Welcome to the week. I hope you had a nice long weekend. Now it’s time to buckle in and move forward.
Let’s start with getting up to speed on the news. Here are the most notable items our writers and readers came across in the past seven eight days…
Behind the popular and potent ‘Ban Cars’ mantra: War on Cars podcast co-host Doug Gordon explains the reasoning behind his language choices and what the war is really all about — and does it directly to car lovers via Jalopnik.
Robert Moses at the theater: A new play opening in London will feature Ralph Fiennes playing the influential 1950s NYC DOT director Robert Moses.
EV inequity: Scarcity of materials needed for batteries could push the price of EV cars even higher and make more efficient EV bikes even more attractive.
Real protection: After several high-profile collisions, Chicago officials say they will add concrete protection to all bike lanes by the end of next year. We need a similar plan in Portland.
Exposing ‘bike bros’: A San Francisco-based journalist says she is sick and tired of ‘radical bike activists’ who ‘take cities hostage’ with their anti-car positions and she plans to go on the offensive expose them to win the war on cars.
SUV fines: A German court has ruled that due to the inherently more dangerous design of some SUVs their owners can be slapped with higher fines for breaking traffic laws.
Coal roll penalty: A mechanic in North Carolina who sold thousands of kits to truck owners so they could “roll coal” (spew exhaust at will) has been busted and will serve a year in prison and pay $2.5 million in fines.
Carfree playbook: Wired has a great article on lessons learned from European cities on how to drastically reduce car use and create a healthier, happier city for all.
Public spaces, not parking spaces: The pandemic helped the Italian city of Milan turbocharge their efforts to change parking spaces to public spaces and they’ve created new parks and gathering places for pennies on the dollar.
Murder suspect caught: U.S. Marshals worked with Costa Rican authorities to arrest Kaitlin Armstrong, the woman who is the prime suspect in the killing of professional cyclist Moriah Wilson.
Thanks to everyone who sent in links this week.