Check out this short speech by Samuel Gresham, Jr. about how car-centric transportation policies in Ohio harm the poor, the elderly, and other disadvantaged people. Consider: This is supported today by data; according to the Census Bureau (2005-2009) American Community Survey of workers aged 16 and over, 57 percent of public transportation users are African-American, [...]
We all know that utility and commuter bicycling leads to a long list of benefits. You can find a bunch of these lists on the web; just do a simple search. But one of the benefits that’s not discussed enough is the economic benefit to the working poor. I believe that one important way to [...]
Take a careful look at these two maps. The first shows the percentage of obese people in each state. The second is a political map of red and blue states. We’re all pretty fat. But some folks are fatter than others. Here’s a list of the top ten fattest states. And here’s a column about [...]
The following is a guest essay by Alexander Hogan, Associate Professor of Political Science at Lone Star College-CyFair in Houston, Texas. Welcome to the HOV Sometimes we stop for pancakes. This little place on Shepard Street. It’s all organic-the dining room peopled with thiry-something professionals. Some in suits. Some in euro-travel clothes like Patagonia and [...]
Stories on the front pages of USA Today and The New York Times draw specific comparisons between the market freefall we’re experiencing and the market losses of The Great Despression. My read of history is that we Americans generally do not get off our colletive kiester and fix problems until problens be crises. Tuesday morning [...]
The following is a message from Brent Hugh, executive director of the Missouri Bicycle Federation. Springfield area bicyclists, “Complete Streets”–a bill to give MoDOT strong encouragement to make their roads safer for bicycling, walking, and transit users–will have a hearing in the Missouri House on Tuesday, March 3rd, at 12 Noon. MoDOT killed this bill [...]
I’ll be trying to persuade my state representative and senator to (among other things) support several bills during Bicycle Day in Jefferson City on Tuesday. Why bother? I already have it pretty good. I already get it. I chose to live within two miles (.75 miles as it turned out) of my employer when I [...]
A February thaw, or false spring, is quite common in Missouri. This is the land of volatile weather. If you don’t like the weather, just wait 30 minutes. We enjoy four seasons with a vengeance Today will be partly cloudy and breezy with temperatures reaching the 70s. It feels a lot like late March out [...]
Tomorrow I’ll be posting a video of the South Creek Greenway. It has some interesting features. It is also a major east-west corridor for walking and cycling through the southern neighborhoods of Springfield. It connects to the Springfield bicycle route system and thus constitutes an active transportation highway into downtown. I’m mentioning the trail now [...]
Are bicycle commuting and walking civil rights issues? It’s just four short paragraphs in the 48-page Active Transportation for America report issued by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Bikes Belong, but this argument is unmistakable: Questions associated with mobility and transportation choice are not limited to issues of economic efficiency. We must also acknowledge that for [...]
