Angie Schmitt
Angie is a Cleveland-based writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She has been writing about cities for Streetsblog for six years.
Recent Posts
Think of Trump’s Budget as an Attack on Cities
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Yesterday Donald Trump released a budget outline that calls for severe cuts to transit. The budget threatens dozens of transit projects cities have been planning for years and which, in many cases, voters have approved by large margins. Meanwhile, no such cuts are planned for federal highway funding.
Busting the Myth of the “Scofflaw Cyclist”
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According to a certain perspective that seems to hold sway among local newspaper columnists, bicyclists flout the road rules that everyone else faithfully upholds. But the results of a massive survey point to a different conclusion -- everyone breaks traffic laws, and there's nothing extraordinary about how people behave on bikes.
Trump’s Budget Takes an Axe to Transit
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The Trump administration has released its budget blueprint, and it's a bloodbath for everything that's not defense spending. In keeping with the budget's general hostility to cities, transit would be hit especially hard.
If You Want to Know Trump’s Infrastructure Priorities, Focus on His Budget
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Donald Trump's big infrastructure plan is still more of a rumor than an actual plan. But we don't have to wait for major new legislation to get a clear sense of what the White House thinks is important.
When Will America’s Street Design Bible Enter the 21st Century?
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Last year, the number of people killed on U.S. roads surged back above 40,000. But you don't see much urgency on the part of the transportation engineering establishment to change a failing street design paradigm. So we checked in with one of the engineers in charge of America's street design bible.
Reimagining Miami’s Waterfront Speedway as a Street for People
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Miami's Biscayne Boulevard is eight roaring lanes of traffic cutting off downtown from the waterfront. But maybe not for long. In what could be a transformative project, the city is looking to convert this surface speedway into a walkable boulevard.
Columbus May Offer Free Transit Passes to All Downtown Workers
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For the last year and a half, Columbus's Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District has been piloting a free transit pass program for 844 downtown workers. The share of workers in the program who commute via transit increased from 6 percent to 12 percent, and now it might be expanded to all 40,000 workers downtown.
As Fewer Kids Attend Neighborhood Schools, Transportation Challenges Mount
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The more kids get driven to school instead of walking, the more chaotic the drop-offs and pick-ups become.
The Big Beneficiaries of Rhode Island’s Plan to Cut Car Taxes Would Be Rich People
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Rhode Island political leaders say they want to cut the state's car tax because it's "regressive." But what they're proposing is a windfall for people who own expensive cars.
Why Cities Are Starting to Decriminalize Fare Evasion
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With renewed public attention on the excessive criminalization of poor people and people of color, some transit agencies and law enforcement officials are reevaluating their fare evasion policies.
Street by Street, DC Builds Out a Center-City Protected Bikeway Network
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Bike advocates from all over the country are in Washington right now for the League of American Bicyclists' annual Bike Summit. Among other things, it's a chance for out-of-towners like Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland to appreciate the city's progress on bike infrastructure. There are now nearly 16 miles of protected bike lanes in Washington, DC.
Truck Crash on Freeway Paralyzes Traffic. Seattle Times: Ditch the Bike Lanes!
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Last month, a truck crashed on a major Seattle freeway, paralyzing traffic for miles. The whole episode demonstrated the fragility of the freeway system, and the need for more resilient transportation networks. But the Seattle Times had a hotter hot take. The real culprit, according to the paper's editorial board? Bike lanes.