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]
Metro Detroit's Millage Tax Comes Within Half a Percentage Point of Passing
A $4.6 billion transit plan proposed by the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan received 49.5 percent of the vote on November 8. The millage tax would have funded bus rapid transit and regional rail within a four-county region.
A Potential Downside to $120 Billion in Transportation Investments in Los Angeles
The editorial board of the Los Angeles Times warns that along with new transit lines comes new housing for residents who want to enjoy the benefits of reduced auto-dependence. Plans need to ensure minimal housing displacement around the new stations.
The Critical Importance of Bicycle Infrastructure to Public Health
The lead editorial in the December issue of American Journal of Public Health provides the introduction for two research papers on the relationship between bicycling safety and infrastructure expansion in Boston and Vision Zero in U.S. and Sweden.
Indianapolis Voters Overwhelmingly Pass Income Tax for Transit
Marion County may soon have the nation's most progressive tax dedicated to public transit, and only bus transit at that. In addition to the faith and business communities that backed the measure, Gov. (now V.P.-elect) Mike Pence deserves credit.
San Francisco Voters Express Frustration with Tent Living
Voters appear to have passed the most contentious ballot measure in San Francisco, Proposition Q, that allows city workers to remove tent encampments if shelter is available. Voters in other Bay Area counties passed taxes for affordable housing.