Angie Schmitt

Angie is a Cleveland-based writer with a background in planning and newspaper reporting. She has been writing about cities for Streetsblog for six years.

Recent Posts

As parking rates increased, tickets and fines for illegal parking decreased. Chart: City of Boston

How Boston Used Meter Prices to Fix Parking Dysfunction

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 26, 2018 | No Comments

Adjusting meter prices increased the availability of spaces while reducing illegal parking.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, shown here announcing a $9 billion toll road expansion program, is not an environmental hero. Photo: Maryland Department of Transportation/Twitter

The Environmentalist Blind Spot on Transportation

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 23, 2018 | No Comments

Cheering for a few more electric cars while highway sprawl continues unabated is not going to solve the climate crisis.

The Case for Decriminalizing Fare Evasion

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 22, 2018 | No Comments

We wouldn't throw people in jail for shorting a parking meter $3. And we shouldn't do it for transit riders either.

When You Buy These Bike Brands, You’re Supporting the Gun Lobby

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 21, 2018 | No Comments

One of the nation's biggest guns and ammo dealers also owns the bike brands Bell, Giro, and Copilot.

Rather than address the systemic threats to pedestrian safety, it's easier for some cities to blame victims. Photo: Don Kostelec

American Cities and the Creeping Criminalization of Walking

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 20, 2018 | No Comments

Montclair, New Jersey, is the latest American city to fall for the dangerous fiction that outlawing the act of walking while looking at a mobile device will make people safer.

States keep building monster interchanges we don't need.

America’s Stunted National Debate About Infrastructure

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 19, 2018 | No Comments

Supporting "infrastructure spending" in all its vagueness is not good enough. We need to talk about what we want to build.

Transit, biking, and walking -- not car commuting -- are absorbing job growth in downtown Seattle. Graphic: Commute Seattle
Transit, biking, and walking -- not car commuting -- are absorbing job growth in downtown Seattle. Graphic: Commute Seattle

Seattle Cut Car Commuting Downtown While Adding 60,000 Jobs

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 15, 2018 | No Comments

Don't let anyone tell you a healthier economy is inextricably linked to more driving.

The only photo in the city of Chicago's online section about bicycling is this image of a cyclist helping another cyclist fit her helmet. Photo: City of Chicago

How America’s Bike Helmet Fixation Upholds a Culture of “Unfettered Automobility”

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 14, 2018 | No Comments

It's not a coincidence that bicycling remains dangerous in our helmet-obsessed safety culture.

Philadelphia's 12-lane Roosevelt Boulevard is a death trap.

Philadelphia’s Boulevard of Death

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 12, 2018 | No Comments

If we're going to reduce traffic deaths, we need to start with roads like Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia.

Texas expects traffic deaths to increase substantially by 2022. Graph: Texas Strategic Highway Safety Plan

Texas DOT Aims for More People to Get Killed in Traffic

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 9, 2018 | No Comments

Texas is still planning for more traffic and more asphalt, and as a result, its forecasts still expect a growing number of people to lose their lives in traffic crashes.

Ride-hailing trips that start at someone's home are clustered in the center of the Boston region, where transit access is best and traffic is most intense. Map: MAPC

Evidence From Boston That Uber Is Making Traffic Worse

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 8, 2018 | No Comments

Ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft are exacerbating rush-hour traffic jams in Boston, according to new research by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council.

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