Wednesday, April 9, 2008

New York City Congestion Charge

So it seems that although New York City wants to charge money to dissuade traffic in midtown, the state legislature thinks otherwise. I'll bet it has as much to do with timing of this proposal as it does with NYS's fear of losing business or money or something that isn't people's health.

Here's an excerpt from an email from the Mayor's office:

""Today is a sad day for New Yorkers and a sad day for New York City. Not only won't we see the realization of a plan that would have cut traffic, spurred our economy, reduced pollution and improved public health, we will also lose out on nearly $500 million annually for mass transit improvements and $354 million in immediate federal funds."

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

results of earth hour 08

Well after reading through the Google News headlines for results of March 29th Earth Hour it looks like there were reductions in energy use but that it is also a little too early to tell what the dip was and any environmental benefit. A bonus of the lights going out in some Canadian cities was that it left the night sky a bit less "polluted" with city lights. Richmond Hill's Observatory benefited. I can't imagine how clear the night sky would have been if my own New York City could follow suit. I have a hard time imagining the bureaucratic wrangling that it would take to turn the lights off of Times Square. But what a statement, eh? At least we passed Congestion Pricing today. I got the email notification from the City earlier today. Nice!

Now, go plant a tree: http://www.milliontreesnyc.org/html/involved/month.shtml
If only I could figure out what open jobs they have at PLANYC. They might not want me but I definitely want to be involved. Trying to find the postings on nyc.gov is a bit, um, difficult. This is why I want to do more with information design/communication + environment. Make it personal, get it in the correct context for each audience. Redesign the interface so you can find what you are looking for.

I could go on... but I'm tired.