Public Health
Basics
Blumenauer and Co. Face Off With Utility Industry Over Clean Water
As anyone who's tried to get around during a water main break knows, good old H2O has its own infrastructure and its own role in local transportation.
July 15, 2009
Taking GOPer Bachmann a Bit Too Seriously
Back when the Senate kicked off its health care debate, Republicans tested out a new line of attack against health committee chairman Edward Kennedy's (D-MA) draft bill: Its investment in encouraging walking and biking amounts to inexcusable government waste.
July 10, 2009
GOP’s New Attack on Health Care Reform Bill: It Promotes Walking!
Despite a growing awareness among conservatives that walking and biking are causes worth backing, Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to condemn bike-ped programs as wasteful "pork". The GOP's latest potshots at sustainable transportation come during debate over a health care bill that focuses mainly on insurance and hospitals, but also includes a public health grant program aimed at encouraging exercise.
June 16, 2009
What’s Really Dangerous for Kids? Hint: It Has Four Wheels and a Tailpipe.
When she wrote a column for the New York Sun last year about letting her nine-year-old ride the subway on his own, Lenore Skenazy was pilloried by many as an irresponsible mom. She stuck to her guns, though, and started a blog dedicated to "sane parenting", advocating the idea that we are over-sheltering our children from infinitesimal threats such as stranger abduction. According to Skenazy, the kind of independence represented by that subway trip is necessary and healthy for children -- and their parents as well.
May 5, 2009
Pint-Sized Parks Make Safer Streets and Cleaner Rivers
The Greenstreet at 110th and Amsterdam helps keep sewage out of city rivers and features a beefed-up, traffic-calming "blockbuster."
February 14, 2008
“My Other Car Is a Bright Green City”
As attention turns to the next federal transportation bill, and livable streets fans scan the platforms of presidential candidates for glimpses of what to expect from Washington over the next four years, Alex Steffen, editor and CEO of the blog WorldChanging, has posted an essay-in-progress called "My Other Car is a Bright Green City." Steffen says that reining in fuel standards and auto emissions, for instance, is not nearly as important to present and future generations as developing communities that behave more like cities, which are, by environmental measures, much cleaner than commute-intensive suburbs and exurbs. Here are some excerpts.
February 13, 2008
Is Barack Obama the Livable Streets Candidate?
Barack Obama is a long-time cyclist (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
January 2, 2008
Congestion Pricing Will Make You Happy
An op/ed by Eduardo Porter in today's New York Times makes a passing suggestion that by reducing the number of people who do solo car commutes, congestion pricing would make New Yorkers happier.
November 12, 2007