Wednesday’s Headlines Face Hard Questions

• In the post-pandemic, post-George Floyd era, police have largely stopped enforcing traffic laws. A Washington Post opinion pieces argues that decision has cost thousands of people their lives, and that stepping up enforcement by camera is the best way to catch bad drivers without involving humans’ racial bias.
• Governing interviewed planner and author Veronica O. Davis about equity in transportation and righting the wrongs of the past.
• Since the U.S. has planned around cars for decades and refuses to properly invest in transit, most people need a car. But cheap cars, like cheap starter homes, are going extinct. (Discourse)
• Flying taxis are coming by 2025, and they really mean it this time! (Smart Cities Dive)
• Based on the recent New York City flood, The Nation has a pretty bleak take on how the powers that be are responding to climate change, and the limits of design solutions in political environments that makes it impossible for cities to implement them.
• Meanwhile, the NY Times is publishing more drivel about how drivers can’t find a parking spot.
• A Minnesota study found that lowering speed limits does have an effect on how fast drivers go. (Crossroads)
• Denverite proposes some ideas for transforming the massive Federal Boulevard-Coulfax Avenue interchange.
• The I-81 viaduct in Syracuse is here for now, but it will come down someday, and an urban planner discusses with CNY Central what to do with it.
• Milwaukee residents have a chance to provide input onto whether North Sherman Boulevard should be a complete street. (On Milwaukee)
• The Bend Bulletin wants to know what’s more important, speed or safety? (Spoiler alert: safety.)
• Australians are throwing their cars on the barbie and riding e-bikes instead. (The Guardian)

source https://usa.streetsblog.org/2023/10/11/wednesdays-headlines-face-hard-questions