Talking Headways: A Streetsblog Podcast

This week we're joined by Dan Imhoff to talk about his book called The Farm Bill. Dan chats with us about how he became interested in the Farm Bill, how initially he was excited about protecting wild habitat but got pulled down a rabbit hole of subsidies and perverse incentives.  Dan also talks about how the Farm Bill as it’s currently put together is a reflection of our broken legislative system and how we incentivize farmers that get bigger and produce more while the smaller farmers suffer.  But how does this relate to transportation and/or cities? Ultimately 70% of the bill’s funding is aimed at the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) and food stamps, which is important for a lot of nutrition policy in cities. And to look into the future of what cities can do to help, we only have to look as far as what Seattle has done to think outside the usual policy silos. For more information about us check out http://theoverheadwire.com or follow us on twitter @theoverheadwire  

This week Tracy McMillan joins to talk about safe streets, that pink emoji house, and public and institutional engagement. News Moody's credit ratings on climate and transit Denver Mayor calls for safer streets - Streetsblog Denver The hot pink emoji house - Guardian Odds and Ends Small businesses at core of growth - ICIC Salt Lake for free transit - SL Tribune Ignore livable city rankings - The Conversation News PA Secretary of Transportation changing conversation - Governing Rethinking public consultation - CityLab Puppies and Butterflies Woman steps into the bus lane to push cars out - Seattle Times   For more about The Overhead Wire, visit our website.

This week we're joined by Camron Gorguinpour, Global Senior Manager for Electric Vehicles at WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. We talk about Shenzhen's 16,000 electric buses and what world cities can learn positive and negative from their implementation. We talk about infrastructure needs for electric bus operations at a fleet level, the impact of street maintenance, and procurement and implementation issues.     This podcast is a project of The Overhead Wire, to find out more head to http://theoverheadwire.com

This week we are joined By Andrew Owen, Director of the Accessibility Observatory at the University of Minnesota. Andrew chats with us about how to measure accessibility and their work on mapping access to jobs by transit and bikes.  Access is a way to measure how easy it is to get places – often jobs – in how much time. Taking into account both transportation and land use, access as a metric can be a powerful tool. On the podcast, Andrew describes the evolution of the metric and how it has been applied.  For more about The Overhead Wire, visit our website; http://theoverheadwire.com  

Tracy McMillan joins this week to talk about Burning Man, 3D sidewalks, telecommuting, and whether GPS affects our brains. News Mass telecommuting tax break - Curbed Boston Feds could help remove freeways - D Magazine Lessons from Burning Man - Governing Odds and Ends Wuppertal hanging rail is back - Guardian Cities need chief data officer - Dallas Morning News Homes fastest in flood prone industries - New York Times Story of the Week 3D crosswalks - Smart Cities Dive Is GPS ruining our brains? Vox Elephants and Butterflies Metro bus gif shows truth on dedicated lanes - Fast Company

This week we're joined by Fred Dock, the former Transportation Director for the City of Pasadena California.  Fred talks about his work over the past 30 years, Pasadena's move to measuring VMT and other metrics over level of service, innovation in smaller cities and more!

This week Anna Muessig returns and we're joined by Laura Bliss of CityLab. Laura's CityLab News NIMBYs vs YIMBYs - CityLab Should EVs pay per mile? - CityLab News CA bypasses fuel standards - Route Fifty Madrid keeps central car ban - CityLab Neighborways built to connect slow transport - Indianapolis Star Odds and Ends Curb cuts for all of New York - 6sqft Facial recognition banned from HUD housing - CNet Story of the Week Digital Twins - CityLab  Was the automobile a terrible mistake? New Yorker

This week we’re joined by Monica Holmes, Placemaking Manager for the City of Charlotte and the project manager for the rewrite of the TOD zoning ordinance. Monica talks about why the transit oriented development part of the zoning ordinance was the first part of the code rewrite as well as all of the details about the new point system created to promote economic mobility, the environment, and new transportation.  She also shares how TOD was built in the past and what will be happening along all the city’s transit corridors in the future. 

This week we are going solo. We talk about using cars for housing, childless cities, and federal transportation funding. News Where have all the children gone? - The Atlantic SF to open homeless navigation center for car dwellers - Hoodline Affordable housing in RVs - Yes! Magazine The Vanlord of Santa Monica - Santa Monica Daily Press Capital improvement grant hearings - Curbed Federal transit funding delays cause harm - T4 America Odds and Ends A vision for bike highways in Seoul - Korea BizWire Why no moon cities? CityLab Record temperatures from heatwave - Curbed Story of the Week Urban planners should look at restaurant data - MIT News Digital twins - Governing A new vision for I-45 - Houston Chronicle The symbolism of your daily commute - Quartz Federal reserve bank looks at gentrification - Philly Inquirer How gentrification benefits - City Observatory    

This week we are joined By Bowinn Ma, Member of the British Columbia Legislative Assembly for North Vancouver-Lonsdale BC. Bowinn talks about creating better transportation options for her constituents, new transportation technologies, and the importance of political engagement.