Angie Schmitt

Recent Posts

Trump’s Bid to Insert Immigration Status Into Census Is an Attack on Cities

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 3, 2017 | No Comments

Adding a question about immigration status to the Census would lead to undercounting and affect everyone who lives in urban areas, decreasing their access to federal resources.

America Builds Way Too Much Parking Near Transit

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 1, 2017 | No Comments

We build parking that nobody ever uses because that's what American engineering standards recommend.

$The I-280 freeway seen from Pennsylvania and Mariposa street in San Francisco, Calif. Friday, February 26, 2016. (Jessica Christian/S.F. Examiner)$

10 Urban Freeways That Need to Come Down

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 30, 2017 | No Comments

There are excellent candidates for freeway removal in many American cities, where roads built 50 or 60 years ago are nearing the end of their useful lives. Cities that take the plunge and get rid of their urban highways don't regret it.

$Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks during a ceremony where NASA transferred title and ownership of space shuttle Enterprise to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 at the museum in New York City. The transfer is the first step toward Intrepid receiving Enterprise in the spring of 2012. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)$

Democrats Can’t Fight Trump and Make a Deal on Infrastructure at the Same Time

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 30, 2017 | No Comments

Chuck Schumer says he will "claw, scrap, and fight with every fiber of my being" to overturn Donald Trump's executive order preventing refugees and residents of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the country. If that's the case, Schumer should abandon his strategy of dealmaking with Trump on a big infrastructure bill.

If Trump Wants to “Fix It First,” a Big Spending Spree Isn’t the Way to Go

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 27, 2017 | No Comments

It's hard to pin Donald Trump down on policy issues. But let's take one of his recent infrastructure pronouncements literally and see where the implications lead.

Maryland Robbed Transit to Pay for Highways, So U.S. DOT Launched a Civil Rights Probe

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 26, 2017 | No Comments

On the last day of the Obama presidency, U.S. DOT announced it will investigate whether Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's unilateral decision to cancel the Baltimore Red Line light rail project violates federal civil rights law. U.S. DOT will also look into whether the state's overall transportation spending discriminates against people of color.

Today Trump Gags the EPA. Tomorrow the GOP Strangles the Census.

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 25, 2017 | No Comments

Republicans want to cut off federal data that social science researchers depend on, limiting our ability to understand the effects of transportation and land use policy, especially on the most vulnerable Americans.

Senate Dems Put Out Their Own Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Plan

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 24, 2017 | No Comments

Senate Democrats have an infrastructure "blueprint" of their own, one that's weighted toward transit. The trouble is that Democrats have little power to set terms, and getting drawn into negotiations over an unnecessary infrastructure bill may not play out to their advantage.