We’re recognizing the scale of the global warming crisis just as there’s a parallel crisis of imagination about how to address environmental problems. Because of years of conservatives’ claims that government doesn’t work, and that the only option is to privatize and deregulate, we’re left believing that we can’t take decisive action in the public interest. We think we can do no more than charge a fee while allowing the smokestacks to keep belching. Call it tax-and-burn environmentalism: Rather than eliminating dangerous practices, tax-and-burn introduces taxes and leaves practices unreformed. Ironically, tax-and-burn often makes things easier for polluters.
Congestion Pricing
Will Americans Ever Embrace Congestion Pricing?
Though the idea of congestion pricing has won over many planners and officials, as the failed proposal in New York shows, many members of the driving public are far more comfortable with sitting in traffic than paying tolls or riding transit.
The Washington Post
London Mayor Calls for $50 Driving Fee
London Mayor Ken Livingstone wants to increase the central city's congestion charge from $16 a day to $50. Drivers in the city are not too happy about it.
The Los Angeles Times
The New Street Thinking
Though congestion pricing was shot down, New Yorkers are thinking about new ways to experience and use their streets.
The New York Times
Congestion Pricing Plan Dies in New York Assembly
Members of the New York State Assembly decided late Monday not to vote on New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan, a plan that the state would have needed to approve by April 7 to be eligible for more than $350 million.
The New York Times
London To Transform Congestion Charge Into Climate Change Fee
Owners of gas-guzzling SUVs would pay $50 to drive into the central city, while drivers of low emission vehicles would now be exempt from the $16 congestion charge.
The Los Angeles Times
NYC Congestion Pricing Plan Clears Another Hurdle
The New York City Council has approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to charge drivers $8 to enter Manhattan.
The New York Times
New York's Congestion Pricing Plan Enters Final Stretch
Officials in New York are pleading their case for a congestion pricing plan before city councilors as the April 7 deadline for approval approaches.
The Daily News
Congestion Pricing Approved for Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge District, in agreeing to apply congestion pricing to the bridge, has saved the $158 million Urban Partnership grant for the Bay Area in the nick of time, but has created turmoil with S.F because of where the revenue goes.
The San Francisco Chronicle
Can Wi-Fi Make Congestion Pricing Work?
An innovative proposal seeks to deal with both vehicle and internet congestion by placing Wi-Fi access transmitters in cars driving through urban areas.
Baseline
Replacing Transit with Toll Roads
The Department of Transportation under President Bush has placed an emphasis on market-based measures such as toll roads to alleviate congestion, and this has public transit advocates worried that the Federal government sees no role for transit.
The Washington Post
Grim Forecast For Transportation Progress In Bay Area
Bay Area political columnist Dan Borenstein examines long-term transportation data and concludes that driving will only increase unless politicians make driving more expensive and transit cheaper, a solution he regards as unlikely at best.
The Contra Costa Times
New York's Transit Needs Congestion Pricing
This editorial from The New York Times argues that the city's public transportation system needs congestion pricing to stay alive.
The New York Times
It's Been a Great Week for City Planning Here on the East Coast
Mon, 04/23/2007 - 18:34
It's been a great week for city planning here on the East Coast. The American Planning Association's 99th National Conference held in Philadelphia drew more than 6,000 attendees, a fact noticed by Philadelphia Inquirer writer Inga Saffron in her April 13th column titled "Welcome, Welcome City Planners," where she took the opportunity to draw local and national lessons from the event. The APA opened with Robert Kennedy's address on environmental planning and closed with an exploration of the legacy of Edmund Bacon (Philadelphia's director of city planning from 1949-1970), but more about that later.
