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
Boxer and Inhofe Make Their Offer to the House, Try to Avoid 10th Extension
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The time-and-venue change for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s press conference earlier today was apparently due to the fact that she was taking care of critical business: hand-delivering the Senate’s latest offer to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Chair John Mica (R-FL) wasn’t there to personally receive the document, which EPW Ranking Member James Inhofe joined Boxer […]
Stakeholders Beg Conferees to Stop Acting Like Children
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Sen. Barbara Boxer’s noon press conference started out as a bit of a mess. The Senate press gallery announced it was canceled five minutes before it was due to start. Then three minutes later, the EPW committee sent out a notice that the event had changed locations and would start 20 minutes later. Needless to […]
Boxer to Speak to Reporters, Address Cloud Over Conference Committee
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Sen. Barbara Boxer is due to speak to reporters in about an hour about the goings-on in the conference committee. The mood has turned dark in the past few days, but she’s kept a positive attitude, saying, “It’s been wonderful.” Boxer used the anemic jobs report yesterday to underscore the need to pass a bill […]
Full Steam Ahead!
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Happy Monday! After a five-month transition period, I am now back as your faithful full-time editor. Abundant gratitude goes to Ben Goldman, who stepped into the role seamlessly and kept the blog focused like a laser on the transportation bill drama unfolding in Congress. He’s put up with an unusual schedule that threw him in full-time and […]
FRA Chief: America Is Driving Less and Congress Needs to Catch Up
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Speaking to reporters earlier today, Federal Railroad Administration chief Joe Szabo said that people are driving less and using transit more — and that those changes are permanent. “America’s travel habits are undergoing rapid change,” he said. It’s a fact, he said (“not opinion — statistically proven”), calling on Congress to show that it understands […]
Tea Party Republicans Take Aim at Bike-Ped Funding in Conference
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Although Senate Republicans had hoped the carefully crafted compromise over the Transportation Enhancements program would stand, some House members are stating their insistence that the program be stripped out entirely in conference. Transportation Enhancements is the primary source of funding for bicycle and pedestrian projects. It comprises less than two percent of total federal transportation […]
Washington Post: Have We Lost Our Passion for the Automobile?
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The data tell us that young people are driving less; that Americans are driving fewer miles — and it’s not just because of the economy. Now the Washington Post asks a more transcendental question: Is the spark gone? America’s fabled love affair with the car hasn’t ended, but like many a romance that gets off […]
In Which Chuck Marohn and I Talk to Exurban Minnesotans on the Radio
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Charles Marohn — our planner/engineer friend from Baxter, Minnesota and Strong Towns — and I appeared on a Minnesota Public Radio show on Friday about “the death of the exurbs.” The starting point of the conversation was the article I wrote last month about the new census numbers and what they tell us about the shifting […]
U.S. DOT Spells Out Priorities For Conference Bill
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Hint to lonely hearts everywhere: If you’re looking for some correspondence, join the transportation conference committee. Those folks are getting a lot of mail these days. Everyone from the petrochemical industry to environmental and equity groups [PDF] to state DOT officials [PDF] are penning their missives to committee members, asking for everything from expedited project delivery […]
House Members Try to Work Their Will in Conference
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The 47 members of the transportation bill conference committee have a lot on their plates: The Senate’s MAP-21 bill includes many provisions Republicans don’t like, the House slapped controversial “poison pills” onto its non-bill, and chair Barbara Boxer wants this all wrapped up in a few weeks. On top of all that, members are beginning […]
Study Predicts “Resilient Walkable” Places Will Lead the Housing Recovery
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This morning, a Minnesota Public Radio host asked me if the exurbs, whose growth rate flattened when the recession hit, are going to come back. Lots of people from far-distant suburbs like Blaine and Farmington called in, saying they like the way of life out there – they like having acres of trees buffering them […]
From a Reader: Seven More Questions For the Transportation Conference
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Last week, I published a list of seven questions I had as the Transportation Conference Committee started meeting. I was examining the politics, not the policy. Turns out some readers wanted to hear more about the policy. I asked the Cap’n what his questions would be. The reply: Meanwhile, reader Ryan Richter sent in his […]