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August 17, 2009

Sands Street Bike Path
New Sands Street bike path at entrance to Manhattan Bridge
(Photo courtesy New York Times)

Once again, we start with some commentary.  As always, your feedback is welcomed (e-mail me at charlie@livablestreets.info).

More big news in the world of the MBTA this as week e-mails between Sec. Aliosi and former General Manager Grabauskas seem to show that the former GM had thought that a fare hike was unnecessary after the legislature passed the sales tax increase.  The first of what was to be many public workshops regarding the proposed fare hikes was held, but shortly afterwards Governor Patrick called off the remaining workshops and indefinite postponement of fare hikes until a full review of the MBTA's finances could be done by November 1.

The Boston Globe caused a stir in the bicycling community for a second week with an editorial by a motorist expressing a bit of road rage towards cyclists.  Safe to say that Boston Biker was not amused, nor were some readers of last week's article against scofflaw cyclists who felt that the 'me-first' attitude of everyone on the road must change and that ticketing should start with motorists and work down from there.

A federal judges rules that Boston cannot mandate taxis to be all hybrids, while attention is brought to taxi drivers who are talking illegally on cell phones, who don't keep their cabs clean, and who do not have legally required credit card machines.  In Arlington, the Board of Selectmen vote 4-1 in favor of moving forward the current Mass. Ave. design to the 25% phase after much community outreach and discussion.  However, not everyone is happy as some neighbors plan to attend the 25% Design Hearing in full force with their criticisms of the plan.  In Somerville, after a public hearing was held, the Traffic Board voted to uphold the new regulations, which moves forward with a roll-out of permitted residential parking to the remaining 1/3 of the city in the upcoming months.

The Boston Globe features Portland, Oregon as a city as a national model for bicycling and sustainable transportation, which is also where a bike shop started it's own "Cash for Clunkers" program that includes bikes and car trade-ins.  Ed Glaeser continues his analysis of high-speed rail, this week regarding the environmental benefits, but once again not without critics who question his methods and metrics.  Streetsblog takes an interesting look at what it would take in terms of roads and parking if everyone drove into Manhattan for work.  Finally, Blueprint America has a report about "zombie" highway programs that are funding highways well past the intended life-span of the program.

"Streets"

Walking

Bicycling

Transit

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

Parks

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Land Use/Planning

Out-of-state

National trends

International news