Q&A with Elly Blue, Feminist Bike Activist and Independent Media Titan
Elly Blue's latest publication, "Bikes in Space," is a feminist sci-fi zine about her favorite mode of transportation. "I realized that because I work for myself, I can do anything I want," she says by way of explanation. The amazing truth is that she makes a living writing whatever strikes her fancy about the intersection between bicycling and feminism.
May 24, 2013
Foxx Rocks His Confirmation Hearing, Reveals Some Initial Priorities
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx's Senate hearing was, by all accounts, the one "oasis of calm" on an otherwise stormy Capitol Hill yesterday. There were no sharp exchanges, no tense moments, not even any particularly tough questions. Two weeks from today, we'll probably be calling him "Mister Secretary."
May 23, 2013
Capital Bikeshare Members Reduced Their Driving 4.4 Million Miles Per Year
We’ve noted before that it can be challenging to figure out exactly how much driving is avoided when someone rides a bike. But here we have it straight from the horse’s mouth – nearly 7,000 horses, in fact. According to a November 2012 survey of Capital Bikeshare members, released today, the average subscriber drove 198 miles less per year after joining the system. Multiply that by 22,200 members and that's 3.7 million pounds of CO2 that won't get belched into the atmosphere. Nice work, CaBistas!
May 22, 2013
Mr. Money Mustache on Retiring at 30 By Riding a Bike
His claim to fame is that he retired at age 30. He swears that you can achieve greater financial freedom too, if you follow his example by eliminating unnecessary expenses and investing wisely. He calls himself Mr. Money Mustache. And he says nothing is more essential to his philosophy and wealth-building strategy than riding a bike.
May 22, 2013
Suburbanization of Poverty Isolates a Growing Number of Americans
Poverty is no longer a predominantly urban problem -- and the suburbs are no longer the refuge of the upper classes. There are now almost 3 million more poor people living in suburbs than in cities, according to a new book, "Confronting Suburban Poverty in America," by Elizabeth Kneebone and Alan Berube of the Brookings Institution. While cities still have a much higher poverty rate, poverty in the suburbs is growing twice as fast: Between 2000 and 2011, the suburban poor population grew by 64 percent, compared to 29 percent in cities.
May 21, 2013
Obama’s Budget Would Save the Transpo Trust Fund. If Only It Were Real.
President Obama’s transportation budget proposal can give you a contact high if you stand too close. The prospect of budget surpluses -- in the near-term, at least -- is intoxicating. And the source of those surpluses -- from Overseas Contingency Operations -- is a hallucination.
May 20, 2013
Seven Ways Technology Is Rendering the Automobile Obsolete
As we try to understand why young people are so much less jazzed about driving than previous generations, one possible explanation always comes up: Kids today just love their smart phones.
May 15, 2013
Refereeing the Raging Debate Over the “Specialness” of Cyclists
There’s a tussle going on right now about how cyclists should ride on city streets. Yesterday's Streetsblog Network post took a snapshot of this debate yesterday, excerpting the WashCycle’s response to a Sarah Goodyear piece in Atlantic Cities.
May 15, 2013
Millennials Will Drive More As They Age, But Still Less Than Their Parents
At some point over the past few years, a lot of my friends started moving to Silver Spring and Takoma Park and Falls Church. These inner-ring, transit-connected suburbs of DC are still far less compact and walkable than the neighborhoods my friends moved from. So they bought cars.
May 14, 2013
Parking Crater Champion Tulsa Moves to Limit Surface Parking Downtown
Just last month, we were shaming Tulsa, Oklahoma, with our "Golden Crater" award for most surface-parking-lot riddled downtown. But today, we applaud the city for taking steps to reverse the plague of excess parking.
May 13, 2013