Irvin Dawid discovered Planetizen when a classmate in an urban planning lab at San Jose State University shared it with him in 2003. When he left San Jose State that year, he took with him an interest in Planetizen, if not the master's degree in urban & regional planning.
As a long-time environmental activist, he formed the Sustainable Land Use committee for his local Sierra Club chapter and served six years on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Advisory Council from 2002-2008. He maintains his interest in air quality by representing Sierra Club California on the Clean Air Dialogue, a working group of the Calif. Environmental Dialog representing business, regulatory and public health/environmental interests.
Major interests include transportation funding, e.g., gas taxes, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fees, road tolls and energy subsidies that lead to unlevel playing fields for more sustainable choices.
He hails from Queens (Bayside) and Long Island (Great Neck); received an AAS in Fisheries & Wildlife Technology from SUNY Cobleskill and a B.S. from what is now Excelsior College.
After residing for three years on California’s North Coast, he’s lived on the San Francisco Peninsula since 1983, including 24 years in Palo Alto. Home is now near downtown Burlingame, a short bike-ride to the Caltrain station.
He’s been car-free since driving his 1972 Dodge Tradesman maxi-van, his means to exit Long Island in 1979, to the junkyard in 1988.
Major forms of transportation: A 1991 'citybike' and monthly Caltrain pass, zone 2-2. "It's no LIRR, but it may be the most bike friendly train in America."
Irvin can be reached at [email protected]
Pacific Northwest Gears Up for Another Fossil Fuel Export Fight
Just two years after killing what would be the world's largest methanol plant at the Port of Tacoma, the project has reemerged at the Port of Kalama. According to the EIS for the plant, global CO2 emissions will be reduced, though increased locally.
Truck Tolls Wins (Indirectly) on Election Day
Tolls were not on state ballots like gas taxes and transportation sales taxes on Nov. 6, but surrogates for and against truck-only tolling participated in two gubernatorial elections in New England, and the results will give no joy to truckers.
Federal Judge in Montana Halts Construction of Keystone XL Pipeline
The Trump administration's denial of climate change may serve a political purpose, but in the courtroom, it can prove a liability. A federal judge in Montana took into account the administration's "discarding" of climate science in its ruling.
Another State Rejects a 10-Cents per Gallon Gas Tax Hike
It was not your basic fuel tax hike. Utah voters were told that raising the tax would help education by redirecting revenue from the General Fund to schools that currently goes to transportation. Yet voters also passed decidedly liberal initiatives.
Another Major Statewide Transportation Funding Loss on Election Day
Similar to Missouri voters, who rejected a 10-cents per gallon tax hike placed on the ballot by the state legislature, Colorado voters rejected two competing initiatives to finance transportation improvements placed on the ballot by citizen groups.