Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Streetsblog Capitol Hill

The Urbanist Case Against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

By Elana Schor | Jan 29, 2010 | 2 Comments

The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU), an advocacy group working to reform local development practices, is seizing on House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank’s (D-MA) recent call for a new system of housing finance to replace government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Mixed-use developments, such as Atlanta’s Atlantic Station (above), are often incompatible […]

Celebration in California As White House Awards $2.3B for High-Speed Rail

By Elana Schor | Jan 29, 2010 | No Comments

In California, the state’s bid for a federal high-speed rail network with top speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour is often called the "only true" bullet train proposal on the table — and the Obama administration agreed today, bestowing $2.34 billion on the Golden State to the delight of lawmakers and rail advocates. Graphic: CHSRC […]

A Bike-Ped State of the Union: 9.6% of Trips, 1.2% of Federal Funding

By Elana Schor | Jan 28, 2010 | No Comments

With the nation still digesting the State of the Union address, the Alliance for Biking & Walking picked an auspicious day to release their biennial Benchmarking report on America’s bike-ped behavior. The group’s bottom-line conclusion: federal transportation funding continues to disproportionately shortchange travelers powered by their own two feet. (Chart: Alliance for Biking & Walking) […]

New Report Links Homeowners’ Auto Dependence With Foreclosure Risk

By Elana Schor | Jan 28, 2010 | No Comments

Homeowners in car-dependent areas without access to alternative transportation are at greater risk of foreclosure, according to a report released yesterday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) that calls for mortgage underwriting standards to begin taking so-called "location-efficiency" into account. Weeds spring up near a foreclosed home in Illinois. (Photo: Getty) The NRDC examined […]

Obama Taps High-Speed Rail Winners: Florida, California, Illinois and More

By Elana Schor | Jan 28, 2010 | 6 Comments

Click here for a larger version. (Image: U.S. DOT) In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama hinted at what many in the transportation world have anticipated all week: Florida’s emergence as a winner in the race for a share of the White House’s $8 billion (and growing) high-speed rail fund. But […]

One More Reason to Dig TIGER: Transit and Roads on the Same Footing

By Elana Schor | Jan 27, 2010 | 1 Comment

Being D.C.-bound, Streetsblog Capitol Hill could only watch with interest as the U.S. DOT kicked off a transportation "listening tour" this week with four senior lawmakers in Minnesota, which has become a transit hotspot of late with the imminent construction of a new light rail line. (Logo: U.S. DOT) But a helpful source has passed […]

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