Tuesday’s Headlines Let Kids Be Kids

Cops should not be arresting parents for letting their kids walk or bike around the neighborhood.

By Blake Aued

12:01 AM EST on February 17, 2026

Playing road hockey in Vancouver.

|Pete/Flickr

A walkable neighborhood is a human-scale place where the needs of daily life are available within a short walk (Southern Urbanism). The importance of design for children's mobility was discussed in an Urban Cycling Institute featured in Monday's headlines, but none of that means much if the culture assumes any child walking around their neighborhood is automatically in danger (Fast Company).
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is reviving several bike and bus projects killed by his predecessor, Eric Adams. (CBS News)
Trying to keep member cities in the fold is a moving target for Dallas Area Rapid Transit. (Governing)
Sound Transit has started final testing for a Seattle light rail line over a first-of-its-kind floating bridge. (KING 5)
ICE agents in Savannah chased an immigrant with no prior criminal history down a freeway, and he wound up killing a teacher in a crash. (WTOC)
Lots of dumb takes in the news the past few days:
- The New York Times equated "desire lines" with romance on Valentine's Day, when really they just mean planners should put some sort of sidewalk or path there, because that's where people are walking already.
- Fox News attacked Mamdani's "socialist" plan for fare-free buses.
- A Denver Gazette columnist claimed that not only are road diets "torture" for motorists, they kill cyclists, too.
- Are people really fleeing the state of Washington because of higher-than-average gas taxes? (Seattle Times; paywall)
- There is, however, apparently some sort of revolt against paying car registration fees in Washington because some of the money goes toward transit, according to The Center Square.