Tanya Snyder

Sen. Barbara Boxer's noon press conference started out as a bit of a mess. The Senate press gallery announced it was canceled five minutes before it was due to start. Then three minutes later, the EPW committee sent out a notice that the event had changed locations and would start 20 minutes later. Needless to say, there was much confusion.

Sen. Barbara Boxer is due to speak to reporters in about an hour about the goings-on in the conference committee. The mood has turned dark in the past few days, but she’s kept a positive attitude, saying, “It’s been wonderful.”

Boxer: Anemic Jobs Report Underscores Need to Pass Bill (The Hill) Cantor: Too Bad (The Hill) Anxiously Awaiting the House Budget Proposal — Very Anxiously (Trans Issues Daily) States Will Lead the Way on VMT Fee Collection (USA Today) Why City Versus Suburb Is the Wrong Question (Atlantic Cities) Chris Leinberger Explains Why Walkability Raises … Continued

Happy Monday! After a five-month transition period, I am now back as your faithful full-time editor. Abundant gratitude goes to Ben Goldman, who stepped into the role seamlessly and kept the blog focused like a laser on the transportation bill drama unfolding in Congress. He's put up with an unusual schedule that threw him in full-time and then tapered down as I slowly ramped back up, and he impressed us all with his knowledge of urban planning, rail transportation, and PhotoShop. Thank you, Ben!

Speaking to reporters earlier today, Federal Railroad Administration chief Joe Szabo said that people are driving less and using transit more -- and that those changes are permanent. "America’s travel habits are undergoing rapid change," he said. It's a fact, he said ("not opinion -- statistically proven"), calling on Congress to show that it understands these changes by moving in a new direction.

Although Senate Republicans had hoped the carefully crafted compromise over the Transportation Enhancements program would stand, some House members are stating their insistence that the program be stripped out entirely in conference.

The data tell us that young people are driving less; that Americans are driving fewer miles -- and it's not just because of the economy. Now the Washington Post asks a more transcendental question: Is the spark gone?

Charles Marohn -- our planner/engineer friend from Baxter, Minnesota and Strong Towns -- and I appeared on a Minnesota Public Radio show on Friday about "the death of the exurbs." The starting point of the conversation was the article I wrote last month about the new census numbers and what they tell us about the shifting patterns of housing development.

Hint to lonely hearts everywhere: If you're looking for some correspondence, join the transportation conference committee. Those folks are getting a lot of mail these days.

Week Three of Transportation Conference (The Hill) Chamber: Congress Is “Afraid to Face the Issue of Where We Get the Revenue” (CSMonitor) NACTO Wants Transit Operating Flexibility, Local Control, and What’s Left of TE (Trans Issues Daily) Every Cyclist Counts Has Plenty of Data to Intrigue, Depress (Bike League) Form-Based Code: The Sine Qua Non … Continued