Category Archives: CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: Three Choices, None Simple

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Steve Miller

There can be no question about the transformative power of today’s metropolitan economy.  Major cities around the country hope to ride the wave of the growing financial, research-based, and digital business sectors.  City leaders are doing what they can to make the place attractive to exploding numbers of higher-income young professionals these firms employ as […] Continue reading →

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OUT OF THE SNOW, INTO THE PARKING MESS

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Steve Miller

Parking is a problem. When it snows it’s a nightmare. We start looking around, getting frustrated, maybe nasty. There seem to be parking spots everywhere except where we want to go. Parking is the explosive trap door of community transportation meetings – anything that reduces the number of spots anywhere evokes outcry. This winter’s climate […] Continue reading →

Posted in Boston Transportation, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, news, parking | Comments Off on OUT OF THE SNOW, INTO THE PARKING MESS

OUT OF THE SNOW, INTO THE PARKING MESS

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Steve Miller

Parking is a problem. When it snows it’s a nightmare. We start looking around, getting frustrated, maybe nasty. There seem to be parking spots everywhere except where we want to go. Parking is the explosive trap door of community transportation meetings – anything that reduces the number of spots anywhere evokes outcry. This winter’s climate […] Continue reading →

Posted in Boston Transportation, Commentary & Analysis, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, parking | Comments Off on OUT OF THE SNOW, INTO THE PARKING MESS

OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY? — Region Gains Only If We Demand the Benefits First

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Steve Miller

The best and perhaps only argument for holding the 2024 Summer Olympics in Boston (and Cambridge) is that the deadlines and international media scrutiny will force us – meaning city, state, and federal governments as well as local universities – to make the infrastructure investments that we already know are needed but that are unlikely […] Continue reading →

Posted in Boston Transportation, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, news | Comments Off on OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY? — Region Gains Only If We Demand the Benefits First

OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY? — Region Gains Only If We Demand the Benefits First

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Steve Miller

The best and perhaps only argument for holding the 2024 Summer Olympics in Boston (and Cambridge) is that the deadlines and international media scrutiny will force us – meaning city, state, and federal governments as well as local universities – to make the infrastructure investments that we already know are needed but that are unlikely […] Continue reading →

Posted in Boston Transportation, Commentary & Analysis, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE | Comments Off on OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY? — Region Gains Only If We Demand the Benefits First

WALK, BIKE, RUN: Unity and Tension In Non-Motorized Alliances

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Steve Miller

It wasn’t that long ago that Boston’s walking, bicycling, and transit advocacy groups saw each other as part of the problem. Faced with the hostile fragmentation, government policy-makers moved slowly or not at all. Boston wasn’t unusual. To the extent that cities had active transportation advocacy groups, the discordance was common. Today, urban areas (and […] Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, news, Walking | Comments Off on WALK, BIKE, RUN: Unity and Tension In Non-Motorized Alliances

STABILIZING EQUITABLE COMMUNITIES: Gentrification, Displacement, and Markets

Posted on August 13, 2014 by Steve Miller

It wasn’t long ago, when regional rail-trail conversions were the leading strategy for creating multi-use non-motorized travel corridors, that the biggest opposition came from suburbanites fearing that the bike paths would bring intruders (meaning poor or Black people) into their backyards and lower their property values.   Today, as the action has shifted to our reviving […] Continue reading →

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Project Selection Criteria: Public Hearing Testimony

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Steve Miller

The following was submitted to the state Project Selection Advisory Council at their 7/29/14 public hearing in Boston. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this incredibly important topic. And thank you for all the work that you have already done on this incredibly complicated issue. My name is Steven E. Miller; I’m a […] Continue reading →

Posted in CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, Government Reform, MassDOT Transformation, news, Road Design | Comments Off on Project Selection Criteria: Public Hearing Testimony

Project Selection Criteria: Public Hearing Testimony

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Steve Miller

The following was submitted to the state Project Selection Advisory Council at their 7/29/14 public hearing in Boston. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this incredibly important topic. And thank you for all the work that you have already done on this incredibly complicated issue. My name is Steven E. Miller; I’m a […] Continue reading →

Posted in Commentary & Analysis, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, Government Reform, MassDOT Transformation, Road Design | Comments Off on Project Selection Criteria: Public Hearing Testimony

MOVING BEYOND CAR LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS): Criteria for Transportation Investments, Project Designs, and Development Mitigation

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Steve Miller

Scaled from A to F like an elementary school report card, automobile Level of Service (LOS) metrics are easy to measure and easy to understand. LOS is, essentially, the average amount of delay compared to a “free-flowing” road where everyone is moving at full design-speed – congestion! It is a powerful indicator: it has a […] Continue reading →

Posted in Climate/Energy/Environment, CREATING SUSTAINABLE CHANGE, Government Reform, MassHighway/DOT, news, Project Management, Road Design | Comments Off on MOVING BEYOND CAR LEVEL OF SERVICE (LOS): Criteria for Transportation Investments, Project Designs, and Development Mitigation