Build public transport, not a parking garage | SeacoastOnline.com

Build public transport, not a parking garage | SeacoastOnline.com: "Let me suggest that community does not happen when people live in secluded, suburban communities, drive their individual cars, park in garages and attend to their targeted business. Community does happen when friends greet friends or strangers greet strangers on the street, on the bus in a shared commute. When we share a sidewalk, a path, a ride, we are part of something bigger. When does it end? When there isn't any room in the garage? When the oil and gas runs out? When the pollution has destroyed our atmosphere? Or, is it now, when we the citizens say enough is enough?"

Why Does America Have the Worst Public Transit in the Industrialized World, and the Most Freeways?

Boston Carmen's Union, Local 589: "Taken for a Ride reveals the tragic and little known story of an auto and oil industry campaign, led by General Motors, to buy and dismantle streetcar lines. Across the nation, tracks were torn up, sometimes overnight, and diesel buses placed on city streets"

'via Blog this'

Are you thinking economic slowdown lowers carbon emissions? Think again.

Data from CDIAC. Asterisks notes dips with multiple possible causes.

maribo: Carbon emissions blow right past the financial crisis: "Regardless of the cause, the effect points to the potential naivete, not to mention the questionable morality, of people thinking or hoping that economic slowdowns will 'naturally' limit carbon emissions and save the world from the dangerous impacts of climate change."

First city without cars, wins the future

Boston Redevelopment Authority launches waterfront district zoning process - Downtown - Your Town - Boston.com: "Meade said the BRA would embrace Menino’s policy of encouraging multiple modes of transportation, with an emphasis on bicycling, walking, and public transportation over individual car usage."

Study: Transit funding shifts job growth into gear - Lowell Sun Online

Study: Transit funding shifts job growth into gear - Lowell Sun Online: "Under Patrick's tax proposal the Massachusetts Department of Transportation would pump $100 million more annually into the state's 16 regional transit authorities."

Vermont towns vote against eastern #tarsands pipeline

Vt. votes are only first step for gun, oil foes  : Times Argus Online: "The volunteer group considers the issue one of statewide interest because the pipeline not only runs through the towns of Barton, Burke, Guildhall, Irasburg, Jay, Newport, Sutton, Troy, and Victory, but also intersects 15 natural waterways that lead to other parts of Vermont.

As a result, it convinced 29 municipalities to voice “opposition to the transport of tar sands oil through Vermont, and deep concern about the risks of such transport for public health and safety, property values and our natural resources.”

“The resolution is important — it has neighbors talking to neighbors about this issue — but it’s one piece of a larger effort,” 350 Vermont organizer Andrew Simon says. “What’s next is to widen this discussion.”"

'via Blog this'

Is Boston Ready for an Apartment Building That Bars Cars? - Housing - The Atlantic Cities

Is Boston Ready for an Apartment Building That Bars Cars? - Housing - The Atlantic Cities: "Mariscal is explicitly attempting to build a green development, and so neither of these options looks like a good one. His solution? Design an apartment complex with no parking – where tenants would sign away the right to own cars, in fact – and then convince the city to let him build it."

'via Blog this'