Friday Five: May 16, 2014

Locally, we have heard much about a proposed "super-agency" that would handle public transit issues across the entire Chicago metro region. The article notes a prime reason why that would make sense: suburban and urban communities have differing value systems related to transit, often resulting in bad decisions.
Cities to suburbs: Where's the transit love? Suburbs to cities: Where's the bus?
"Like a lot of other cities in this country, Seattle’s public transportation story is a sad tale of post-recession budget shortfalls, outdated urban planning, and a not-so-efficient bus system with a PR problem. And like a lot of other cities, its problems run deeper than just figuring out how to keep the buses running."

We continue to pay for two generations worth of those bad decisions. The concentration of emissions represented by freeways creates pollution issues that extend beyond the vehicles traveling along the route. These areas typically house those of more limited means, increasing the social inequity associated with fossil fuel usage.
Air quality monitor near I-5 Anaheim finds higher pollution level
"Monitoring instruments have typically been placed away from major roads and pollution sources because they are intended to gauge regional air quality. Now, the EPA is ordering local regulators to measure and factor in the dirtier air being breathed by tens of millions of people across the country who live within a few hundred feet of a major road.
The data will be valuable to local planning officials, who must consider the environmental impacts of siting developments near traffic, and give more leverage to clean air advocates."

An increasingly disturbing trend is that those who can least afford to drive their own vehicle, must now do so because of the push to gentrify urban areas and displace local inhabitants instead of building with them. As the poor get forced to suburbs with less availability for public transit, this will only get worse.
The demographic paradox of who bikes and walks to work
"The report, based on some of the ACS questions that critics want the Census to drop, identifies some other expected patterns: The South has particularly miniscule numbers for both biking and walking to work (likely a product of both climate and sprawl). Men are more likely to bike to work than women. And those who do bike tend to leave for work later than other commuters, and they need less time to get there (19.3 minutes on average, compared with the typical 26-minute commute for most of the rest of us)."

Thankfully, in addition to requiring the monitoring of roadways, the EPA has received legal reinforcement of its plans to regulate emissions as a path to improving public health. There is hope that sanity may yet prevail.
Another big EPA court victory - this time on soot pollution
"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the EPA acted properly in 2012 when it further restricted allowable soot emissions. It was the Obama administration’s third big environmental legal victory in a month. And experts say that bodes well for the administration’s efforts to clamp down on climate-changing emissions from power plants."

I find it heartening that although embroiled in a bitter re-election campaign, the governor of Illinois continues to move on greening and local food movements, even drawing attention to the issues through the governor's mansion.
Chickens winging it at Illinois governor's mansion
"The chickens, which peck at flowers, recycle plant waste and provide manure for the gardens, live in a donated coop that's inside a fenced-in enclosure. The poultry's part of an ongoing sustainability effort."

Happy Friday!