Melanie Curry
Recent Posts
CA Must Align Tax and Climate Change Policies, Says UC Professor
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California’s tax policies are at odds with its climate change policies, said UC Berkeley Professor Karen Chapple in a talk yesterday at the University of California Center in Sacramento. The current tax structure encourages big-box development and sprawl, she said, while making it difficult to build infill and high-density developments that could reduce auto dependence […]
Californians Are Paying a High Price for Cheap Gas
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The Federal Highway Administration recently released figures showing that U.S. driving is way up. In 2015, for the first time in nearly a decade, Americans drove more than the year before. In fact, the 2015 vehicle miles traveled surpassed the previous high from 2007. Christopher Ingraham at the Washington Post’s Wonkblog parses the numbers, and […]
CA Legislature Wrestles With How Best to Invest Climate Funds
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As the California legislative session revs up, several committees have been holding oversight hearings on the state’s cap-and-trade system. Last week, the Senate Environmental Quality and the Select Committee on Climate Change and AB 32 Implementation held a joint hearing to discuss California’s successful worldwide leadership on climate change issues. In that hearing, the committee […]
CalBike Proposes Rebate Program for the Ultimate ZEV
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What vehicle produces no emissions, uses no fossil fuels, is easily maintained, costs little, gets you where you want to go quickly, and improves your health? Well, obviously, a bicycle. So why doesn’t the California Air Resources Board (ARB), which is spending millions of dollars on incentives and rebates to get people to buy zero-emission […]
BoE Vice Chair George Runner Wants to Kill Public Transportation
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George Runner, former California Senator, husband of current California Senator Sharon Runner, and current elected member of the California Board of Equalization, is doing his best to kill public transportation in the state. In an article in Saturday’s Sacramento Bee he opines that the state is wasting money on public transportation that nobody wants, and […]
Watch Two Bridges Being Taken Down
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Caltrans was involved in two very different bridge demolitions last week, and has posted timelapse footage of both of them. In the first, L.A.’s iconic 6th Street bridge is crunched by big machines while water hoses tamp down the dust, with downtown L.A. glimmering in the background. The footage compresses two days’ work into three […]
Active Transportation Program: Cycle 2 Projects List Available
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The California Transportation Commission has posted the complete list of projects adopted in the second cycle of the Active Transportation Program. New to the spreadsheet are projects adopted under the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) portion of the program. In January, 93 projects were adopted for a total of $143 million from the ATP. Matching funds […]
Active Transportation Program 3rd Round: Guidelines, Workshops
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The California Transportation Commission has released the draft guidelines [PDF] for the third round of the Active Transportation Program. Ongoing workshops to discuss the guidelines started a week ago and are continuing, with one this Friday, February 12, in Fresno; a last one will be held some time during the week of February 15 in […]
Take CalBike’s Survey About California’s June Primary
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The California Bicycle Coalition is in the process of planning candidate endorsements in the 35 state races that are up for election in the June 7th California primary. CalBike knows that it is crucial to elect representatives who understand the importance of strong complete streets policies and of building good low-stress bike networks for everyone […]
OPR to Host Webinars on Transportation Impacts Under Environmental Law
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The Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR) recently issued long-anticipated changes to a provision in California law that currently ranks traffic congestion as an environmental impact. For more details, see recent Streetsblog coverage here. The new guidelines are under a 45-day review period, with public comment being accepted until February 29. To help educate […]
California Streetsies: Malcolm Dougherty for Civil Servant of the Year
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Malcolm Dougherty took on the job of Director of Caltrans at a pivotal moment for the department. Long an independent department, Caltrans had just been put under the control of the new California State Transportation Agency, CalSTA, which had promptly commissioned an outside report on its strengths and weaknesses. That report pulled no punches—it called […]
California Streetsies: Local Advocacy with the Biggest Statewide Significance
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In 2015, Shasta Living Streets worked on a project that, on the face of it, was no different from many other local advocacy efforts in California. But its success is leading to new standards that the entire state will benefit from. The year before, Anne Thomas, director of the sustainable streets advocacy group, had worked […]