Posts by David Alpert — Founder
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New Partners: Frustrating Transit Administrators
I jumped in to a panel on streetcars fairly late. It featured people from Portland, Tuscon, and other cities that have recently deployed streetcars. When I came in, they were expressing major frustration with the FTA and its decisionmaking. Keep reading…
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New Partners: Congestion pricing and transportation finance
The panel at the New Partners conference on transportation finance featured NYC’s congestion pricing hero Bruce Schaller, and Michael Replogle of Environmental Defense. As David Burwell of Project for Public Spaces said when he introduced the panel: The transportation trust fund is broke—not just broken, but broke. Actually, the highway fund is broke now, and the… Keep reading…
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Maryland worried about new transit-hostile FTA
According to the Post, Maryland officials are nervous that the Federal (not-so-excited-about-)Transit Administration will reject the Purple Line or the Corridor Cities Transitway (along I-270) as it did (or at least delayed) the Silver Line to Dulles, even though the Purple Line will cost significantly less. Maryland already delayed the Purple Line application process one… Keep reading…
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New Partners: Earl Blumenauer and Mary Landrieu
Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Congressman Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, whose district includes Portland, joined in a roundtable discussion. Blumenauer had strong words for the Bush Administration on its transportation policy, especially the recent commission report, where language in favor of increasing the gas tax was cut out. Blumenauer: the commission was set… Keep reading…
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New Partners: Adrian Fenty
Mayor of the District of Columbia Adrian Fenty delivered the evening keynote at the New Partners conference. Unfortunately, he didn’t say anything particularly exciting. Keep reading…
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Is The Yards waterfront park bike-friendly?
At the panel on Southeast Federal Center, I asked Pat Daniels of GSA and Ramsey Meiser of Forest City about the bike design for the park, which appears to cram bikers, rollerbladers, runners and others into a narrow sharply-anged pathway at the edge of the park. Meiser and Daniels were confident that the park was going to be bike-friendly, though they couldn’t respond specifically… Keep reading…
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The passion of parking policy
A roomful of people gave two hours of their evening last night to attend a panel sponsored by the Coalition for Smarter Growth at the Downtown BID about parking policy. Many joked privately beforehand that parking is quite a boring-sounding topic to generate such fascination, including Councilmember Tommy Wells, who spoke at the beginning. He came up with the slogan of “walkable,… Keep reading…
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New Partners: The Yards and public-private partnerships
I’m at the New Partners for Smart Growth conference, a major annual conference on Smart Growth. I’ll be liveblogging the conference today. The first panel I’m attending is about the development called The Yards in Near Southeast and how partnerships between GSA and Forest City are revitalizing this area. Katherine Aguilar Perez, VP of Forest City: “Smart… Keep reading…
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Why buildings aren’t better
Boston’s architecture critic gives his reasons: care, cash, and consensus. I agree with some of the points and disagree with others—I don’t think architectural disagreement is a new thing, and there were plenty of bad cookie-cutter buildings in the past that are gone now. Keep reading…
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Rockville Pike meeting only gives driving directions
Rockville’s planning department is soliciting community input on improving Rockville Pike along the corridor from Twinbrook to downtown Rockville. The project’s goals include improving transportation and urban design along the Pike. Keep reading…