from building more highways.
By
Blake Aued
12:00 AM EST on December 20, 2021
- The big news Sunday was that Sen. Joe Manchin came out against the Build Back Better program (Politico), crushing hopes of passing the Biden administration’s climate change agenda (New York Times) because of Manchin’s misguided criticisms of the bill (NPR). Here’s a rather symbolic video of Manchin nudging his Maserati through a group of climate protestors (Twitter).
- The Federal Highway Administration issued new guidelines that, for the first time, will nudge state DOTs away from building freeways and toward more environmentally sustainable projects. (Wired, Streetsblog USA)
- Alphabet’s “smart city” subsidiary, Sidewalk Labs, will wind down and be folded into Google after CEO Dan Doctoroff announced he’s stepping down for health reasons. (Tech Crunch)
- Amtrak CEO Bill Flynn, who guided the company through the pandemic and the Biden administration’s ambitious expansion plans, is retiring. (RT&S)
- Washington, D.C. parents are pleading for street safety improvements and a crackdown on dangerous drivers after a recent spate of children being run over. (Washington Post)
- A new Colorado requiring the state DOT to consider projects’ effect on climate change could divert billions away from roads and toward greener transportation. (Colorado Public Radio)
- Houston groups have filed a federal complaint seeking to halt the I-45 widening on the grounds that it violates civil rights laws. (Chronicle)
- After the Federal Transit Administration said Boston’s fare-free pilot project violates federal rules, Mayor Michelle Wu took her case directly to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, but it doesn’t appear that she had any luck (CommonWealth). Meanwhile, a bill dropping minimum parking requirements for affordable housing passed the Boston city council and landed on Wu’s desk (Globe).
- Austin blog Towers takes a deep dive into a proposal to ban cars on The Drag, a student-oriented, bus- and pedestrian-heavy stretch of road near the University of Texas.
- San Francisco Mayor London Breed is floating a $400 million bond referendum to modernize transit agency Muni. (SFist)
- Seattle Mayor-elect Brett Harrell plans to replace the head of the city’s DOT, Sam Zimbabwe. (West Seattle Blog)
- A Milwaukee choir group hopped aboard The Hop streetcar to spread holiday cheer. (Journal Sentinel)
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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