A freight train in Hyattsville, Maryland by Victoria Pickering licensed under Creative Commons.

American railroads rail against electrification. New York City centralizes management of public spaces. Major Belgian cities find success in reducing car traffic.

AAR goes deep against railroad electrification: Many of the world’s railroads are electrified including in Europe and Asia, but the threat of climate change and the prospect of greater efficiency haven’t changed the minds of American railroad companies. In fact, the American Association of Railroads has written position papers lobbying against railroad electrification. Michael Barnard believes the railroads are woefully misrepresenting the facts and will cling to diesel in the age of climate change for as long as they can. (Michael Barnard | Clean Technica)

New York City gets a public realm czar: New York Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Ya-Ting Liu to be the city’s first public realm czar. Liu will be the central coordinator for anyone trying to make improvements or manage public spaces in the city. She will begin pulling together the myriad public spaces in the city managed by many different agencies and soon be responsible for the city’s coming outdoor dining guidelines. (Winnie Hu | New York Times)

Belgium’s downtowns are cutting out cars: Two cities in Belgium have seen success in reducing car usage in their downtowns. Brussels has seen a 19% reduction in cars and a 23% increase in cycling during the morning commute in just six months of enforcement of its Good Move Plan. Ghent’s mayor, who was threatened over his city’s active transportation scheme, has seen great success with a doubling of cycling and 12% increase in transit ridership. (Denis Balgaranov | The Mayor.eu and Tom Heap | Sky News)

Homes in flood zones are overvalued by billions: New research in the journal Nature Climate Change has found that homes in American cities in a flood zone are likely overvalued by billions of dollars. For years, the National Flood Insurance Program incentivized developers to build in low-lying areas. But as worsening climate change causes greater and more frequent flooding, more properties in impacted areas will be devalued. (Zoya Teirstein | Grist)

Quote of the Week

“It’s incredibly expensive to litigate these cases and owners of big box commercial properties who assert these theories unsupported by the law, like dark store, are trying to pressure local governments to reduce their tax assessments.”

Claire Silverman in Green Bay Press Gazette discussing a court case in which big box stores tried to get out of property taxes by using empty “dark stores” to compare rates.

This week on the podcast, Colin Parent, executive director of Circulate San Diego, comes on the program to talk about his new report, “Fast Bus! How San Diego Can Make Progress by Speeding Up the Bus.”