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If you attended or watched one of the Live Earth concerts today, you might feel compelled to take action. Don’t let that feeling subside, pick up a copy of The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook. Even if you didn’t go, you should be able to use many of the 77 tips provided in the book. For a sample, take a look at the “Ride a Bike” chapter posted on Streetsblog.

City Room is running a series in which DOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan answers reader questions. Commissioner Sadik-Khan has already posted parts one and two of her answers and will continue to post more throughout the week.

So far, the commissioner’s answers lean towards the reserved. However, she seems very willing to experiment with things. One example of this type of thinking is clear in this reference to the congestion pricing proposal:

We’re not trying to lock the city into anything for all time. We want to try it, see how it works and see if we need to change it.

It’s very refreshing to hear this coming from the DOT commissioner. This willingness to try new things is much more important than any single answer she can offer this early in her tenure. I wish her much luck in transforming the DOT into a more agile and responsive agency. It certainly sounds like she is on the right path.

During Mayor Bloomberg’s Earth Day Speech he stated that he is seeking a pilot program to implement congestion pricing in Manhattan:

In setting the fee, there’s no magic number, but it has to be high enough to encourage more people to switch to mass transit and low enough not to break the bank – for businesses and for those who have to drive. Based on thorough analysis and the experience of other cities, we believe that an $8 charge would achieve these goals. There are many different ways that this system could work in New York.

As a test run, we will seek state authority for a three year pilot project, and we are very optimistic that, in working with state officials, we will secure hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for it.

This was just one of the PlaNYC 2030 proposals he spoke about today. Hopefully this congestion pilot project can begin before the end of Bloomberg’s final term as Mayor.

It sounds like Mayor Bloomberg is about to propose congestion pricing in Manhattan. The official announcement might come on Sunday. If he does propose congestion pricing, it will still be far from becoming a reality since there will be plenty of resistance.

It’s great to see the mayor getting behind this. Without his support, it’s doubtful that anything will happen on this front. So, let’s hope he does announce this officially on Sunday.

Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg presented his plan for preparing New York City for the future. He outlined 10 ambitious goals that focus on housing and transporting a growing population, improving our infrastructure and improving the environment:

1. Create homes for almost a
   million more New Yorkers, while
   making housing more affordable
   and sustainable
2. Improve travel times by adding
   transit capacity for millions more
   residents, visitors, and workers
3. Ensure that all New Yorkers live
   within a 10-minute walk of a park
4. Develop critical back-up systems
   for our aging water network to
   ensure long-term reliability
5. Reach a full “state of good repair”
   on New York City’s roads, subways,
   and rails for the first time in history
6. Provide cleaner, more reliable power
   for every New Yorker by upgrading
   our energy infrastructure
7. Reduce global warming
   emissions by more than 30%
8. Achieve the cleanest air
   of any big city in America
9. Clean up all contaminated
   land in New York City
10. Open 90% of our waterways
    for recreation by reducing
    water pollution and preserving
    our natural areas

The City has set up a planNYC website with more information. The site has many opportunities to offer one’s opinion on how to improve things. It also offers a fair amount of information on how citizens can take action.

Congestion and its ill effects are not a new issue in New York City. In the past, when people recognized a problem, they moved to fix it. The subway system is an example of this sort of action. It is doubtful that anyone subjected to the city’s traffic on a daily basis–either as a driver, passenger, cyclist or pedestrian–would deny the existence of intolerable congestion. So we recognize that we have a problem, how does it get fixed?

The “fix” will certainly need to happen on several fronts to be effective. The Partnership for New York City released the the results of their study earlier this month in Growth or Gridlock. This report drives home the economic reasons that transportation improvement must be addressed now. It also highlights some of the ways that New York and other world cities are dealing this this issue. One method of traffic relief that has been used quite successfully elsewhere, and proposed here, is congestion pricing.

In the unabridged version of his aptly titled New York Magazine article “Congestion Charging in New York City: The Political Bloodbath“, Aaron Naparstek revisits some of the history around the issue of congestion pricing. It would seem that, as a city leader, mentioning congestion pricing is the equivalent of political (or actual) suicide. If that is the case, how will congestion pricing ever be implemented or even tested in New York if the city’s leaders are unwilling to get behind it?

Well, it looks as if someone might be stepping up. City councilwoman Gale Brewer is planning to introduce congestion pricing legislation. Perhaps with this sort of legislation in council, the mayor will stop denying that this is a piece of the traffic relief puzzle. A transportation plan that does not address the overabundance of private automobiles in our most congested areas is not dealing with a major part of the problem. Let’s hope that Mayor Bloomberg takes advantage of his high approval ratings to start making these changes.

“If, however, America could find some way to harness the energy in the smoke it blows up its own ass every day, we would never face an energy crisis. Wouldn’t that be the day?”

