Matthew Roth
Recent Posts
Ad Nauseam: Kentucky Fried Potholes
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Not so Good Frickin’ Chickin’ In casting around for a good April Fool’s Day joke, I found yesterday’s New York Times Lede blog report on the chicken frying corporation KFC doing some pothole repair in Louisville, complete with this photo of Colonel Sanders in a hardhat and construction bib. I thought for sure the Times […]
California is Setting the Stage for a Tax on Vehicle Miles Traveled
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A sign of the times? When USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood last month suggested that the country should consider replacing the gas tax with a tax on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) to compensate for the dwindling Highway Trust Fund, which is primarily supported from gas taxes, the White House immediately rebuffed him, assuring the public and […]
The World’s Best Music Videos Featuring Bicycles
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Dave Burdick yesterday offered up his choices for the Top 5 videos featuring a bicycle on the Huffington Post. While it’s nice to see the mainstream blogosphere types showing some love for two-wheelers, c’mon man! Robin Thicke bouncing around NYC on a crappy bike to "Disco Beethoven" is the world’s number one bike video?! I […]
A Very Astute Critique of Highways by an Editor of The Weekly Standard
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Eisenhower signing the 1956 Highway Act Far be it from us to take political sides on Livable Streets issues–you don’t have to be a donkey or an elephant to appreciate pedestrian safety, traffic calming, and quality public space–but why is it that two of the best columns connecting transportation policy reform, land use, and energy […]
Senate’s $50 Billion Highway Giveaway Nearly Dead
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The Inhofe/Boxer stimulus bill amendment for $50 billion in additional infrastructure funds appears to be dead, with official word expected soon from Senator Harry Reid’s office. Sources close to the negotiations say that at least five Democratic Senators were not going to support the amendment if transit and water provisions weren’t improved, while Senate Republicans […]
Boxer/Inhofe Ammendment: Better, But Not Good Enough
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A draft of the Boxer/Inhofe amendment just came over the transom from a source in DC close to the negotiations (PDF). This is a draft from yesterday and negotiations are ongoing, so expect changes. Specifically, enviros are trying to get a "green screen" put in place, so that USDOT can pick from the priority projects […]
Boxer’s Stimulus Saga Rolls On
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Boxer no stranger to new freeways Environmental groups in DC are guardedly optimistic that yesterday’s barrage of phone calls and emails to Senator Boxer and company urging them not to write a $50 billion blank check for the highway lobby has not been in vain. Boxer did not introduce the feared highway amendment yesterday and […]
Call Senator Boxer Right Now…
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Barbara Boxer and infamous global warming denier James Inhofe will present an amendment to the Senate stimulus plan that could funnel as much as $50 billion in additional funding to highways, Streetsblog has learned. Friends of the Earth tells us that Boxer’s staff confirmed she will introduce the amendment, which could bring the total for […]
Will Senator Boxer Give in to Global-Warming-a-Hoax Inhofe on Stimulus?
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Inhofe takes aim at transit funding A $5.5 billion discretionary fund for transit projects is in danger of being handed over to the highway lobby by Senators James Inhofe, Kit Bond, and Max Baucus. Inhofe you will recall is the former Chair of the Senate Environmental and Public Works (EPW) Committee who boasted in 2005, […]
San Francisco Breaks Ground on Transit Mega-Center
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A rendering of the Transbay Transit Center with a 5.4 acre park on its roof. At a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco yesterday, Mayor Gavin Newsom asserted the project will be "so much more extraordinary than Grand Central Station." Pointing to the renderings on a projection screen behind him, […]
SF Responds to Bike Injunction With 1353 Page Enviro Review
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San Francisco’s Market Street. Two and a half years after a judge issued an injunction preventing the city from adding any new bicycle infrastructure to its streets, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco Planning Department have released a 1353-page Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on the San Francisco Bicycle Plan. At a cost […]
Jan Gehl Gets Sweet in San Francisco
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It’s a good day in a city’s urbanist evolution when Jan Gehl comes to town, and now San Francisco can add itself to the growing list of cities around the world that have embraced his people-first approach to planning. Hoping to keep pace with the progress in New York City over the past two years, […]