Biodiesel is one of the most intriguing of those new possibilities...crops of soybeans and rapeseed and maybe even algae, grown by present day farmers, processed into a diesel fuel substitute that works just fine in modern Volkswagons and Mack trucks and school buses--even in the oil-burning furnace down in the basement. It is potentially a truely sweet solution, offering a new market for hard-pressed local farmers even as it begins to help solve some of our most pressing environmental problems. Greg Pahl's book...manages to raise the right questions (and raise them early enough) so that we can perhaps build a structure for this developing industry that serves local farmers and processors instead of simply corporate agribusiness giants.

--Bill McKibben in the Forward to Greg Pahl's Biodiesel

Biodiesel has been getting a bad name because of the potential for competition with food production. It has always struck me that some of the loudest voices criticizing biodiesel has come from the oil, coal and nuke lobbies. But it did seem like competition with food production may be a critical problem with biodiesel.

Through dreary rain, late Monday afternoon, I dodged jammed Madison Avenue traffic to the Municipal Art Society office in exquisite remains of the Villard Mansion. There NYC’s Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan explained her strategic plan for “Sustainable Streets.” The wine flowed, the sushi, ginger & wasabi were fresh (even without soy sauce), the tabuli tangy, the tapinade, salty.

People packed shoulder to shoulder, making dancing to the swing trio impractical. Deputy Mayor Edward Skyler was there, as was NYPC Commissioner Ray Kelly (Kelly was so freshly dressed, so creased, so unwrinkled, so calm, he glowed. I’ll bet he didn’t cycle over.) The overwhelmingly white, suited crowd had a few cycling advocates mixed in: Transportation Alternatives’ Paul Steely White in his signature vest, Straphanger Gene Russianoff in cacki chinos, Karen Overton, formerly of Recycle-A Bicycle. But, for me the big news was who was missing: I saw no elected officials at all.

Even when Eliot Spitzer wins, he still loses -- or rather, we lose.

Sure, he saved the $2.00 fare -- for now. But who cares? Only one out of every seven riders actually pays that -- and most of them are tourists (the rest are the poor, and I'll get to that problem below). Almost all of the rest of us either buy "multitrip" card (those "six-for-five" $10 cards) or buy weekly or monthly cards. And guess what? Those fares are going up!

When the monthly card was introduced, it was $63; now it's going to $81 -- a 28% increase while the "base rate" hasn't risen at all.

What's worse, many people have practically begged the MTA to hold off on fare increases until the next budget is passed, figuring they could put the heat on to get more state funding. Now that the MTA is going ahead, there's little chance of accomplishing that goal.

In short, Governor Spitzer played a quick song for the cameras, but failed

There's an item in today's Albany Times-Union that deserves to be read for its sheer entertainment value alone. It appears that a state highway fund, dedicated to infrastructure maintenance, has been tapped into for other purposes. The amount of said tapping is a cool $750 million over three years.

But behold, relief is at hand, in the person of state Senator Tom Libous, republican.

"We're raiding the fund and that's wrong," the Broome County Republican said in announcing a bill with bipartisan support to end the practice. "I've been saying that for three years ... but now it's a matter of public safety."

A spokesman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer said change is on the way.

Governor Spitzer signed a bill last week that establishes an airline passenger bill of eights, to be enforced by a new Office of the Airline Consumer Advocate within the Consumer Protection Board. Besides creating this new office, the bill mandates that airlines prominently post consumer complaint hotlines at their airport desks and provide food, water, restrooms and fresh air to passengers stranded on the tarmac for over three hours. Complaints are given to the office of the Attorney General, and fines are possible for violations of these standards, up to $1,000 per passenger per violation. In short, airline passengers now can claim some basic standards of customer service by right.

So much, so good. Now, what about the MTA?

Reuters reports here that a fare increase could very well be held off until 2010, provided the City and state restore prior funding cuts to the tune of $728 million. That assessment is based on a report by City Comptroller Bill Thompson.

Kudos to NYC Transit for its frankness about the overcrowding crisis on the subways. As any rider of the L train or the numbered lines knows, the system is straining at maximum capacity -- and, NYCTA says, it's not just that the trains themselves are full; so are the tracks.

