Posted by Justin Horner in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
In previous posts, I’ve talked about the environmental importance of better parking policy and recent efforts at reform (including SB 728, sponsored by NRDC, to encourage parking cash-out). Now, when most people think of parking, they think of parking on...
Posted by Justin Horner in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
From Pricewaterhousecoopers, to the Urban Land Institute to real estate experts throughout the country, the consensus is clear: changes in American demographics and evolving market preferences mean that the clock is ticking on sprawl. Smaller households and a growing affinity...
Posted by Justin Horner in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil
In twin events today in Washington DC and Chicago, the three partners who created LEED-Neighborhood Development (NRDC, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the US Green Building Council) announced the system’s official launch. Nearly a decade in the making,...
Posted by Justin Horner in Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
The folks putting together the Towards a Just Metropolis Conference turned me on to Debabrata Talukdar’s “Cost of Being Poor: Retail Price and Consumer Price Search Differences across Inner-City and Suburban Neighborhoods.” The study tests, and confirms, the hypothesis that...
Posted by Justin Horner in Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
In an earlier post, I discussed the recent “What We Learned from the Stimulus” report from Smart Growth America, USPIRG and the Center for Neighborhood Technology that examined stimulus spending on roads and transit with respect to job creation. The...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
“Dying is easy; parking is hard.” --Art Buchwald, in his last days. Last week, the California State Senate passed SB 518, authored by Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) and sponsored by NRDC. SB 518 aims to reduce traffic congestion, greenhouse...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
It’s nice to go to a hearing in Sacramento every once in awhile and find yourself in a cloud of nearly universal agreement. I was able to experience that rare feeling earlier today when the Senate Committee on Budget and...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Governor Schwarzenegger released his 2010-2011 State Budget on Friday, which includes a disastrous $1.5 billion cut to California’s transit agencies. Everyone knows the story: California’s state government is in the midst of a fiscal nightmare, and Californians themselves are facing...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Now, we already know that taking public transit is good for the environment, safer than car travel and even better for your health. But now we know something else: as far as putting people to work, investing in transit easily...
Posted by Justin Horner in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
I’ve been touting the environmental benefits of Pay As You Drive (PAYD) insurance for months now (see here, here, and here). A simple transportation reform that saves people money, is more fair than current practice and helps the environment? What’s...
Posted by Justin Horner in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Both Transform and the Urban Land Institute have recently released reports that look at the Bay Area from a perspective NRDC has been pushing in the public arena for some time: “location efficiency.” Just as appliances can be more or...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Last month, the California Department of Insurance finalized and released new regulations permitting California insurance companies to offer their customers the option of verifying the miles they drive. This has been called “Pay As You Drive Insurance,” even though there...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Last April, I wrote about SB 728, a bill from Long Beach State Senator Alan Lowenthal to expand compliance with California’s Parking Cash-Out program. I’m happy to report that the bill, co-sponsored by NRDC and Environmental Defense Fund, was signed...
Posted by Justin Horner in Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
(Update: Monday, October 13th: the Regulations have been finalized by the Insurance Commissioner. Follow this link to view them) Last week, regulations proposed earlier this month by California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner that purport to incentivize Pay As You...
Posted by Justin Horner in Curbing Pollution , Environmental Justice , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
As Sacramento’s nearly $3.4 billion in cuts to California transit agencies over the past three years begin to take their toll, the California Transit Association has created an interactive “Aftermath” map of what’s happening on the ground. Despite overwhelming support...
