Transportation Alternatives' publishes another fine e-bulletin announcing "the 8th Avenue bike lane in Manhattan will soon become a reality" after a full three years of advocacy. I know that it is proper form after a big advocacy win to pay tribute to the New York City Department of Transportation for their wisdom and generosity. But I won't be applauding DOT for anything until I see them starting to develop these projects within the context of an over-arching transportation, energy and environmental strategy for New York City. I won't applaud them for taking three years just to paint two white stripes on the asphalt. I won't applaud them for being at least a decade behind other major world cities in developing dedicated bike infrastructure. I will, however, applaud the advocates who had the persistence and staying power to push against the bureaucracy for three years to get this done. Kol haKavod to Noah Budnick and the rest.

Americans are commuting longer and farther than ever. It's a little bit hard to believe but Dave Givens, the winner of a nationwide contest to find the longest commute, "drives 370 miles to work and back every day and considers his seven-hour commute the best answer to balancing his work with his personal life." I'd love to know how exactly Dave balances the seven hours per day he spends in his automobile. It must be one heck of a cocktail he mixes for himself after a tough day at the office. A recent census report says that 2.8 million Americans have commutes of 90 minutes or more.

Oil hits $75/barrel, gasoline breaks the $4/gallon mark, and pumps are running dry in some parts of the country as gasoline refiners phase out MTBE, a chemical that makes gas burn cleaner but was proven to contaminate groundwater, cause cancer in rats and mice, and do who-knows-what to humans. The Democrats think that November's elections are going to be about Hurricane Katrina. They might be right but don't be surprised if Karl Rove finds success in blaming the environmentalist Democrats and their MBTE regulations for the $4/gallon. By November, I don't expect the Texans currently selling off personal property at pawn shops to pay for their gasoline will be thinking much of the misery that last year's hurricane dumped on others.

New York City, of course, has two things going for it during the never-ending energy crisis that is now upon us. First, New York State and New Jersey rank 45th and 51st on Forbes list of states hardest hit by rising gas prices. Though a gallon of gas is expensive in these parts, dense urbanization and relatively high per capita income save us from the pain being felt most deeply in poor, rural and southern states (it's a shame they published the list in this annoying slide show interface but it sure is interesting). Keep your eye on Mississippi, Alabama, Wyoming and other members of the top 10. In the coming months and years, these are the states where, if James Howard Kunstler is correct, we will find "an angry and grievance-filled public" turning "to political maniacs to preserve their entitlements to the easy motoring utopia."

But you won't find anything like that here in New York. Because the second thing we've got going for us is Chuck Schumer, the husband of our very own Transportation Commissioner Iris Weinshall. Never one to let an entitlement go un-preserved, Schumer announced this week that he is using his considerable Senatorial resources to investigate oil companies.

"The oil companies are just raising the prices up and up and up. The question is are they doing this based on the laws of supply and demand or is something else at work," Schumer told reporters over the din of city traffic at a press conference in front of a Manhattan gasoline service station.

Might I suggest, Chuck, if you really want to help Americans begin get a handle on rising gasoline prices, don't bother investigating oil companies. Investigate geology. And while you're at it, why not take Iris on a well-deserved vacation? Go somewhere sunny and relaxing. Insist that your wife sit on a beach, stop thinking about pot holes and traffic signals for a few days, and start developing a strategy to reduce that din of city traffic in New York. She deserves a little time off, don’t you think?

9:46 PM | Link |