Matthew Roth
Recent Posts
The Next Stimulus Plan: Kalashnikovs for Clunkers
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In case you don’t qualify for the federal "cash for clunkers" rebate program, Mark Muller of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri, has an offer you might want to consider: get a free AK-47 with a new truck. The dealer, whose motto is "God, Guns, Guts and American Pick-Up Trucks," one-upped himself after last year’s offer […]
EPA Asks For Bike to Work Feedback, Inhabitat Gives Away a Bike
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We get a lot of Greenversations press releases over the transom and most go right to the trash, in no small part because "Greenversations" is one of the more odious portmanteaus a government agency or corporation has yet proffered. Not quite as annoying as the idea that Ray LaHood’s multi-modal transportation blog is called the […]
Senate’s $50 Billion Highway Giveaway Nearly Dead
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The Inhofe/Boxer stimulus bill amendment for $50 billion in additional infrastructure funds appears to be dead, with official word expected soon from Senator Harry Reid’s office. Sources close to the negotiations say that at least five Democratic Senators were not going to support the amendment if transit and water provisions weren’t improved, while Senate Republicans […]
The Boxer/Inhofe Amendment: Not Green Enough
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A revised draft of the Boxer/Inhofe amendment just came over the transom from a source in DC close to the negotiations (PDF). This is a draft from yesterday and negotiations are ongoing, so expect changes. Specifically, enviros are trying to get a "green screen" put in place, so that USDOT can pick from the priority […]
It Gets Worse: Boxer/Inhofe to Request $50B More for Highways
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Barbara Boxer and infamous global warming denier James Inhofe will present an amendment to the Senate stimulus plan that could funnel as much as $50 billion in additional funding to highways, Streetsblog has learned. Friends of the Earth tells us that Boxer’s staff confirmed she will introduce the amendment, which could bring the total for […]
San Francisco Mayor to NYC: “Eat Your Heart Out.”
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A rendering of the Transbay Transit Center with a 5.4 acre park on its roof. At a groundbreaking ceremony for the long-awaited Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco yesterday, Mayor Gavin Newsom asserted the project will be "so much more extraordinary than Grand Central Station." Pointing to the renderings on a projection screen behind him, […]
Jan Gehl Reflects on San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf
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"When I was a visiting professor at Berkeley in the 1980s, I used to come to Fisherman’s Wharf and walk around," Danish urban designer Jan Gehl said Wednesday night, to more than 100 San Franciscans at the Pier 39 Theater near Fisherman’s Wharf. "Now it’s like deja vu; it’s exactly like I remember it 25 […]
Jan Gehl Says San Francisco Must be Sweet to Pedestrians and Cyclists
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It’s a good day in a city’s urbanist evolution when Jan Gehl comes to town, and now San Francisco can add itself to the growing list of cities around the world that have embraced his people-first approach to urban design and planning. Hoping to keep pace with the progress in New York City over the […]