Transportation

Better late than never, on the eve of the primary I just wanted to call everyone’s attention to BikePGH’s Bike the Vote questionnaire  BikePgh asked each of the Mayoral candidates to discuss the status quo with respect to making Pittsburgh as bike friendly as possible, and asked them as well to what each of them...
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Image via Wikipedia After reading Lady Elaine’s post about potholes I started thinking more about whether the pothole website was motivated by the upcoming election or if this was just part of an ongoing effort to improve communications with city residents. I read committeegrrl’s post last week about potholes and my first reaction...
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According to Pop City, Dan Onorato will hold the second in a series of cyber town hall meetings tomorrow, in which constituents can ask direct questions of the County Executive and receive answers via streaming video: During the first cyber meeting, Onorato addressed hard-hitting questions on why property assessments have increased, the need for better...
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Image by UtopianLibrary via Flickr Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s idea to lease the city’s parking garages (more here) has generated quite a bit of buzz in Pittsburgh and beyond.  The article from the PG was also picked up by Harvard’s Kennedy School here and on the blogs Milwaukee Talkie and Planetizen. This idea has also been covered...
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Image by Getty Images via DaylifeI was just reading the latest email from Michael Moore about bailing out the big three automakers – I like that he offers an alternative to the bailout, I don’t know if it is the right alternative but it is helpful to see some alternative ideas discussed (I am...
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Again, there’s a really interesting conversation about transit going on over at Nullspace: http://nullspace2.blogspot.com/2008/09/transit-tuesday-metrics-to-be-proud-of.html Chris B. deconstructs some of the “facts” touted in a recent Forbes.com report and P-G article about Pittsburgh being in the top 5 commuter-friendly regions. He points out that the figures that put us in the top 5 are ridership numbers from...
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In the Post-Gazette today, attorney Joseph Pass responds directly to Ken Zapinski of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development’s management-slanted editorial from labor day weekend. Don’t punish transit workers Perhaps local corporations should make ‘concessions’ I read with interest the rantings of Ken Zapinski of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development titled, “A Time for Concessions” (Forum,...
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The burghosphere’s favorite wonk, Chris Briem has a great post today on Nullspace with some very interesting analysis about the numbers that the Port Authority persistently puts out about its drivers’ wages. Check it out: http://nullspace2.blogspot.com/ Also– from Save Our Transit: We will be picketing the Port Authority as well as Dan Onorato in the...
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Residents of Allegheny County can no longer take our public transit system for granted. Over the last several years, bus-riders have had to learn to live with ever-increasing fares and ever-decreasing service. Neither our state legislature nor our county government (both bodies of government have fiscal responsibility to fund transit) have shown the...
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This new online tool allows citizens to contribute ideas and information to an interactive plan for Pittsburgh’s future. The current topic of the wiki is transportation. Please visit Pittsburgh Wiki and add your $0.02. The transportation wiki will be available for contributions until October 24, 2008. At that time, it will be closed and put...
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A timely topic, as energy becomes a sharper issue for the American public and we watch changes in consumer behavior hash out against a backdrop of slow-to-change and often contradictory public policy. Will there be any long-term impact on where people choose to live? Well, this index is a project of The Urban Markets...
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CityLIVE! Series Getting There… from Here: Transportation Solutions for Our Region Speaker: Sanjeev Shah, Steven Bland, Chelsa Wagner New Hazlett Theater July 24, 2008 6:30 p.m. Is the auto the most convenient and efficient way to move people around our region? Can new technologies and policies help unite the region and contribute to our urban vitality? Can we...
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Public Meeting: Penn Avenue Corridor Phasing Plan Tuesday, March 11, 2008 – 6pm Saint Lawrence O’Toole Activity Building Penn Ave and North Atlantic More detail: http://groups.google.com/group/pennavepgh/browse_thread/thread/ef6f6b39d0eea384 Time: 6:00PM – Sign In 6:30PM – Presentation 7:00PM – Group Breakout Discussions The City of Pittsburgh, in cooperation with the PA Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Penn Avenue Corridor Phasing Plan Committee, will conduct...
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An article in yesterday’s Post-Gazette asks, “Would toll lanes unclog Parkway East?” The answer is no. Fifty years of planning and traffic engineering has shown that more lanes equal more traffic. Much like the law of physics that says that liquids flow until pressures are equalized; traffic expands until roads are clogged. There are other...
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From the Post-Gazette: Councilman wants to slash number of city take-home cars Pittsburgh Councilman Ricky Burgess today proposed reforms to the city’s process of assigning take-home cars, aiming to cut the number of such vehicles from 60 to as few as seven.He presented a list of employees from the mayor to the facilities maintenance supervisor...
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