Install a Widget. Build a Movement.

Sblog_Network_Widget.jpg

Today we are launching the Streetsblog Network "Action Widget." The Streetsblog Network, as you may already know, is a collection of about 200 bloggers from all around the United States who focus on livable streets, sustainable transport and smart growth issues, usually with a local focus.

The Action Widget is a tool that members of the Network, or anyone else, can install into the sidebar of their blog using the code found on this page. Network editor Sarah Goodyear will update the Action Widget regularly with legislative alerts, breaking news and top stories from blogs participating in the Streetsblog Network. Above are three examples of how the widget would have appeared last week as the House of Representatives debated the transportation portion of the stimulus bill. 

One of the things that’s become clear to me watching the Streetsblog Network grow is that these bloggers represent a vibrant and potentially powerful national movement pushing for fundamental change in the way we do transportation policy here in the United States. It is both a strength and weakness of this movement that its most active and committed members — the people in the trenches fighting for better biking facilities, new light rail lines and less automobile-dependent cities — tend to be focused on local issues to the extreme.

One of the big goals of the Streetsblog Network is to get livable streets advocates to take a moment to lift their heads from their important neighborhood-level work and take note of the fact that 2009 is going to be a watershed year for federal transportation policy, and they need to be involved in shaping that policy. If they’re not, then the policy-making will be done by the business-as-usual folks, the Road Gang who, incidentally, can not find 200 local bloggers writing enthusiastically about the shovel-ready road widening on the outskirts of town. The Highwaymen have no such grassroots movement behind them.

So, we hope that the Action Widget can help progressive transportation bloggers to keep their readers
informed, mobilized and connected to other local activists and to the action taking place on the federal level. If you have any feedback or questions about the Action Widget, we really want to hear it. Do you need help installing it? Does it work on your blog? Would a certain change in design or function make you more likely to use it? Please shoot an email to tips@streetsblog.org and let us know what you think.

Likewise, if you prefer a more static "badge" rather than a dynamic widget, scroll down the page. We’ve designed a bunch of those as well.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Senate Stimulus Action Leaves the Network Cold

|
Last week, the Streetsblog Network was tentatively hopeful about the way the stimulus package was shaping up in the House, as members of that body voted to approve an amendment from Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, to add $3 billion for transit. How long will transit riders have to wait for some help? Photo by Oran […]

Progress Through Undevelopment

|
Today Streetsblog Network member blog Hub and Spokes picks up on an interesting story from the LA Times about how falling real estate values could mean an opportunity to develop more public spaces: An abandoned apartment complex in Tampa, Florida, might become a park instead of luxury condos. Photo by Martha Rial/St. Petersburg Times. With […]

Update on Stimulus Action in the Senate — Keep Up the Pressure

|
The latest word from DC is that Kit Bond’s pro-highway/anti-rail amendments have yet to come to the floor, while the Inhofe/Boxer amendment to create a $50 billion highway slush fund is still being finalized by its authors. The phone calls and emails are having an effect — Boxer felt enough pressure to adjust her amendment, […]
When it snows on Columbus Circle, street space that could be repurposed for walking and biking is revealed. Photo: Alex Knight/Twitter

This Week: Making Columbus Circle Safer for Biking and Walking

|
Earlier this month Manhattan Community Board 7, on the Upper West Side, passed a resolution calling on DOT to install a protected bike lane in Columbus Circle, filling a critical void in the bike network. Tonight the CB 5 transportation committee, whose district borders Columbus Circle to the southeast, will consider its own resolution.

Happy Birthday, Streetsblog Network

|
One year ago today, we announced the launch of the Streetsblog Network — a national and international network of blogs covering transportation policy, sustainable planning, smart growth and active transportation. We conceived of the network as a way to get people who are passionate about these issues literally on the same page. We started with […]