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.
A Trump administration proposal recommends massive cuts to popular programs – and it will cost American communities more than they can afford, Senate Democrats say.
It’s Woodstock for NUMTOTs — minus the mud and free love.
Sidewalks are too often neglected, but there are ways for cities to step up and fix these essential public spaces.
Law Professor Michael Pollack on who manages, owns and feels ownership of sidewalks — “America’s most overlooked resource.”
A Trump administration proposal recommends massive cuts to popular programs – and it will cost American communities more than they can afford, Senate Democrats say.
Until you can feel it (gas prices, that is). But you don’t really need it (suspending gas taxes).
