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
Cities Lead the Way as U.S. Car Commuting Takes Historic Downturn
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The decline is small in number, but in the scheme of things, it’s huge: New census data [PDF] out last week show car commuting among Americans is finally, after decades of growth, starting to reverse itself. Driving to work is still the predominant mode to a depressing extent. Almost nine in 10 Americans get to work by […]
The Future American City as Imagined in 1925
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It’s hard to imagine, but at one point not that long ago, cities in America were at an inflection point. In the early part of the last century, the first signs of motorization and sprawl were just appearing. But not everyone was convinced that the crabgrass frontier was inevitable. At The Urbanist, Stephen Fesler points […]
Crashes Doubled After Houston Banned Red Light Cameras
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Law enforcement officers warned there would likely be an uptick in collisions when Houston debated banning red light cameras in the early part of the decade. Turns out they were absolutely right. Houston voters banned the life-saving technology in 2010, with the press mostly cheering them along. Last year Houston PD examined how that’s impacted safety at intersections. According […]
House Poised to Vote for Cuts to TIGER, Amtrak, Transit
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Debate began yesterday on a House appropriations measure that substantially cuts transit, rail, and the TIGER program, but of course doesn’t touch highway spending. American democracy in action! Stephen Lee Davis at Transportation for America has the ugly details: The programs targeted by the House for cuts are precisely the ones that cities, towns and metro regions of all […]
Decision Time for Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway
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Toronto is facing a critical decision about the aging elevated Gardiner East Expressway. Will Canada’s largest city go ahead with the plan to replace the one-mile-long concrete relic with a surface boulevard and walkable development? Or will it cling to yesterday’s infrastructure? The debate has been heating up ahead of a key City Council meeting next week. A poll released […]
See You in September — I’m on Maternity Leave!
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Greetings loyal readers. This is a friendly public service announcement to let you know that I will be on maternity leave for 12 weeks beginning tomorrow. I’ll be back to a somewhat regular schedule, hopefully still able to form complete sentences, when September rolls around. In the meantime, we’re very lucky to have veteran Streetsblog USA editor Tanya Snyder filling […]
Vancouver Set to Claim Another Bridge Lane for Active Transportation
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In 2009, Vancouver converted a southbound car lane on the west side of the Burrard Bridge to a protected bikeway using concrete dividers, freeing up the sidewalk for pedestrians. On the east side, the city converted the existing sidewalk into a bike path. The three-month experiment defied predictions of carmageddon and became a permanent fixture. Thanks to the protected lane and […]
How Much of Your Rent Covers the Hidden Cost of Parking?
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If you rent an apartment in a building with a garage, odds are you don’t get a bill every month that explains how much that parking costs you. But while the price of parking is generally bundled into the price of housing, you still pay for parking — and it’s expensive. The costs of land, construction, […]
The Top 10 American Cities Where You Can Find Jobs You Can Walk To
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How many jobs are within a 10-minute walk of your home? How about 20 minutes? Chances are, there’s a lot more if you live in Philadelphia than in Memphis. A new study [PDF] from the University of Minnesota ranks the 50 largest metro areas in America according to the accessibility of jobs by walking. Using “detailed […]
Today in Bad Ideas: “Uberizing” the Public Transit System
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A recent guest editorial in the Denver Post argued that “it’s time to Uber our bus system” with privately operated demand-responsive service downtown. While contracting out some bus operations can work, writes Jarrett Walker at Human Transit, the notion that the “demand responsiveness” of Uber will translate to transit routes carrying thousands of people every day […]
Fewer People Are Riding the Bus Because There Are Fewer Buses to Ride
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Remember when the Great Recession decimated transit agency budgets, but the White House and Congress refused to step in and fund bus service while spending billions of dollars to subsidize car purchases? Well, the hangover continues to this day, leaving bus riders in the lurch. Last year, bus ridership in America shrank 1 percent. While rail ridership grew 4 percent, […]
Too-Broke-for-Bike-Lanes Wisconsin Building Pricey New DOT Headquarters
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The culture war against biking and walking continues in Wisconsin under the guise of fiscal conservatism. James Rowen at the Political Environment relays the news that state lawmakers are preparing to put the kibosh on funding for walking and biking trails. That’s in addition to a proposal to nix the state’s complete streets policy. Rowen writes: There […]