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]
2018 Congressional Transportation Budget Begins to Take Shape
While reduced from current levels, the House Appropriations Committee budgeted far more than what President Trump had proposed, but they agreed with him to eliminate the TIGER grant program and reduce transit investments, though by a lesser amount.
New Poll Shows Broad, Bipartisan Support for Hiking Federal Gas Tax
A majority of Americans of both parties support raising the gas tax to pay for road improvements. Could it provide the source of the $200 billion in federal funds for Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure plan?
Oregon Bike Tax Attracts Interest of Influential Colorado State Senator
The Colorado legislature has been unable to agree on a transportation funding package, but the recent bill passed by Oregon has prompted one influential Republican senator to suggest that the state tax bicycle sales.
California Legislature Approves Continuation of Cap-and-Trade Program
The nation's only state-run, market-based program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will continue until 2031 without fear of litigation, as it passed with the required two-thirds supermajority needed for tax increases, along with two related bills.
The Vital Role of Gas Tax Indexing
Without an automatic adjustment for gas taxes, revenue from the tax declines due to increasing fuel efficiency standards while road maintenance and construction costs increase due to inflation. Witness Wisconsin's woes.