About

Transportation Justice

“…we know that as we built unjust social systems and unjust legal systems and unjust freeways and unsafe streets… we can unbuild them.”  Rukaiyah Adams, Alice Award recipient, Sept 27, 2019.

About

City planning has a legacy of catering to The Haves, at a cost to The Have Nots, and it continues under the radar.   

We all know now, the historical truth that deep in the Euclidean Supreme Court decision there was white privilege and wealth privilege accepted into planning law that still is legal and practiced throughout the U.S., today. 

We all know now, that Urban Renewal in the 1950s, often called “The Projects”, was white exclusion and racial isolationism led by our government. 

We all know now, that the switch to making roads for cars, instead of for people, was a successful white and wealthy propaganda effort in the late 20s, and that parking requirements, for example, have resulted in a handout to drivers who now enjoy free parking 99% of the time, subsidized by all — even the 1/3 of Americans that do not drive — and which induces more driving. 

We all know now, that suburbia was financed by urban property taxes, that massive highway subsidies built the road infrastructure for white flight, through communities of color, and that suburbs are now financially unsustainable.

So the question is, which laws, policies, standards, and practices still contribute to placing the white thumb on people of color? This blog is dedicated to exposing these practices regarding transportation.  I have met so many planners that want to avoid continuing this legacy, that want to emphasize equity, but at the same time are also practicing that which they have been taught, which includes codes and standards with subtle but real discriminatory effects — artifacts of the white legacy.