Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Public Health

Could Ending the ‘War on Drugs’ Help Ease Urban Budget Crises?

By Elana Schor | Aug 17, 2009 | 1 Comment

Despite talk of a nascent economic recovery, the brutal toll exacted on state budgets by the recession continues — with palpable consequences for transit riders and already lower-income urbanites. Could the cure for cities’ fiscal woes be a dramatic shift in drug policy? A class on dispensary management in Oakland, where drug sales are taxed […]

New Report on Transpo-Health Dynamic Makes Case for National Targets

By Elana Schor | Jul 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

The link between transportation and public health, explored on this page days ago, is plumbed further in a report released today by PolicyLink and the Prevention Institute with an introduction by Jim Oberstar (D-MN), chairman of the House transport committee. The report brings together the key pivot points in the transportation debate, many of which […]

An Orszag-ian Principle: Transportation Reform is Health Reform

By Elana Schor | Jul 17, 2009 | 1 Comment

During the Washington budget debate earlier this year, a phrase widely attributed to White House budget director Peter Orszag was rolling off many a reporter’s keyboard: "Health reform is entitlement reform." Orszag’s idea, in a nutshell, is that controlling the nation’s skyrocketing health care costs, which are fueled in part by the obesity epidemic, would […]

Blumenauer and Co. Face Off With Utility Industry Over Clean Water

By Elana Schor | Jul 15, 2009 | 1 Comment

As anyone who’s tried to get around during a water main break knows, good old H2O has its own infrastructure and its own role in local transportation. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), at podium, and colleagues at today’s clean water fund event. (Photo: Blumenauer’s office) But many Americans may not know how much states need to […]

Taking GOPer Bachmann a Bit Too Seriously

By Elana Schor | Jul 10, 2009 | 4 Comments

Back when the Senate kicked off its health care debate, Republicans tested out a new line of attack against health committee chairman Edward Kennedy’s (D-MA) draft bill: Its investment in encouraging walking and biking amounts to inexcusable government waste. Never mind that walking and biking have scientifically proven public health benefits. Never mind that the […]

GOP’s New Attack on Health Care Reform Bill: It Promotes Walking!

By Elana Schor | Jun 16, 2009 | 12 Comments

Despite a growing awareness among conservatives that walking and biking are causes worth backing, Republicans on Capitol Hill continue to condemn bike-ped programs as wasteful "pork". The GOP’s latest potshots at sustainable transportation come during debate over a health care bill that focuses mainly on insurance and hospitals, but also includes a public health grant […]

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