Year In Review 2021

Bad News First  

(Don’t worry: we’ll have the good news tomorrow.) 🎄

Thanks to our friends at Streetsblog USA for great journalism reporting every day.

Here were the five biggest bummers on the Streetsblog beat last year, and a few thoughts on what we can take away into next year.

Traffic violence on the rise…

…And legislators were slow to respond

Bad news for pollution — even during a pandemic

EV-mania instead of mode shift

An infrastructure fight with disappointing results

As always, love to hear your thoughts.

Onward.

Can We Break Up With Our Cars?

The automotive industry has co-opted our language, and our brains. 

Cities all over the world are becoming aware of the damage of cars on human health and the environment, and we’re designing infrastructure to stem the horrific numbers of car crash deaths. Asbury Park is on it’s way to becoming a city where residents and visitors will be able to get around without cars. Our lives literally depend upon it.

This is a global issue.

Nordic countries are years ahead of the US.  We have serious work to do, and it starts with advocacy for a people-centered city.  We must all commit to less driving, and we must insist on infrastructure for bikes and walking, plus alternative transportation, mass transit, and micro mobility. The answer isn’t subsidizing low emission or electric cars (even though electric vehicles create less emissions, fossil fuels are required to power EV ), or ride share, or promoting autonomous vehicles. The answer is to globally reduce or eliminate vehicle dependency. #toomanycars

Cities Worldwide Are Re-imagining Their Relationship With Cars