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]
'The New Urban Crisis' and the High Line
A PBS NewsHour two-fer: an interview of urbanologist Richard Florida conducted in a walking tour of New York's famed High Line in the gentrifying West Chelsea neighborhood, a fitting backdrop for his new book, "The New Urban Crisis."
Funds Flow to Caltrain Electrification Project
Nothing comes easy for high-speed rail, or anything connected to it, as the agency that runs Caltrain learned in February. But now that a $647 million federal grant has been approved, $713 million in state bond funds will be directed to the project.
Breaking News: Trump Orders Withdrawal from Paris Climate Agreement
The decision means the U.S. will join Syria and Nicaragua as the only nations not to subscribe to the global agreement to reduce greenhouse gases. Trump attempted to leave the door ajar by stating that he would attempt to negotiate "a better deal."
Learning from New York
"Manhattanization," a pejorative term coined in San Francisco half a century ago by opponents of tall buildings, needs to be rethought, writes San Francisco Chronicle's Native Son columnist, Carl Nolte, upon return from a weekend trip to New York.
Saving Lives: Including Sidewalk Bollards in Street Design
Countless lives were likely saved by a strategically placed bollard on W. 45th Ave. which stopped a motorist who had driven three blocks on city sidewalks, mowing-down as many pedestrians as possible, from entering the Times Square pedestrian plaza.