Breakfast links: Moving right through
Klein reveals stimulus grant priorities
Cities and regions across the nation are gearing up to apply for the competitive transportation grants in the federal stimulus. DC will be applying to fund the K Street Transitway, alternative fuel Circulators, and even possibly a network of electric car charging stations. (Washington Business Journal)
Drive-thru, not bike-thru
The drive-thru Burger King at 3rd and Florida, NE not only refused to serve a bicyclist, but wouldn’t even do the courtesy of saying no outright. Instead, the employee told the cyclist to wait at the side of the lane, then ignored him. (TheWashCycle)
Metro route choice survey back
Matt Johnson’s survey of route choices on Metrorail is back up. If you regularly ride Metrorail and didn’t get to fill it out before, do so now and help them with their analysis.
Construction closes both sides of 6th Street
Over a year ago, Mayor Fenty changed the rules to require construction projects maintain space for pedestrians. But many projects still don’t. On 6th Street, SW, there are two projects across the street from each other, and both closed the sidewalk. (SWDCBlog)
Banning throwing away clean bags?
Madison, Wisconsin is considering a different way of handling the problem of bags polluting the environment and costing cities money to dispose of properly: a ban on throwing the bags away unless they are dirty. The city would designate sites where residents could drop off their clean bags for reuse or recycling, but couldn’t throw them away in the trash. Despite including penalties in the proposed bill, officials state that they would “rely on cooperation rather than enforcement.” Besides, if they did start enforcing, people could just start making the bags dirty. Either way, the law seems unlikely to have much effect. (Wisconsin State Journal)
Green buildings versus green cities
Roger Lewis highlights the paradox of building “green” houses in suburban sprawl while maintaining zoning codes that prohibit more energy-efficient, denser living options. (Post via Just Up the Pike)
What do we do about crime?
Conservative author Reihan Salam notes that fleeing from “crime-ridden” cities to suburbs actually increases your chances of dying, as traffic deaths exceed crime deaths. He goes on to recommend some other crime-reducing techniques that don’t involve more and more incarceration. (Forbes)