The latest streets and transportation news from Streetsblog USA.
We’re back at it on this Monday morning! Here are today’s top stories:
A lawsuit in New York is raising important questions about how Uber’s in-app navigation system works after a driver hit a scooter rider after making an illegal u-turn that was ordered by Uber’s own GPS. When drivers (who Uber makes pains to point out are NOT employees of the company) fear getting “deactivated” from the app for not following the navigation to a T, who shoulders the blame? Streetsblog NYC’s Sophia Lebowitz explores this contradiction, in print and on video.
And as the Trump administration is getting ready to send federal troops into their latest targeted “urban hellhole” (Portland, Oregon), the Put-a-bird-on-it city is fighting back with a plan to file a “land use violation notice” about ICE’s alleged zoning violations in the southwest part of the city. Given its usual scorched-earth approach to everything, the Trump administration will undoubtedly continue to ignore Portland’s land-use conditions – and most likely challenge them in court. The question is what the challenge will look like. The administration could simply claim the feds are not subject to local control even though the facility is on leased property from a private property owner. And/or it could challenge Portland’s whole land-use regulation regime, most likely in federal court. And that would be where this whole thing gets interesting.
Removing just five decibels of noise from our neighborhoods would save lives. So why aren’t we even measuring it, never mind taking action to quiet our streets?
Two of our favorite YouTubers teamed up for a great explainer on the history of anti-bike bias in the United States.
Oh, wait, there are no pedals? Let me try to pull up the brakes on this touchscreen.
Advertisements give transit systems across the country badly-needed revenue. But how much is too much?
Key House Republicans killed an irresponsible, politically motivated bill to suspend the federal gas tax.
Removing just five decibels of noise from our neighborhoods would save lives. So why aren’t we even measuring it, never mind taking action to quiet our streets?
