Secretary LaHood takes on Senator Coburn’s “stimulus waste”
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood didn’t pull any punches in a blog post this week about one senator’s “stimulus waste” list. Senator Tom Coburn is a persistent critic of transportation “enhancements” and author of a failed amendment earlier this year to strip bicycle and pedestrian projects from a spending bill. His latest waste list includes two bike paths. Coburn told the Washington Times, “When we run $1.4 trillion deficits, the money we spend ought to be a high priority for the American people as a whole.” To which LaHood retorts: “What he really means is that, because he doesn’t get bikes, no one else does either.”
Walkscore innovators turn to improving public transportation
Front Seat, the civic software company responsible for the massively popular Walkscore service, launched a new project today aimed at encouraging public transportation ridership. The project makes transit agency schedule data available, accessible, and open to developers so they can create applications to make it easier to ride. CityGoRound.org is a new portal where you can find the many applications developers have have created to ease and increase the convenience of riding transit.
Conservatives and public transportation — join us on Monday the 14th
“As conservatives, our first principle is the reality principle,” wrote William Lind and the late Paul Weyrich in Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation. “Public policy must be based on reality, not on the fairy-tale wishes so beloved by liberals.” Left-leaning transit advocates need not be insulted. The authors are simply trying to talk about public transportation in ways that appeal to right-of-center allies. If your interest is piqued, you’ll definitely want to join us for an online debate next Monday, December 7, in which a handful of experts, including co-author Lind, will discuss — and debate — the ideas contained in the book.
TIME Magazine features Dangerous by Design report on pedestrian safety, culminating three weeks of coverage nationwide
This week’s issue of TIME Magazine topped off three weeks of nationwide coverage of Transportation for America’s Dangerous by Design report ranking communities according to the risk for pedestrians. The excellent TIME piece opens with the tragic story of Ashley Nicole Valdes, “a smart, pretty 11-year-old girl” who was killed while crossing the street in Miami earlier this year and became “a heart-wrenching symbol of South Florida’s notoriously reckless car culture.”
Conservatives and public transportation; join us for an upcoming debate
If you are not convinced that the need for transportation reform is an issue that transcends labels and partisanship, you’ll definitely want to join us for what should be an interesting online debate/discussion on Monday, December 7. A handful of experts from differing perspectives are going to discuss the viewpoints shared in a recent book by William Lind and the late Paul Weyrich called “Moving Minds: Conservatives and Public Transportation.”
Secretary LaHood receives your message loud and clear, responds in kind
Just a week after the release of Dangerous by Design, Transportation for America and six of our key partners met with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday to deliver a petition with thousands of signatures urging him to make pedestrian safety and complete streets a priority at USDOT. He responded with resounding support, telling T4 America during a meeting yesterday, “the right of way doesn’t just belong to cars — it belongs to pedestrians and bicyclists as well.”
Florida county heeds call for complete streets days after report’s release
It is always gratifying to see change happen, especially when change happens fast. This week, within a day of the release of the Dangerous by Design report which showed the four most dangerous cities for pedestrians were in Florida, a key region in Florida had adopted one of the report’s recommendations and the campaign’s key platforms.
Rural Senators focus on heartland transit
How could a new transportation bill revitalize rural and small-town America? That was the focus of a Senate Democratic Steering Committee briefing on “Issues and Innovations for Small Towns and Rural Communities” in the Capitol Visitors Center last Friday. Transportation for America co-chair and former Meridian, Mississippi Mayor John Robert Smith shared his perspective as […]
Last week’s elections a net plus for public transportation
Last Tuesday’s election results were a win for public transit, although high-profile state and national races stole most of the headlines. According to the Center for Transportation Excellence, 72 percent of transportation ballot measures received voter approval on November 3. November’s ballot included seven measures in five states – Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Michigan and Ohio. […]
Help us send a message to Secretary LaHood and the USDOT
As our new Dangerous by Design report illustrates, pedestrian safety is a matter of life or death for thousands of Americans each year. With a loss of life equivalent to a jumbo jet going down roughly each month, it is a tragedy that does not get enough attention at nearly any level of government. These are preventable deaths, largely on roads that are not safe for walking or biking. Transportation for America is working to arrange a meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and to deliver the message from our hundreds of partner organizations and thousands of supporters across the country that safer streets must be a priority! Sign our petition today!
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