Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Fans of Larry David's hilariously cringeworthy hit comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm can't miss the Prius. It's in every episode, one way or another, and has been as long as the show has been on the air, I think. Replacing the...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably
Dan Douglas was, until recently, chief downtown planner and director of the Urban Design Council in Raleigh, the state capital of North Carolina. He is now in private architectural practice, but his passion for the city remains, apparently. In particular,...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Environmental Justice , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
There has been a lot written about how federal stimulus money has not done as much as one might hope for existing urban communities. By contrast, quite a bit of the money has instead been slated for highway projects. A shining exception,...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Solving Global Warming
Almost completely dormant for practically a century - with much of their once-rolling stock suffering the indignity of conversion to cheesy "ye olde" city tour buses - streetcars are now making a major comeback across the country. And they are poised to become a...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Health and the Environment , Living Sustainably
Sharon and I often marvel at how over-scheduled and over-supervised the lives of our friends' kids seem to be. Although we grew up in different environments, she in a ranch house in a then-new suburb of DC and me in...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
There's a fascinating (if brief) interview with Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, on the PBS "Blueprint America" website. Oberstar and his committee will play a major role in the upcoming overhaul of federal...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming
As reported by the Pegasus News Wire: "The 45-mile Green, Orange and Blue Line DART Rail expansion is projected to generate more than $4 billion in economic activity between 2009 and 2014, according to a new study by...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Green Enterprise , Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
Grist has an informative and fun read, written by Jonathan Hiskes and Katharine Wroth, on "the best US transit systems you never knew existed": "As cities big and small rethink how their residents get around, new systems are taking...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Solving Global Warming , U.S. Law and Policy
This is not your father's DOT. A couple of days ago I wrote a post on the remarkable (and now three-agency) partnership on sustainable communities within the Obama administration. Secretaries Ray LaHood (DOT) and Shaun Donovan (HUD) and Administrator Lisa...continued→
Posted by Kaid Benfield in Living Sustainably , Moving Beyond Oil , Solving Global Warming
The following maps are the product of research done in Melbourne, Australia, on patterns of car ownership. What they suggest is that transit works: the closer one is to a rail transit line, the less need there is for a...continued→
