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
Alan Durning on the “Ruinous, Vicious Circle” of Underpriced Parking
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Many people have been inspired by UCLA Professor Donald Shoup’s epic takedown of American parking policy, but few have turned that newfound passion into the kind of scholarship Alan Durning has produced on the issue. The executive director of the Pacific Northwest’s sustainability think tank, Sightline Institute, has now published 12 installments in a series […]
One Week Left: Send Us Your Pics of Kiddies in Cities and Win a Free Bike
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You’ve got one more week! We’re looking for pictures of children taking part in urban street life — kids walking to school and riding bikes, kids playing in the street, kids enjoying public spaces. We can’t get enough of this stuff. There’s one week left in our Kiddies + Cities photo contest, so don’t delay! […]
The Long, Painful History of Terrible Parking Policy in One 71-Second Cartoon
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If you haven’t been keeping up with Sightline Institute’s excellent series on the scourge of parking minimums, you’ve been missing out. They’ve posted 11 readable and informative articles on the subject. From here, Sightline is pivoting from problems to solutions, and we’ll be sharing their next few posts on Streetsblog, as well as re-posting some […]
Lawmakers Push to Permanently Upgrade Transit’s Second-Class Tax Benefit
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While the rest of the Capitol prepared for President Obama’s visit to lobby members of Congress on Syria military strikes, three lawmakers gathered under the hot sun with transit advocates to push for a more bread-and-butter issue: tax benefits for transit riders. For years, car commuters could claim up to $240 per month in tax-free […]
Your Photo of Kiddies in Cities Could Win a Breezer Bike
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Have you sent in your submissions to our Back-to-School photo contest yet? You haven’t, have you? Of course not. You were holding out to see what these supposedly fabulous prizes consist of. Well, listen up people: When we promise fabulous, we deliver fabulous. Breezer is offering two stylish and fun Downtown EX bikes for the […]
TIGER V a Shot in the Arm for Livable Streets in Cities and Small Towns
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Out of 585 applications, U.S. DOT has chosen 52 transportation projects in 37 states to receive TIGER awards totaling $474 million. The Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program was originally an element of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus package. Although it hasn’t been reauthorized and many Republicans claim to hate it, funding somehow keeps being appropriated for […]
Nine Days in September: Congress’s Chance to Break the Gridlock
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I hope you all had a good Labor Day. Streetsblog is back to work today, and you probably are too. But Congress? Not until next week. Every time there’s a Monday holiday, Congress takes the whole week off, and they’re milking the last moments of their August recess. It’s no wonder lawmakers are procrastinating. They have […]
More Evidence That Unemployment Doesn’t Explain the Decline in Driving
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For those who say driving rates will pick right back up again when the economy’s really humming, here’s something to chew on: In a report released this morning, “Moving Off the Road,” U.S. PIRG presents further evidence that unemployment rates and driving rates have changed independently of each other. Transportation reformers have made the case that there […]
Commemorating March on Washington, Foxx Links Transport to Civil Rights
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Today marks 50 years since the landmark March on Washington, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his historic “I Have a Dream” speech. I was privileged to join tens of thousands of others on the National Mall this weekend to commemorate the anniversary. In a blog post today, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx noted the […]
How to Sell Developers and Employers on Transit-Oriented Development
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Developers and employers think transit access is great. But if the hurdles are too high, they’ll forgo it — choosing locations that shackle people to car dependence. That’s the finding of a recent report by University of Minnesota researchers Yingling Fan and Andrew Guthrie. Fan and Guthrie propose a number of policy changes for the […]
Photo Contest: Send Us Your Pictures of Kids on City Streets
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Two weeks ago, I posted some thoughts on raising kids in cities and right away, the comments section and Twitter lit up with a fruitful discussion of urban and car-lite parenting. The staff at Streetsblog and our partners at the Alliance for Biking & Walking love to see kids riding red wagons to day care, […]
500+ Complete Streets Policies in Place, But Not the Most Important One
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This week, complete streets advocates came together in Washington, DC, to celebrate the passage of the 500th complete streets policy. That happened in Memphis more than seven months ago, but perhaps the delay in marking the occasion was fortuitous: There are now at least 25 more policies to celebrate. Each of these policies is really just […]