“From my point of view, this is scary,” said Howard H. Roberts Jr., the president of New York City Transit, who presented the data to members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board. “This is scary in the sense that right now, on a lot of these lines, we’re several years and a big capital construction project away from being able to provide what I consider adequate service. We’re constrained.”

I've written a lot in support of congestion pricing, and I continue to support it. But the Transit Authority's report is a clear reminder that the need to couple congestion pricing with serious capital investment in mass transit upgrades is far from academic.

In the great meeting room of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, Mayor Bloomberg and the chairs of many NYS Assembly Committees engaged in a snappish battle of wits in which the citizens were losers. Richard Brodsky and Denny Farrell scored imaginary talking points off the Mayor. Even if you have a horse in this race (and I do), it was difficult to declare a winner. (After the jump, a possible fatal flaw in Mr. Bloomberg's plan and a chance to lobby in Albany if you support it.)

UPDATE: Rep. Joseph Crowley, chair of the Queens Democratic Party, (whose district includes a portion of the Bronx) endorsed the Congestion Pricing Proposal. In a complete coincidence, Mayor Bloomberg promised to pay for two new Queens LIRR stations (and two Bronx Metro North Stations).

2nd UPDATE TUESDAY: Sheldon Silver is not convinced here and here .

The Mayor, of course, knew the details of the proposal and no one else did.

Friday, June 8, 2007 the pending proposal for Congestion Pricing gets an unusual test. A joint legislative committee hearing (many committees, many chairs) is set to start at 10AM at the Association of the Bar at 42 West 44th Street. If you’re interested and you can, go. It should be interesting because Assembly Member Richard Brodsky, so far an outspoken plan opponent, will have a leading role there. An interesting pro-congestion pricing coalition, The Campaign For New York’s Future is calling for people to show up by 8:15 (The doors open at 9AM). (Annie Karni's NY Sun coverage of the hearing is here .)

UPDATE:Congestion pricing supporter, Senate Majority Leader Bruno has introduced the bill says Liz Benjamin and The Albany Project's Lipris . Streetsblog has the 154 page text if you're into self-abuse. Has a deal been struck?

If you missed it, and want to review live blogging of the DMI meeting on congestion-pricing click here The live blog isn’t a transcript, but it catches most of the highlights. The brightest spot: NYC Central Labor Council Director Ed Ott compares good sex with good outcomes of the congestion pricing debate: No one agrees on what it is but it’s what you do up front that counts. He wants mass transit improvements especially many more buses up front.

Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron’s presentation seemed clear, but curiously flat. In the question period, she pointed to my personal bugbear – the potential unfairness of the fees on lower income people. She said that, in London, some of the fee proceeds were used to provide free public transit for young, old and, perhaps in the future the poor. In that, all of the panelist agreed: we’re at the beginning of needed discussion and that the Mayor’s plaNYC 2030 is a first step. I'm convinced.

Mr. Ott and Council Member Eric Gioia made, to my mind, the most important point -- and one that I previously didn't get: we are already paying for congestion but in insane and unplanned ways.

If you cannot make it to DMI’s Congestion Pricing forum Friday, Get free breakfast anyway while bicycling to work. Transportation Alternatives presents
National Bike To Work Day (Breakfast Served)

“Biking to work is fun, saves money and keeps you in great shape. What better time to try it out than on National Bike to Work Day? Stop by one of Transportation Alternatives' commuter breakfast stations on your way in for free coffee and pastries (you earned it!) courtesy of Birdbath: Neighborhood Green Bakeries. They'll also have bike maps, guides to Taking Back NYC Streets and tons of other useful info, no matter if you're biking to work for the first time or the five thousandth. Come say hi and meet T.A. staff, volunteers and your fellow bicycle commuters."

Friday, May 18th, 2007 8:30 - 10:00 AM – at: The Queensboro Bridge The Williamsburg Bridge, The Manhattan Bridge, The Brooklyn Bridge and the Hudson River Park's Clinton Cove Park near 51st Street on the Hudson River Greenway