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]
Elaine Chao Confirmed as U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary
Elaine Chao, who served eight years as labor secretary under President George W. Bush, was confirmed on Jan. 31 as the Secretary of Transportation, on a 93-6 vote.
The Other $1 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
President Trump is not the only one proposing a huge infrastructure plan—Senate Democrats have their own. The cost is the same, but financing is different. The Democrats' plan does just what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned against.
Get Ready for a Wave of Federal Land Transfers in Western States
It's the antithesis of what former President Obama and his predecessors did when they gave federal lands and waters more protection. But don't blame Trump's executive actions for this one (not yet, anyway), as it's being proposed by Congress.
Cap-and-Trade Foes Have Their Day in Court
The biggest threat to California's cap-and-trade program, a critical component of the state's comprehensive effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, may not come from the Trump Administration but from a lawsuit heard in Sacramento on January 24.
Poll Appears to Show Opposition to Toll Financing for Trump Infrastructure Plan
A Washington Post/ABC News poll released Jan. 17 showed the exact opposite result of a Reuters/Ipsos poll released two days later on the financing for President Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure plan. However, the polls took different approaches.