Media Links
April 29, 2011
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Source: GristPhil Goodwin, a transport economist at Oxford University, has a pile of statistics saying that car use is already on the decline -- in the UK. In its place, walking, bicycling and trains are roaring back to life. Transport economists never predicted the precipitous drop-off in use of rail or buses in the early part of the 20th century, so they're determined not to be caught flat-footed again in the transportation revolution that's only just beginning. Academics have determined that miles traveled by auto and the number of car trips have both been declining since the mid-90's, but meanwhile the bureaucrats in the UK government don’t have a clue, as they have continued to obliviously predict increases in car trips. Meanwhile the percentage of 17 to 20 year-olds with licenses has dropped 12 points in 10 years, to just over a third. No one really knows why this is happening. Gas is more expensive, London has a congestion charge, insurance rates are up, and the economy is in recession, but this trend started even before most of those forces were in effect. So we are left to turn to our core authority on all things: an old white guy and his boner. “The car was our core cultural icon and expression of personality,” Goodwin told Prospect Magazine. “It was about sex, and keeping up with the Joneses. Now perhaps that period is passing.” Related Links: Arcimoto is an electric car for the Facebook generation The solution to the parking problem is charging through the nose for it Desperate sprawl developer gives away cars with houses
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Source: Staten Island AdvanceUnder the advisement of the Amalgamated Transit Union, a group of Staten Island politicians has successfully lobbied the New York City Transit Authority, part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), to propose extending and altering the X22 express bus service stretching between Tottenville and Midtown Manhattan.
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Source: The Journal Newsawasaki Rail Car, Inc. will invest $25 million into its Yonkers facility and retain 375 jobs, Gov. Andrew Cuomo will announce later today. Kawasaki has operated its U.S. corporate headquarters and manufacturing facility in the Hudson Valley since 1985. The company started in the region with the order of 95 subway cars for the Port Authority Trans-Hudson system between New York and New Jersey.
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Source: Transit Blogger
For those in Staten Island, the Bricktown Mall is a big shopping destination with many stores like Home Depot & Target on the premises. The MTA has decided to make getting there easier by having the S74, S78, & S84 service the mall. Here are details courtesy of the press release I received:
MTA New York City Transit announces that the S74/S84 and the S78 was rerouted to serve the Bricktown Mall shopping center in the Charleston section of Staten Island. The new service began on Sunday, April 24.
The Bricktown Mall is a 400,000-square-foot shopping center housing several large stores including Home Depot, Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond. In addition, the South Shore Commons has opened on the south side of Veterans Road West which contains several popular stores and restaurants.
“The route changes now provide a much needed link to these two commercial areas and they will prevent customers from having to walk along Veterans Road West, which in places has no sidewalks or curbs,” noted NYC Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast.
With the opening of the Charleston Depot in January 2011, NYC Transit now has the opportunity to efficiently serve the mall, without having buses make long, non-revenue trips back to the Yukon Depot. Having these buses terminate at the mall will also resolve the problem of these buses laying over on Main Street in downtown Tottenville.
The S74/S84 will divert to the mall via Veterans Road West and the S78 will extend its route from Tottenville to the mall via Arthur Kill Road and Veterans Road West. The new bus stops and terminals for both routes will be within the Bricktown Mall on Mohr Street at Tyrellan Avenue.
QUOTES FROM ELECTED OFFICIALS:
Borough President James P. Molinaro said:
“After a long battle with the Bricktown Mall owners, we appreciate the fact that they’ve acquiesced in permitting bus service into the mall. This new service will accommodate many seniors who don’t have driving opportunities and must depend upon friends and charitable organizations to go shopping.”
Congressman Michael Grimm:
“I am grateful to the MTA and Blumenfeld Corporation for working with my fellow elected officials and recognizing the need to provide this service to our constituents. This is a win-win situation for the merchants and employees of the Bricktown and South Shore commons shopping centers, but also for Staten Island consumers who will now enjoy easier access to one of our borough’s top shopping destinations.”
State Senator Andrew Lanza:
“I am extremely encouraged by the MTA’s decision to add new bus service in the Charleston area of Staten Island. We have worked with the MTA over the past several months with respect to the opportunities for them to fill the gaps in service which exist, especially on the South Shore of Staten Island. I am extremely heartened that the MTA has decided favorably in this instance. The additional service will mean added convenience for Staten Island riders and provide support for local jobs.”
