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
Where the People Walk: A Global Glance at Walking Rates
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The way we move around is shaped by many factors — the physical environment, culture, technology, and economic status, to name a few. A new report from the engineering firm Arup, “Cities Alive: Towards a Walking World,” looks at how motorized cities can become walkable again. Brandon Donnelly at Network blog Architect This City lifted this image from the […]
America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: Silver Spring vs. Boston
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The competition to be named America’s Sorriest Bus Stop started out with 16 ghastly contenders, and your votes have whittled the field down to four disasters for transit riders. Yesterday voting began in the first semi-final match — Kansas City is currently ahead of Broomfield for a spot in the championship round, and with the polls open until midnight it could go […]
Trading a Park-and-Ride for a Public Plaza and Bike Parking
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More cities should copy this idea for their park-and-ride transit stations: At DC Metro’s King Street station in Old Town Alexandria, plans are underway to turn parking spots into a pedestrian plaza. This goes against the grain of typical transit agency practice. Despite the fact that park-and-rides are an inefficient use of scarce land, a recent survey by researchers […]
America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: Broomfield vs. Kansas City
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It’s Final Four time in Streetsblog’s Sorriest Bus Stop tournament. After two rounds, only the least appealing, most dehumanizing bus stops are still standing. In addition to today’s contestants, a bus stop in Boston has advanced to the semi-finals. Voting remains open until midnight to determine the last slot in the Final Four — Silver Spring or Asheville. On to today’s match… […]
A Better Bus Stop: Big Ideas From Transit Riders for a Better Wait
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Streetsblog has been calling attention to the dismal state of transit waiting areas with our Sorriest Bus Stop in America tournament. Transit riders have to put up with conditions that no one should stand for — bus stops with nothing to sit on and no shelter, bus stops by dangerous, high-speed roads with no sidewalks, even “secret” bus stops […]
Great Cities Don’t Take Late-Night Transit Service Away From Workers
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What a sad state of affairs for transit in the nation’s capital. As WMATA, the agency that runs the DC Metro, temporarily disrupts service to take care of necessary system repairs, it’s also considering a permanent end to late-night service. That is entirely unacceptable, especially in a city where so many people work outside the typical 9-to-5 shift, says Kristen […]
America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: Silver Spring vs. Asheville
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Today marks the last match of the second round in Streetsblog’s hyper-competitive Sorriest Bus Stop in America tournament. So far this week, bus stops in Broomfield, Colorado, and Kansas City have staked claims to shame in the Final Four. The victor of today’s match will take on the winner of Boston vs. Henrietta (if you haven’t voted in that one yet, the poll is still open until midnight). Silver Spring This afterthought […]
Study: Streetcar Tracks and Bicycling Don’t Mix
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A new study out of Toronto confirms what cyclists in many U.S. cities have found out the hard way: Streetcar tracks can be a serious safety hazard. The study comes from Canadian public health researcher Kay Teschke, who specializes in bike issues. Michael Andersen at BikePortland reports: Among bike-related injuries in Toronto that resulted in emergency-room trips, the study […]
America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: Boston vs. Henrietta
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It’s tough to winnow the staggering number of bad bus stops in America down to the worst of the worst, but we’re making progress. Today’s Elite Eight match in the Sorriest Bus Stop in America bracket pairs a stop by the Wegman’s in the Rochester suburb of Henrietta against a pitiful traffic island bus stop in Boston. Only one has what it […]
67 Congress Members Tell Feds: Measure the Movement of People, Not Cars
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The federal government hands states about $40 billion a year for transportation, money they can basically spend however they want. The result in many places is a lot of expensive, traffic-inducing highways that get clogged with cars soon after they’re finished. Can measuring the effect of all this spending lead to better decisions? U.S. DOT is developing a metric to assess how […]
America’s Sorriest Bus Stop: Broomfield, Colorado vs. Hillsboro, Oregon
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Second round action continues in Streetsblog’s hunt for the Sorriest Bus Stop in America. Rochester narrowly beat Buffalo earlier this week to clinch the last spot in the Elite Eight. Today a very sad bus stop in a Denver suburb takes on a disaster in the Portland burbs. Which one is Final Four material? Broomfield, Colorado This comically inept entry […]
Report: Access to Car-Share and Bike-Share Is Worse in Communities of Color
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Car-share and bike-share services are making it easier to go without owning a car in American cities, but access to “shared-use” systems remains limited in communities of color compared to majority-white neighborhoods, according to a new analysis from the Shared Use Mobility Center [PDF]. SUMC developed a method to analyze which places have the most potential for car-share and bike-share usage across […]