Printer-friendly versionSend to friend

December 23, 2008

Trees cut along Mattapan Line
Trees cut along Mattapan Line
(Photo courtesy Boston Herald)
 

Highlights

  • T looks at Rt. 39 bus stops (Jamaica Plain Gazette)
    By David Taber -- The MBTA offered a “first cut” proposal for consolidating and redesigning bus stops along its Route 39 corridor at a Dec. 15 meeting of the bus corridor improvement Citizens’ Working Group at the Agassiz School on Child Street. “This is the first cut at possible options looking at T ridership and [bus stop] spacing. There are a lot of other factors” to be considered, said MBTA Project Manager Eric Sheier.
Trees cut along Mattapan Line
Trees cut along Mattapan Line
(Photo courtesy Boston Herald)
 

Highlights

  • T looks at Rt. 39 bus stops (Jamaica Plain Gazette)
    By David Taber -- The MBTA offered a “first cut” proposal for consolidating and redesigning bus stops along its Route 39 corridor at a Dec. 15 meeting of the bus corridor improvement Citizens’ Working Group at the Agassiz School on Child Street. “This is the first cut at possible options looking at T ridership and [bus stop] spacing. There are a lot of other factors” to be considered, said MBTA Project Manager Eric Sheier.

     

  • A parking deal for the chosen ones (Boston Globe)
    City-owned space used by the well connected
    By Kate Augusto and Matt Collette -- BOSTON -- For more than a generation, it has been perhaps Boston's most covert bargain, a city-owned parking lot in the North End where the lucky, the affluent, and the politically connected had assigned parking for just $55 a month - a rate that went unchanged for 26 years. George K. Regan Jr., press secretary to Kevin H. White, former mayor, arranged for two spaces that he kept for more than 20 years. House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who lives nearby, also has a spot. So does his former wife, according to spotty records kept by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which owns the lot.

     

  • Possible transport pick stirs criticism (Boston Globe, Brookline TAB)
    Aloisi role as Big Dig counsel worries some
    By Frank Phillips and Matt Viser -- Governor Deval Patrick is considering naming former Big Dig chief counsel James A. Aloisi Jr. as his transportation secretary, a supremely controversial appointment that his critics and even some supporters say would embrace the insider political culture that the governor has publicly denounced. Aloisi is a tough political fighter who has ingratiated himself with both Democrats and Republicans in state government. His connections, institutional knowledge, and transportation expertise could fill a major void in Patrick's push for a transportation overhaul, including toll increases and a major reorganization.

     

  • Editorial: Solving the transportation crisis (Boston Globe)
    By Salvatore F. DiMasi -- THE CHINESE SYMBOL for crisis is a combination of the characters for danger and opportunity. As we begin to address the looming transportation crisis, there is both danger and opportunity for the Commonwealth. Crumbling roads and bridges and the massive Big Dig debt are huge challenges that will not be solved easily, and will require shared sacrifice. Fixing these problems will require creativity and a willingness to think in new ways. The danger lies in solutions that reflect old thinking or offer only a short-term fix.

     

  • New York City Grew, but Traffic Didn't (New York Times)
    By William Neuman -- NEW YORK -- As the city’s economy soared and its population grew from 2003 through 2007, something unusual was happening on the streets and in the subway tunnels. All those tens of thousands of new jobs and residents meant that more people were moving around the city, going to work, going shopping, visiting friends. And yet, according to a new city study, the volume of traffic on the streets and highways remained largely unchanged, in fact declining slightly. Instead, virtually the entire increase in New Yorkers’ means of transportation during those robust years occurred in mass transit, with a surge in subway, bus and commuter rail riders.

     

  • LaHood to Get Transportation Post (Wall Street Journal)
    By Jonathan Weisman and Christopher Conkey -- Rep. Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican and close friend of incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, will be nominated as secretary of transportation, congressional officials said Wednesday. Mr. LaHood would be the second Republican picked to serve in President-elect Barack Obama's cabinet, helping to fullfill a pledge for a bipartisan panel of advisers. The first was Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, whom Mr. Obama has asked to stay on in that role.
    Related: Commentary (Streetsblog, Next American City, BikePortland)

"Streets"

Bicycling

Transit

Cars/Parking

Transportation financing/Government

Parks

  • Restaurant is proposed to spruce up Common (Boston Globe)
  • The Boston Common: let's make a deal (ABN Blog)

Development projects

Land Use/Zoning

Out-of-state

  • New York City Grew, but Traffic Didn't (New York Times)
  • Does the 'transit advantage' take unfair advantage of motorists? [Minneapolis] (Star Tribune)
  • Because Robert Moses Would Have a Coronary If He Were to See Our Streets Now (New York Magazine)
  • Amtrak awaits rail line to speed D.C.-N.Y. trip (Washington Times)
  • Guillermo Penalosa Tries to Bring Bogota Style Planning to the U.S. (Streetsblog)
  • A Brown Refrigerator On Every Corner [Philadelphia] (Skyline Online)

National trends

International news

  • Revolving Door Helps Power Train Station (EcoGeek)
  • Study: Leaner nations bike, walk, use mass transit (AP)
  • Underground, Automated Bike Parking in Tokyo (WorldChanging)
  • Aston Martin designs Routemaster (BBC News)