Brad Aaron
Brad Aaron began writing for Streetsblog in 2007, after years as a reporter, editor, and publisher in the alternative weekly business. Brad adopted New York's dysfunctional traffic justice system as his primary beat for Streetsblog. He lives in Manhattan.
Recent Posts
Cartoon Tuesday: Crisis Mode
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This cartoon, by Tom Toles of the Washington Post via Rebuilding Place in the Urban Space, refers to DC subway funding, now under attack from conservative "think tanks." But it could just as easily apply to transportation and public works projects across the country, which continue to be largely overlooked despite their prior role as […]
The Bailout: Won’t Someone Please Think of the Car Dealers?
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Cap’n Transit pointed out the other day how US Senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, were pushing Bailout 2.0 by emphasizing the precipitous drop in new car sales and the slowing of highway construction as indicators of national crisis. (Mayor Bloomberg, by the way, also alluded to empty dealer showrooms during yesterday’s third term pitch.) […]
Report From Boulder, CO: A City That “Gets It”
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Streetfilms’ Clarence Eckerson, Jr. just returned from Boulder, Colorado — recent recipient of the League of American Bicyclists’ Platinum award for bike-friendliness. He writes: Boulder "gets it" big time — bicycling is important to its residents. So is a healthy walking and green living environment. But please note: this is not a car-free utopia — […]
Bailout Bill Includes Bike Commuting Benefit
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Remember Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer’s long-sought $20 per month tax credit for bike commuters, intended to extend a benefit to cyclists that motorists have received for decades? The measure ridiculed by North Carolina Rep. Patrick "Give Me Fossil Fuels or Give Me Death" McHenry? It didn’t make it into law last year, but it seems […]
Streetfilms: BRT in Paris
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For the third installment in her series of Paris, France Streetfilms, Elizabeth Press checks out Le Mobilien, the Parisian version of Bus Rapid Transit. Le Mobilien features curbside and onboard bus arrival info, mid-street boarding kiosks, a MetroCard-esque payment system, and — perhaps most crucial to its success — lanes that are physically separated from […]
Where They Stand: Obama and McCain on Transportation
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With a few hours to go until what will be the season’s first presidential debate, we’re looking over a report from the Brookings Institution, which outlines each candidate’s positions on transportation. The six-page report [PDF] holds few if any surprises for Streetsbloggers, but it nicely highlights respective statements from McCain and Obama on topics like […]
Cartoon Tuesday: “Drill Pickle”
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Okay, it’s not a cartoon. But this "Daily Show" segment is too good to pass up. Comedy Central via Grist
Streetfilms: San Francisco’s Sunday Streets
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On the heels of New York’s Summer Streets, San Francisco opened up segments of its waterfront roadways to thousands of pedestrians, cyclists, skaters and dancers. Streetfilms contributor John Hamilton was on hand for Sunday Streets, and shows us how they go car-free in the Bay Area.
Wiki Wednesday: Parking Policy
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When a coalition of public interest groups including Transportation Alternatives released the "Suburbanizing the City" report last month, we learned that, following current New York City parking policies, the construction of new off-street spaces is projected to result in over a billion additional miles driven per year by 2030. Startling as it was, this statistic […]
Cartoon Tuesday: Vote for Oil
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On this Election Day, here’s animator Mark Fiore on the importance of making your voice heard in uncertain times. Click through for this timely message.
Greetings From Wasilla
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Before VP candidate Sarah Palin crystallized her views on the future of US energy policy in her "drill or do nothing" speech to the Republican National Convention, we only had a vague idea of her record on transportation and development, gleaned mostly from her time as mayor of the tiny town of Wasilla. As news […]
Palin to RNC: It’s Drill or “Do Nothing at All”
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If there was any question as to where a John McCain-Sarah Palin White House would stand on transportation, the prospective VP’s speech to the Republican National Convention left little room for doubt. Here’s Palin from last night, via Grist: "Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America’s energy problems […]