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
Comparing 20 Years of Housing Growth in American Cities
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Here’s an interesting way to visualize how different regions are growing (or not). Using a tool developed by the University of Virginia Demographics Research Group, Michael Andersen at Bike Portland shares these charts showing where housing growth has happened relative to city centers. The dark brown lines show the number of occupied housing units at one-mile intervals […]
Parking Madness 2015 Elite Eight: Newport News vs. Syracuse
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Yesterday, Camden knocked off Detroit in Parking Madness, giving the Garden State the first spot in our Final Four. Today’s match pairs up dreadful parking expanses in Newport News and Syracuse, and it’s up to you to tell us which is the worst. Syracuse That right there is the picture that put Syracuse over the top in its first-round matchup […]
Car Storage for a Few Trumps Safe Streets for All in San Diego
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A major street safety campaign in San Diego is running up against the fierce territorial instinct that only on-street car parking can instill. After a two-year public process, a plan to create safe biking and walking access to Hillcrest and other neighborhoods reached a local advisory group called Uptown Planners. The plan calls for adding […]
Parking Madness 2015 Elite Eight: Detroit vs. Camden
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Today it’s on to round two in Parking Madness, our hunt for the worst parking crater in an American town. Our first Elite Eight matchup features two cities struggling to rebuild in the wake of some serious urban disinvestment, and these parking craters certainly aren’t helping. It’s Camden vs. Detroit. Detroit The above image, submitted by reader Luke Klipp, […]
When “Congestion Reduction” Policy Actually Doubles Down on Congestion
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The powers that be in Northern Virginia are getting ready to divvy up $350 million between a list of transportation projects. But in this growing, congested region, highway projects always have an edge over transit in these types of budgeting sessions, thanks to some old-fashioned policies that come from the state DOT. Douglas Stewart at […]
How Wisconsin DOT Distorts the Numbers to Sell Highway Projects
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The Interstate 94 expansion in Wisconsin is a textbook example of how state DOTs manufacture the case for billion-dollar highway projects. Instead of simply fixing up the road, Wisconsin DOT is moving ahead with an $850 million repair and widening of Interstate 94 through Milwaukee and some of its inner-ring suburbs. WisDOT says the widening is […]
Parking Madness 2015: Fort Worth vs. Boise
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There’s just one spot remaining in the Elite Eight of this year’s Parking Madness bracket. And it’s either going to Fort Worth or Boise. Without further ado, here are the final parking craters in the 2015 tournament. Fort Worth This eyesore was submitted by an anonymous commenter, who wrote:
Movement in Congress to Let Cities and Towns Access Federal Transpo Funds
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Finally, proof that Congress is capable of crafting smart transportation legislation and not just zany ways to avoid raising the gas tax. A bipartisan coalition of 10 lawmakers is supporting the Innovation in Surface Transportation Act, which would help cities, counties, and other local governments directly access federal funding for transportation projects, according to Transportation for America. The proposal, first floated last year, […]
To Speed Service, Seattle Looks to Separate Streetcars From Auto Traffic
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As streetcars make a comeback in cities across America, they are under scrutiny from transit advocates who complain about service quality. Atlanta’s new streetcar has produced disappointing ridership numbers, with sources reporting it’s not much faster than walking. And Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic reports that after a fairly strong start, Seattle’s South Lake Union […]
Parking Madness 2015: Asheville vs. Syracuse
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Only two spots remain in the Elite Eight of Streetsblog’s Parking Madness bracket. Yesterday, the parking fields by GM headquarters along the Detroit waterfront prevailed over the parking crater around the BART station in Bay Area suburb Walnut Creek. Today, Asheville, North Carolina, faces Rust Belt stalwart Syracuse. Asheville This entry comes to us from the fine folks at Kostelec Planning, […]
The American Highway Safety Establishment Warms Up Some Leftovers
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A group of heavy hitters in the road building and traffic safety establishment recently came out with a plan called “Toward Zero Deaths” [PDF], presented as an ambitious strategy to cut traffic fatalities in America. But don’t get too excited by the branding — the ideas inside don’t present much of a challenge to practices that have made the U.S. […]
NJ Police Chief Responds to Pedestrian Death: “Think About the Driver”
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After Richard Price, 56, was struck and killed by a driver on Route 130 in New Jersey’s Burlington County, the local police chief took to the pages of the local paper to scold pedestrians and implore people to “think about the driver… and about the life trauma they now have to endure.” The full piece, titled “If you must […]