Jason Varone
Jason Varone battles the streets everyday during a 9 mile commute on his bicycle from downtown Brooklyn to the Upper East Side. In addition to his efforts on Streetsblog, he is an artist making work related to the environment and technology. Examples of his work can be found at www.varonearts.org.
Recent Posts
How Americans Get to Work
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According to a new U.S. Census Bureau analysis of data from the American Community Survey, most Americans drive to work — alone, and public transportation commuters are concentrated in a handful of large cities. From the Bureau’s press release: Despite rising fuel costs, commuters continued to drive their cars in 2005. The survey, gathered over […]
Quebec Approves Carbon Tax on Fuels to Cut Greenhouse Gases
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Quebec will become the first Canadian province to impose a carbon tax on energy producers. Bloomberg reports: The provincial cabinet approved the tax in Quebec City yesterday, according to a statement on the Natural Resources Ministry Web site. Refiners including Valero Energy Corp.’s Ultramar unit and Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Canadian unit will start paying […]
Rising Gas Prices Hurt Truck Sales
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The New York Times reports: As with sport utilities, the popularity of pickups is in decline. Sales have dropped, rebates and other incentives are climbing, even for companies like G.M. and Toyota that have the newest models on the market…truck sales are down 5 percent so far this year from a weak market last year. […]
California Sues Municipalities for Bad Urban Planning
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USA Today reports on a new development in the fight against climate change: California is pioneering what could be the next battleground against global warming: filing suit to hold cities and counties accountable for greenhouse gas emissions caused by poorly planned suburban sprawl. The unprecedented action is being closely watched by states that have taken […]
Chicago Alley Initiative Shows How to Make Streets Greener
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Chicago’s Department of Transportation started the Green Alleys Program to use the city’s many alleyways to conserve natural resources and improve the environment. Although New York City doesn’t have too many alleys, the beautifully-designed, 47-page Green Alleys Program booklet (PDF) offers several techniques that could still be useful in making New York City streets perform […]
REBNY Goes Green, Gets Behind PlaNYC
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The Real Estate Board of New York started running television commercials yesterday in support of PlaNYC. REBNY is arguably the most powerful interest group in the city. While not specifically mentioning congestion pricing in the ad, REBNY did quote former President Clinton saying in relation to the mayor’s plan: "The longer I wait in traffic, […]
Small Business Leaders Voice Support For PlaNYC
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Critics of congestion pricing often claim that small businesses will bear an unfair burden if the Mayor is successful in implementing his plan. But yesterday, a diverse group of small business leaders from throughout the five boroughs gathered on the steps of City Hall yesterday to voice their support for the Mayor’s PlaNYC initiative. From […]
T.A. Rides with the Mayors of Sydney & Copenhagen
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T.A. Rides with the Mayors of Sydney & Copenhagen A StreetFilm by Clarence Eckerson Jr. Running Time: 3 minutes 3 seconds On the closing day of New York City’s historic C40 Climate Summit, Lord Mayor Clover Moore of Sydney, Australia and Copenhagen’s Mayor of the Technical & Environmental Administration Klaus Bondam took a lunch break […]
The Clock is Ticking for PlaNYC
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A delegation of approximately 30 members of the Campaign for New York’s Future are traveling to Albany today to meet with more than two dozen state legislators and other public officials. Today’s trip follows a series of meetings on Monday in which key coalition leaders joined Mayor Bloomberg to call for urgent State action on […]
PlanNYC’s Public Political Push Starts Today
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From a press release that just came across the Streetsblog transom: Leading members of the Campaign for New York’s Future, a broad coalition of 80 environmental, public health, civic, labor, community and business organizations, will today join Mayor Bloomberg in separate meetings with Governor Eliot Spitzer and State legislators to help call attention to the […]
Smoggy China to Observe World Car Free Day
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The Financial Times reports that China’s cities will participate in this year’s World Car Free Day. These actions have a measureable effect. A recent study found that when Beijing ordered 800,000 cars off the roads for three days last year, local nitrogen oxide air pollution fell by 40 per cent. More than 100 Chinese cities […]
Building a Better Bike Lane
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This weekend’s Wall Street Journal has an massive, full-page report on bike friendly cities in Europe. Initially the arguments for more biking were mostly about health and congestion, but in the last year concern for the environment has become an important factor compelling people to travel by bicycle: Flat, compact and temperate, the Netherlands and […]