Pete Buttigieg
Opinion: An ‘Active Transportation Administration’? No, Thanks
A shift in messaging about how America gets from one place to another is emerging. At his confirmation hearing, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg pointedly called out the auto-centrism and inequities of our transportation system and noted the economic success cities like his own South Bend have had by making transportation options like biking and walking safer and easier to access. Could we possibly be on the verge of a transportation system that actively serves all Americans, whether they drive or not? Is it finally time to provide real mobility to those that have been denied and harmed by policies of the past? Could transportation infrastructure actually become part of the solution to climate change instead of a liability?
February 8, 2021
Why Buttigieg’s Midwest Roots Might Make Him a Great USDOT Secretary
Is Buttigieg a hayseed Hoosier who wouldn't know a headway from a harvester, or a political ecoterrorist hellbent on leaving rural American in the lurch and laughing all the way to the Amtrak station? Neither: He's a guy from South Bend.
February 4, 2021
Five Highlights from Pete Buttigieg’s Confirmation Hearing
The Secretary of Transportation nominee, Pete Buttigieg, used his confirmation hearing to reaffirm his support for mass transit and complete streets.
January 21, 2021
Memo to Buttigieg: USDOT Needs an Active Transportation Administration
Giving people who walk and roll a voice in Washington is a crucial tool in the fight to change the federal structures that underlie our car-only transportation landscape.
January 21, 2021
Senate Considering $10B for Highway Removal
Cities might soon get the kind of federal money they need to tear down the downtown highways that federal dollars paid them to build — and to reinvest in communities of color that those highways destroyed.
January 11, 2021
Nominee Buttigieg Vows To Dismantle ‘Racist’ Freeways
“It’s disproportionately Black and brown neighborhoods that were divided by highway projects because they didn’t have the political capital to resist,” Buttigieg said on Sunday. "We have a chance to get that right.”
December 22, 2020
What Biden’s Other Cabinet Picks Might Mean For Sustainable Transportation
Pete Buttigieg drew most of the attention earlier this week, but two other key cabinet appointments this week could signal that electric vehicles remain at the center of the President-elect's climate strategy — despite evidence that transit, walking and biking is far more critical to cutting greenhouse gases.
December 17, 2020
What Secretary Pete Could Mean for the US DOT
Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been tapped to be Secretary of Transportation. Whatever you think, remember that this guy is one of the few politicians who acknowledges the "many ways we subsidize driving." So there's that.
December 15, 2020
Anti-Car Dems Don’t Have a Presidential Candidate
If you believe in breaking car culture, you won't find a 2020 candidate committed to doing it.
February 13, 2020
Buttigieg Plan: Vision Zero Plus Other Goodies
Mayor Pete's transportation plan would create a national Vision Zero plan, charge drivers more for their use of the roads, build more public transit, and create "sustainable infrastructure" jobs — but it also has some proposals that might undermine all of it.
January 11, 2020