Tanya Snyder
Tanya became Streetsblog's Capitol Hill editor in September 2010 after covering Congress for Pacifica Radios Washington bureau and for public radio stations around the country. She lives car-free in a transit-oriented and bike-friendly neighborhood of Washington, DC.
Recent Posts
Streetsblog’s Suggested Edits to U.S. DOT’s Seven Priorities for 2014
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Just before we went on holiday break, U.S. DOT’s Inspector General’s office released a document [PDF] detailing the department’s top challenges for the year ahead. The document calls them “management challenges” but by and large it’s just a list of seven things the Inspector General thinks DOT needs to do to meet its mission of […]
TED Talk: OKC Mayor Mick Cornett on Designing a City for Fitness
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I got to know Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett last year, when I interviewed him at the annual meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors. We talked about his realization that he and his constituents (generally speaking) were obese, and how he stood in front of the elephants at the zoo on New Year’s […]
Will Old Transit Systems Eat Up All the New Starts Grants?
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One of MAP-21’s many mixed blessings was the New Starts Core Capacity program. It expanded eligibility for New Starts grants — normally reserved as capital assistance for new transit lines — to existing corridors. To qualify, the system just had to show that the improvements would expand the capacity of the line by at least […]
A Conservative Utah Republican’s Path to Transit Enlightenment
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Greg Hughes is the majority whip of the Utah State Legislature and the chair of its conservative caucus. He got a 100 percent score last year by the conservative Sutherland Institute, a Utah think tank. He also chairs the board of the Utah Transit Authority. The man loves transit. Hughes grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. […]
Budget Deal Is Good News for Transit
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The House of Representatives is preparing to vote on that rarest of Capitol Hill treasures — a bipartisan budget deal. If both houses approve the deal, negotiated by Democratic Senator Patty Murray and Republican Congressman Paul Ryan, it will be the first time since 2010 that Congress has passed a budget. The deal would erase […]
Talking Headways Podcast: Get Off My Lawn
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Jeff Wood and I talk about the news of the week that most tickled us or burned us — the BBC’s exposé of anti-social urban design features intended to repel people, San Francisco’s social tensions over the Google bus, and the decision by Cincinnati’s new mayor and City Council to “pause” construction of the streetcar. […]
Enrique Peñalosa: Democracy Is Bus-Only Lanes and Protected Bikeways
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I lived in Bogotá, Colombia, for about half of 2002. While I was there, a political party headquarters near my house was car-bombed, guerrillas attacked the presidential inauguration, and thousands of people were killed in routine violence. It was a stressful place to live. Adding to that stress was the speed and chaos of traffic. […]
Talking Headways Podcast, Episode 4: Car Brain
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In this week’s podcast, Jeff and I discuss the impressive turnout — and possible pitfalls — of London’s “die-in” demonstration for bike safety. We try to contain our envy (but not our amazement) at Paul Salopek’s seven-year walk tracing the path of Homo sapiens from the Rift Valley to Tierra del Fuego. And we discuss […]
Study: All Across America, Car Commuting Is Dropping
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U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group are on a mission to explore the downward trend in driving. In a series of reports, they point to evidence that it isn’t just a temporary blip, but a long-term shift in how Americans get around. Today, the two organizations released a new report, “Transportation in Transition: A Look at Changing Travel Patterns in […]
Concrete Proposals for Raising Gas Tax Finally on the Table
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After a lot of vague talk about transportation revenues since the passage of MAP-21 — “everything is on the table” and “we need to think outside the box” — real proposals are finally being presented. A few months ago, House Transportation Committee Chair Bill Shuster told me, “The surest way to kill something is to […]
Report: More Kids Are Walking to School
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The long–term decline of walking and biking to school has been linked to the childhood obesity epidemic, a big share of morning rush hour traffic, and even kids’ lack of attention in class. In 1969, 41 percent of children in grades K–8 lived within one mile of school, and of those kids, 89 percent usually walked or biked. By […]
Q&A With Robert Grow: How Utah Decided to Embrace “Quality Growth”
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If you’ve ever wondered how a deep-red state like Utah has managed to build some of the most ambitious transit expansions in the country, the short answer is: Envision Utah. Starting in the late nineties, the non-profit Envision Utah brought together an incredibly broad spectrum of interests, including plenty of people without a specific stake in […]