Here’s the news that caught our eye this week:
– The ballooning recall of Toyota models with sticky accellerators has cast light on the reluctance with which the auto industry responds to safety issues.
– While many of our Portland readers were at City Hall to rally and attend the new bicycle plan hearing, the federal HUD secretary was a few blocks away at PSU announcing the opening of a new federal department with strong potential links to transportation issues, the Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities.
– On Streetsblog, a discussion of the “invisible” side of bicycling—that many people who ride don’t do so out of choice and aren’t in a position to access knowledge about cycling or to advocate for themselves. (The discussion is continued here.)
– Has anyone coined the term “carfreewashing” yet? A movement in the UK towards car-free developments (e.g., residential areas, usually low-income housing projects with no provided car parking), billed as a green initiative, are instead proving a troubling experiment in placing the burden of a failed transportation system on people who have the least choice about how to get around.
– The White House has placed itself on the walkable neighborhoods front lines by promoting the spread of neighborhood grocery stores and farmers markets.
– Fed Ex has pledged to invest half a million dollars in an effort to reduce auto congestion in Mexican cities.
– Pittsburgh is considering an ordinance that would require all new construction to include installation of bike parking staples on the sidewalk.
– In Los Angeles, activists are proposing a new freeway network—for bicycles only.
– A co-op apartment building in New York is experimenting with providing car sharing rather than building more parking spaces for its residents.
– A new Yale University building earned platinum LEED certification in part by installing showers and indoor parking facilities for bike commuters. But the facilities have been locked since the building opened, and the university has no plans to let students and faculty use them.
– “Distracted driving” is Webster’s 2009 word of the year.
– Video of the week—a guerrilla crosswalk in Brazil serves as a sobering memorial:
Thanks for reading.
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Okay by far the most absurd round up item is the Yale University building’s locked showers.
Having bike commuter showers is pointless if people can’t use them. Such an absurdity would unacceptable at a mere community college, but for one of the so-called best schools in the nation to do so is an insult to reason, logic and the rest of higher brain functions the Bush administration was allergic to.
From the O article about the visit from federal HUD secretary, Shaun Donovan:
“‘It’ll require smart investing,’ said Donovan, who also has ideas about how to factor the cost of transportation into the values of people’s homes.”
Very interesting… Could this be part of the funding structure we need to take bicycling to the next level?
@Marcus
Isn’t everything at Yale locked?
Wow, from locked showers to belittling community colleges to making it a result of the Bush administration.
At what point are people responsible for their own actions? At what point do you stop pointing the finger at Bush for every woe in the world?
And as a community college grad I will put my Associates Degree in Information Technology against your PHD in 16th Century French Literature any day,except when it comes to assembling and wrapping a Whopper.
The Streetsblog article seems to come across as portraying “poverty” as “immigrant”, and it shows in the comments. They didn’t have to – About a third of US citizens don’t have driver’s licenses. Kids don’t drive, and often bike where they go when they’re able and allowed. I quit driving because of a herniated disc in my neck. I’d rather quit driving than risk the surgery. It isn’t some kind of burden, in fact it’s turned out to be an incredibly positive decision!
Income certainly has something to do with living car free as well, but I don’t think it’s the leading reason. (still, certainly significant and something that should be addressed in terms of equitable opportunity)
Re: The Yale article:
Here’s an interesting quote:
“The director of facilities for the School of Art, Sal Schaivone, told the Daily News that he had no plan to unlock those in the Sculpture Building, where students have studio space that they already spend a lot of time in. “If they had access to it, people would be living in the building,” he said. Over in Rudolph Hall, which houses the School of Architecture, an associate dean said the showers wouldn’t be unlocked because there’s no way to lock them from inside to guarantee privacy.”
So…. I’m going through the beginning of a major home remodel, and with all the decisions that we have to make, I think I’m boggled that the Powers That Be didn’t think about installing lockable doors for the showers.
Now, the other point about people living there if they had access to showers– I can see that side of it, but then what was the point of including them in the design? If it was just to get the LEED certification, then those people are Stinkers.
Didn’t Bush graduate from Yale?
@ John Kangas # 5 –
Agreed. My wife and I are carless and it has nothing to do with our income level; we do it for a variety of reasons, from the obvious money savings to wanting to protect the environment and living a happier lifestyle (not owning a car and becoming a part of the I-5 daily parking lot does a lot for your sanity, as does removing yourself form the myriad idiots behind the wheel).
I realize that our life isn’t for everyone, but it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with our income level, where we could easily afford a fairly nice car if we wanted to. We just choose otherwise.
@ Kt # 6 –
LEED is nothing but a numbers game, and this little stunt that Yale has pulled is a perfect example of it.
Ask any architect or interior designer what they think about the LEED program (whether they’re LEED-certified or not).
The Yale short news article is one of those that makes you want to hear more of the story. The director of facilities for the School of Art, Sal Schaivone’s explanation for keeping the showers locked is ridiculous; unavailability of a shower isn’t what keeps people from living in their studios.
Locks on the inside of shower doors for privacy? Why does anyone need one? The sound of the water running should make it apparent that someone’s in the shower.
Security in the shower room though, might be a valid concern if it’s not adequate for that building. Yale might be on edge about that in the wake of the grad student murdered in one of its buildings.
I think part of the LEED idea is a lot of B.S. . It does though, function as an incentive to developers to try innovative building design they might otherwise be inclined to toss out for cost related reasons.
From the story on Toyota and the NTHSA story:
Hmm. Methinks he subconsciously is admitting to the dangers inherent in car driving. So even he is saying, people should be driving less. Funny.