State Assemblyman Lou Tobacco:
“The extension of the S74 bus route to the Bricktown Mall is a long overdue victory for Staten Island’s shoppers, workers and commuters. I have consistently called attention to this issue throughout my time in office, and I commend the MTA for providing this essential service that Staten Islander’s expect out of their tax dollars. I thank my colleagues in state and local government, as well as the people of our community, for their hard work and dedication in seeing this issue through to its completion.”
Councilman Vincent Ignizio:
“This is shaping up to be a great week for Staten Island bus service enhancements. First we saw the improvements and additional runs to the X22 announced, and now my colleagues in government and I can fulfill a promise we made years ago to bring employees and shoppers alike to the Bricktown and South Shore commons shopping center. I am grateful to the MTA and Blumenfeld Corporation for working with us to make this a reality. In order for busing to be successful, it has to go where people want to go. This is acknowledgment of that fact by the MTA and we are pleased to have all worked together to get it done.”
xoxo Transit Blogger
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Source: In These TimesThis year, those marchers will be joined by the public workers we saw in the state capitol in Madison, whose message was the same: we all work, we all contribute to our communities and we all have the right to a job, a union and a decent life. Past May Day protests have responded to a wave of draconian proposals to criminalize immigration status, and work itself, for undocumented people. The defenders of these proposals have used a brutal logic: if people cannot legally work, they will leave.
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Source: NY1The Port Authority says staffing shortages are to blame for the massive backup encountered by Staten Island residents trying to get home on Easter Sunday.
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Source: NY PostCommunity Board 11 and community groups in Pelham Parkway are finding it harder to get painting supplies to eradicate graffiti. A plan by CB 11 district manager Jeremy Warneke to have volunteers paint over about 20 utility poles on Pelham Parkway North and Waring Avenue tagged by graffiti vandals has gotten the green light from both Verizon and Con Edison. However, when Warneke went to apply for paint from the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit, he was unable to obtain it because their painting supplies program is limited to structures.
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Source: AFL-CIO Now BlogWisconsin activists today filed more than 26,000 signatures today to recall the sixth Republican state senator—Robert Cowles of Green Bay—who voted for Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights of public employees.
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Source: NY Daily NewsAs you can see from the video… a recent protest against Walmart, which protesters say mistreats gays, minorities and female workers, had all three.
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Source: StreetsblogThe First and Second Avenue bike lanes on Manhattan’s East Side will only be extended from 34th Street to 57th Street this year, not up to 125th Street as advanced in a plan that won community board approvals in 2010.
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Source: Queens ChronicleA petition is circulating online, and in a letter dated April 26, addressed to Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder, state Sen. Mike Gianaris (D-Astoria) demanded the service between Astoria and Manhattan be restored.
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Source: ABC 7They're tired of delays and poor service and now they're demanding action. Community leaders are saying enough is enough when it comes to the 7 train.
April 28, 2011
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Source: Times Herald-RecordThe Metropolitan Transportation Authority has launched a new round of security awareness ads to remind customers to remain alert when they use the agency's transit services.
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Source: NY TimesThe city is weighing a proposal to create a class of cabs that would be prohibited from picking up passengers in most of Manhattan, but would be able to do so in other parts of the city.
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Source: NY PostNew York’s largest pharmacy chain got a dose of nasty medicine — a $370,000 fine for a Medicaid kickback scheme.
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Source: Wall Street JournalConstruction spending in New York City dropped 12% last year, falling to its lowest level since 2005.
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Source: T Magazine / NY TimesIt’s the most intimate class divide in human civilization, or at least in such relatively civilized places as Manhattan and Park Slope, Brooklyn. On the one side, there is the professional couple bringing in six figures a year; on the other, the nanny or maid without whom the couple wouldn’t be able to practice their professions. Conditions of employment are as variable as the individual employers are — from respectful and considerate all the way to criminally abusive. On average, a domestic worker is likely to get less than $15 an hour, no benefits and none of the credit or glory. To my knowledge anyway, there has never been a successful career woman — or man, for that matter — who’s responded to being praised for “doing it all” by saying, “Actually, Manuela (or Angelica or Harriet) does most of it.”
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Source: LA TimesLos Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Wednesday ordered his managers to impose 42 furlough days on city employees in four union groups after those workers rejected his proposal for cutting the budget shortfall.
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Source: WPIX 11According to shocking new statistics, one out of every four parking placards in New York City is bogus.
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Source: ITFThe ITF has received news that Mansour Osanloo’s heart condition has worsened and he urgently needs surgery. The organisation therefore once again calls on the government of Iran to release him from jail so that his medical needs can be met.
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