- Jim Kunstler
Clusterfuck Nation

New York’s first hybrid taxis were put into service this week. The fleet of six hybrids will certainly need to be expanded to make a dent in the amount of pollution created by taxis in New York. Nevertheless, it is move in the right direction.

via WorldChanging via Green Car Congress

Dan Gillmor ponders whether recent gasoline price increases are price gouging or the marketplace:

There’s also a lot of talk about price gouging. One of the people talking this way is California’s attorney general, who’s investigating.

Well, there’s another way to describe this behavior. It’s called charging what the market will bear.

And it’s the one thing that — despite any scheming that may be going on in the energy industry — will prevent us from seeing long gas lines in the next several weeks and months.

This is basic supply and demand. The latter is high. The former is constrained.

Although there is probably some gouging going on, especially in the hurricane ravaged areas of the south, I tend to agree with Dan on this in that additional state regulation is probably not the best answer. For the most part, this is a natural market reaction and we should probably let the market seek its own price. The recent price increases are likely to subside as the distribution infrastructure around the Gulf is repaired. However, lower prices will be a temporary situation, in the long term prices will continue to increase.

Unfortunately, higher fuel prices are going to affect many people adversely who are deeply dependent on fuel that they simply can no longer afford. Doing without is not an option for most in this country since driving several miles to just about anything is the norm. In the short term, those who can’t afford the price increases will probably plunge deeper into consumer debt as they finance their fuel consumption with high interest funds from credit cards. As this happens, people will become more and more infuriated and begin to look for someone to blame and/or somewhere to point the finger.

Regardless of where the finger is pointed now or in the future, I think it is time for ALL of us to consider ways we can conserve energy and reduce waste in any way we can. Whether we drive a car regularly or not, we are all dependent on oil and other non-renewable energy sources in one way or another. So, we are all in this together. Even the smallest of personal actions can have a big impact when we all act together.

Here are some ideas for conserving energy in no particular order. Some can be done in the short term, but their impact will really be felt in the longer term, especially if more people start thinking about these things:

• If you own a car, try to find alternatives to driving when you can. Walking or riding a bicycle are both viable (and enjoyable) alternatives in many cases. If you must drive, try to car pool and drive efficiently.
• If you are driving a gas guzzler, think about trading down to something more fuel efficient. If you are in the market for a new vehicle, look for fuel efficiency. If you want to be somewhat radical: Will a motorcycle fit your needs? Even more radical: Can you ditch your car altogether, maybe you can relocate to somewhere where you don’t need a car. If you only need a car once in a while, think about something like zipcar or Flexcar.
• See if you can purchase Green Power for your home or office.
• Take taxis only when you need to, get there under your own power or with public transit if you can.
• Turn things off (lights, computers, radios, televisions) when you are not using them and adjust your thermostat. more at ConEd
• When purchasing new electrical devices, look for the Energy Star label.

What are some of the things you do to conserve energy?

Editor’s note: This post was written back in July of 2005, then promptly forgotten about before being published. It was rediscovered in October of 2006, spellchecked and posted for your enjoyment.

It seems logical that density is good and sprawl is bad. There are many reasons for this, including reduced energy use. However, when one hears about developments such as East Village – Las Vegas, one can’t help but be struck by the disconnect between logic and our actions. East Village is yet another lifestyle complex that offers a mixture of retail and office space. Some also offer residential space, but that does not appear to be the case with East Village.

One of the most notable features of the graphic portraying an overhead view of East Village is the ample parking. It appears that the parking lot is going to take up more space than the development. Why is it that so many people find such novelty in these types of fabricated communities–so much so that they will drive their cars there and walk through the parking lot with the Las Vegas sun beating down on them–but will not seek out real, existing communities like this to live in?

Once in a while, I find myself in Topeka on business. Topeka has a downtown area that is well maintained, pedestrian friendly and pretty much deserted. With the exception of a couple establishments, if one wants to find some real variety, one must hop in the car and drive several miles on the highway to Wanamaker Road. This area of town has many of the finest chain restaurants America has to offer. They all have ample parking too. So, the residents of Topeka are pretty much guaranteed to have the same dining experience as someone who lives in any of the other areas of the country with a dead or dying downtown area, or no downtown at all. Yes, I like to bash chain restaurants. At least with all the staff training these corporations give, a chain restaurant dinner might have a fighting chance if they choke on their 28 ounce steak.

I hold Topeka up as an example not because I dislike Topeka, on the contrary, I find it quite sad that what infrastructure that might have existed in years past to support a downtown area has been largely replaced by highways and cookie-cutter retail outlets built on cheap land.

Is this what people really wanted? Perhaps. But, if it is, why do people enjoy visiting lifestyle complexes like East Village so much? Is it just for the novelty? After all, many people enjoy theme parks, but it is doubtful that they would want to live in a place where guys walk around in animal costumes all the time. Well, maybe some of them would…

Graphic lifted from curbed.