http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/0,28757,1819594,00.html

TIME Magazine lists "10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas." Some are obvious (less pollution? really?), but there are a few surprises, such as "more cops on the beat." My favorite line: "cops are being told to cut down on idling their cruisers — which is sort of like telling a teenager to stop using his cell phone." 

If true: Ho lee cow!

It's hard to walk more than two blocks without running into a bike rack, which helps explain why the program has already yielded a 5% drop in car traffic. Paris has also removed lots of parking spots to make way for bike stations.

Source: Time Magazine

The Brookings Institute unloads on Louisville, and the C-J is tabulating the fallout:

Residents of Louisville and Lexington are among the worst contributors to climate change, according to a study of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas.

Researchers with Washington's Brookings Institution blame factors such as sprawling development that encourages driving rather than walking, biking or mass transit, and the cities' reliance on cheap, coal-fueled electricity.

Its list — which measured carbon emissions per resident based on per capita emissions from residential and highway energy use in 2005 — puts Lexington at the top of a list of offenders, and Louisville fifth.

While the ranking could be a public relations issue for leaders trying to attract industry and new residents, Louisville has made strides in recent years to improve air quality, add cycling lanes and begin a detailed study of the city's carbon output, said Bruce Traughber, the city's economic development director.

At the NY Times:

Any serious reduction in American driving will require more than this — it will mean changing how and where many of us live.

To see what I’m talking about, consider where I am at the moment: in a pleasant, middle-class neighborhood consisting mainly of four- or five-story apartment buildings, with easy access to public transit and plenty of local shopping.

It’s the kind of neighborhood in which people don’t have to drive a lot, but it’s also a kind of neighborhood that barely exists in America, even in big metropolitan areas. Greater Atlanta has roughly the same population as Greater Berlin — but Berlin is a city of trains, buses and bikes, while Atlanta is a city of cars, cars and cars.

And in the face of rising oil prices, which have left many Americans stranded in suburbia — utterly dependent on their cars, yet having a hard time affording gas — it’s starting to look as if Berlin had the better idea.

Via Centerlines #201, the the newsletter of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking:

According to a May 1 news release from Barbara McCann and the National Complete Streets Coalition, there are some important developments in the US House and Senate on Complete Streets bills.

Safe Routes to Schools & Parks

Wed. April 16, 1:00-5:00PM, Presbyterian Community Center, 731 S. Hancock St.

Disabilities & Older Adults

Thurs. April 17, 1:30-3:30PM (optional walk @ 1:00), Crescent Hill Ministries, 150 S. State St.

Building Walkable Communities

Thurs. April 17, 6:30-8:30PM, Fern Creek High School, 9115 Fern Creek Rd.

Recreational Walking & Running

Sat. April 19, 9:00-11:00AM
(optional walk @ 8:30), Shivley Community Center, 1901 Park Rd.

League of American Bicyclists press release:

Washington, D.C.—March 25, 2008—Florida cyclists are cheering the news today that the State Department of Transportation is, according to a ruling of the First District Court of Appeals, unambiguously obligated "to establish bicycle and pedestrian ways in conjunction with the construction, reconstruction, or other change of any state transportation facilities." The ruling goes on to say that bicycle and pedestrian ways shall be established "unless the Department exercises its discretion not to establish [them]" according to one of three conditions described in the statutes, and that the "Department's discretion is limited."

According to the New York Times, Bloomberg's visionary congestion pricing scheme for New York has been defeated. Charging auto users for their ecological damage doesn't sit well with some people, I suppose.

The National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission has provided it's report to Congress.  At my first reading, this report merely looked like a treasure trove of handy quotes endorsing CART's vision.  For example:

Our Nation will need to put more emphasis on transit and intercity passenger rail and make them a priority for our country.  A cultural shift will need to take place across America to encourage our citizens to take transit or passenger rail when the option is given. (volume I, p.1)

But the report goes far beyond that. It seeks an end to the pork-for-pork's sake mentality that is deeply entrenched in Washington. No longer will congresswomen and state DOTs be able to dream up any old crazy project and fund it through political power alone, rather

Fed up with today's car-clogged streets, I have certainly fantasized about living before the automobile came on the scene. Ahhh...to live at a time when people got around primarily by foot, bicycle, and horse: that must have been a wonderful time to be alive. To breathe clean air not polluted by the emissions of the infernal combustion machines, to walk on streets safe from autombiles that cause innumerable crashes and result in staggering losses of life....it sounds absolutely idyllic. If only I could have been born then....