Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Dems Grudgingly Approve House Transpo Extension’s Disastrous Timeline
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Yesterday, during the one-hour debate period over the House proposal to extend transportation funding through May 31, lawmaker after lawmaker stood up to condemn the bill. America needs a long-term transportation bill, they said. A short-term stopgap only creates more uncertainty. And then they voted for it. More Democrats than Republicans voted for it, in […]
Talking Headways Podcast: Good Riddance, “Level of Service”
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All the buzz right now is about Arlington, Virginia — the DC suburb has seen its population rise and its car traffic drop since the 1980s. How did they do it? It could be a lesson for Palo Alto, California, which is considering various growth proposals, including one that would invite greater density as long as […]
UberFAMILY: Finally, a Taxi Option for People With Kids
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Childless people, let me let you in on a little secret: Car seats are a huge pain in the ass. They’re no big deal if you own a car, I guess, except for the fact that your kid probably squawks at the prospect of being immobilized in that iron maiden too long. For car-free parents, […]
House, Senate Take Different Paths to Prop Up Transportation Funding
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This morning, the House Ways and Means Committee passed its plan to prop up the Highway Trust Fund — which pays for transit and bike/ped infrastructure in addition to roads — until May 2015. A few hours later, the Senate Finance Committee approved a plan of its own, with no deadline attached. Sens. Ron Wyden […]
Courtland Milloy’s Bike Hate Gets the Smackdown It Deserves
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Bicyclists, pacificists, and reasonable people everywhere are up in arms today about Courtland Milloy’s outrageous column, published last night on Washington Post’s website, in which he suggests drivers should go ahead and intentionally hit cyclists if they feel like it. By somehow casting people on bicycles as “bullies” and “terrorists” — for reasons that never become […]
House Proposes 8-Month Transpo Bill In Hopes for a Republican Senate in 2015
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While a six-year Senate transportation bill languishes in partisan purgatory, the House Ways and Means Committee has proposed an eight-month patch that would backfill the Highway Trust Fund until May 31, 2015. That would punt the transportation bill debate until a new Congress takes over — one that’s expected to have Republican majorities in both […]
The New Way to “Screw Obama” — Poisoning Your Neighbors’ Air
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Warning: The crazies are getting crazier. Behold the new depth to which macho car culture, blatant anti-environmentalism, and Obama hating has sunk. “Coal rollers” retrofit their pickup trucks to “trick” the diesel engines into thinking they need more gas. The result: big, billowing plumes of black smoke — the better to spew at Priuses and […]
Bikes, Cars, and People Co-Exist on Pittsburgh’s Shared Streets
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Summer is finally here, but livable streets advocates already can’t wait for September to come. The biennial Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place conference is taking place in Pittsburgh, a city that’s shedding its “Rust Belt” image and emerging as a leader in progressive street design with the help of a new mayor who’s committed to biking, […]
Talking Headways Special Episode: Walt Disney, City Planner
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While most people know Walt Disney as the creator of lovable characters like Mickey Mouse and movies like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and “Fantasia,” Disney doesn’t get as much credit for his design of Disneyland. Turns out Disney made himself an expert on the subject. This podcast isn’t a typical Talking Headways conversation. It’s a 45-minute […]
Paris Vélib’ Launches Bike-Share for Kids
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While in the U.S., bike-share systems are issuing threatening letters to parents who invent ways to tote their kids along, Paris is pioneering bike-share for the under-10 set. As far as we know, P’tit Vélib’ is the first of its kind in the world. In June, Vélib’ made 300 kids’ bikes available in five locations near parks […]
Arizona Police Arrest “Jaywalking” Professor in Racially-Charged Incident
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Arizona earned its reputation for police excess yet again recently when an officer demanded identification of an African-American pedestrian — for the crime of walking in a campus street to avoid construction on the sidewalk — and got violent when she refused to produce it. Arizona State University professor Ersula Ore was walking around some […]
FHWA: Bike-Ped Investments Pay Off By Cutting Traffic and Improving Health
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Nine years after launching a program to measure the impact of bike and pedestrian investments in four communities, the Federal Highway Administration credits the program with increasing walking trips by nearly a quarter and biking trips by nearly half, while averting 85 million miles of driving since its inception. In 2005, the FHWA’s Nonmotorized Transportation […]