Monday’s Headlines Defund the Police
Armed officers shouldn't be enforcing traffic laws or patrolling subway stations. Infrastructure and social services are better ways to keep people safe.
By
Blake Aued
12:00 AM EDT on May 15, 2023
- Why police don’t need to be involved in transportation: A report out of Los Angeles says the city should be focused on “self-enforcing infrastructure” like crosswalks, bike lanes and traffic-calming street design, and turn enforcement of traffic laws over to unarmed civilians (L.A. Times).
- Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Tesla’s “Autopilot” feature is misleadingly named because the cars don’t actually drive themselves. (Associated Press)
- Don’t call Lyft a “ride-sharing” company anymore, because it’s discontinued carpools. (Fortune)
- Business Insider reported that Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) called out Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) for calling bike lanes “the height of stupidity,” and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) thinks the bike is the answer, whether the question is health or climate change.
- If California doesn’t bail out Bay Area transit agencies to the tune of $2.5 billion, riders would be forced to spend twice that much on cars. (Streetsblog CAL). But faced with a $32 billion budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom is actually proposing to cut transit funding instead (Bloomberg).
- The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority could face a funding gap of more than $500 million by 2028. (Boston Herald)
- Seattle’s King County Metro is cutting some peak-time bus routes due to a shortage of drivers and mechanics. (The Urbanist)
- The Washington Post editorial board called on the D.C. government to fix K Street rather than diverting the project’s funding to fare-free transit.
- Detroit is spending $95 million to repave roads, build speed humps and repair sidewalks. (Fox 2)
- The Biden administration’s proposed budget includes $100 million for a Charleston bus rapid transit project. (Business Journal)
- A new group is calling on the Twin Cities to prevent the Blue Line extension from displacing residents. (KARE)
- After 10 years, work is finally starting on wider sidewalks and protected bike lanes for Juniper Street in midtown Atlanta. (Axios)
- Columbus, Ohio, is offering rebates for e-bike purchases. (Axios)
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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