David Sachs
David cut his teeth covering transportation, development, politics, education, and art in D.C. He's covered sustainable transportation for Streetsblog since 2015 and has lived in Denver's Cheesman Park neighborhood since 2012.
Recent Posts
Streetsblog Readers: Send In Your #StreetFail and #SweetStreet Photos
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Since Streetsblog Denver launched last May, we’ve beat the drum to make the Mile High City’s streets better for walking, biking, and transit. We’ve been watchdogging how city agencies implement policy and questioning the car-centric status quo peddled by local decision makers and media figures. What has to change to make our streets safer, more urban, and more equitable? To tell […]
Portland Bike-Share Ready to Roll Thanks to $10 Million From Nike
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“Huge” is how Jonathan Maus at Bike Portland described the news yesterday that Nike will sponsor Portland’s upcoming bike-share system to the tune of $10 million. Bike-share has taken much longer than expected to get off the ground in Portland. With Nike’s sponsorship, the city will be moving forward with a bigger network than it’s been planning. The […]
Stock Show Parade Boots Cars Off 17th Street, Other Streets Hold Up Fine
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Here’s something to keep in mind when you hear someone say there’s not enough room on city streets for bike lanes or better pedestrian infrastructure — or when decision makers insist on widening already deadly streets. Denver’s traffic congestion can be bad at times in certain places, just like every other decent-sized American city, but downtown Denver during most of the […]
WalkScope Makes Planetizen’s Top 10 Websites of 2015
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Give it up for WalkScope, the crowdsourcing tool that allows anyone and everyone to map the quality of Denver’s streets. Planetizen, a popular website about urban design and planning, has rated WalkScope one of its top 10 websites of 2015. Here’s more from Planetizen: WALKscope is the rare example of crowd-sourced public engagement that actually works. WalkDenver and […]
Hallelujah: RTD Launches Real Time Data on Local Bus Routes
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It’s been a long, long time coming. We’re talking years. But today RTD announced that transit riders can finally track their buses in real time. Before you get too excited, there are some caveats. The real-time data only works on local buses; RTD will launch the service for express and regional routes later this year, said RTD […]
RTD’s Flatiron Flyer Is an Upgrade, But Don’t Call It “Bus Rapid Transit”
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On Monday RTD offered free rides on its just-launched Flatiron Flyer bus routes between Denver and Boulder. The transit agency calls the system “bus rapid transit” or BRT, a phrase that’s been diluted with ho-hum projects in the United States. Mexico City, Bogota, Brisbane, and Curitiba in Brazil — these are the cities with BRT systems worth […]
It’s Really, Really Hard to Get Fined for Not Shoveling a Slippery Sidewalk
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During December’s snowstorm, Denver’s Public Works and Parks and Rec departments dispatched 96 snow plows that worked overnight to clear major roads of snow and ice. The response to the storm, which dropped as much as 10 inches on the Mile High City, was necessary to make streets safer for buses, cars, and bicyclists. Which makes the city’s […]
In Memoriam: The People Who Died Walking and Biking in Denver Last Year
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End-of-year lists are an inescapable part of the calendar flipping from December to January. Some of those serve to entertain, but this list serves to remind Mayor Michael Hancock, his Department of Public Works, and CDOT Executive Director Shailen Bhatt that 19 20 people were killed while walking and biking through the city in 2015. Half […]
Here Are Your Winners of the First Annual Denver Streetsie Awards
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It’s been a notable year for walking, biking, and transit in the Mile High City. But what was the most notable? The best project? The worst? We put those questions and others to our readers, and the votes are in. Here are your winners of the first-ever Denver Streetsies. Best Livable Streets Victory Money talks — and gets votes. Governor John Hickenlooper’s $100 […]
Vote for the Streetsblog Denver Streetsies, Donate, And Maybe Win a Bike
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Closing the curtain on 2015 means yielding the stage to the first Denver installation of the Streetsies, our annual readers’ choice awards of distinction and notoriety. What has defined Denver’s streets in 2015? What are the most considerable steps toward the transportation transformation necessary in the Mile High City, and who is standing in the way? It’s been a year […]
Today’s Headlines
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“Zombie” Bill to Kill Red Light, Speeding Cameras Comes Back to Life (CPR) Filmed Case of Road Rage Leads to Crash, ABC7 Still Calls It an Accident DenPo Reader: Keep Shuttles on 16th Street Mall or I’ll Shop in the Suburbs People on Cargo Bikes Deliver Groceries in Food Dessert (Wash Park Profile) School Bus Driver Who […]
RTD’s Long Awaited Smart Card Will Make Tentative Debut January 1
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Some transit systems have had smart cards — fare cards that passengers can add, store, and spend money on — for decades. Not so in Denver, where eight years have passed since the quest for modern fare-payment technology began. Drumroll, please: The wait is kind of sort of almost nearing an end. On January 1 RTD will launch a […]