municipal
Union hopes to improve lot of Boston parking attendants
“Through rain or shine, snow or sleet . . .” is an adage typically associated with postal carriers, but it could just as easily apply to parking attendants. “I’ve worked some cold, cold days. It’s been 40 below with the wind-chill factor,” Julius Poelinitz told the Chicago Tribune before he retired in 1986 after spending […]
Voters react to transportation initiatives
The massive Republican gains of the 2014 midterm elections don’t give fans of alternative modes of transit much cause to celebrate. Of late, conservative transportation policy has favored highways that serve rural and exurban constituencies rather than services like high-speed rail, buses, or bicycles that support balanced urban and regional transit. Republican victories at multiple levels […]
Gov’t tracks license plates, refuses citizens access to own records
Law enforcement agencies are collecting license plate data on millions of American cars. Who’s tracking your license plate? And does it matter? The answers may startle you. A compelling report by AutoBlog reveals how law enforcement is using automated license plate readers to collect data en masse, allowing them insight to millions of American drivers’ […]
How construction permits affect San Franciscans’ parking
Street parking is becoming an even hotter commodity in San Francisco, a city known for its scarcity of spots, reports SFGate. Why? A construction boom is the city is responsible for eating up parking spaces, as stretches of curbside parking are blocked off as tow-away zones for weeks and months at a time so that […]
How traffic signals work
There’s an intersection you’ve never really noticed because its light always seems to be green when you blow through it, and there’s another that seems to have the longest red light in the world. Both experiences reflect intentional differences in the ways traffic signals work, and while it can seem like cars trump pedestrians and […]
Tesla’s autopilot feature may encourage sprawl
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently announced that the auto innovator’s Model S will offer an autopilot feature, reports Wired, which lets the car drive itself in certain conditions. (We’ve reported on other self-driving car developments recently, including an autonomous Cadillac that’s in the works for model year 2017.) While the self-driving function may make some […]
Detroit’s municipal parking system in disarray
Detroit’s municipal parking department is under fire for mismanaging Park-Rite Detroit, the entity that operated the city’s lots and garages, for offenses including poor or lacking record-keeping, dubious expenses, and comingling of funds, according to CBS Detroit. The recent independent audit undertaken by the city’s inspector general has not yet been publicly released, but was […]