Blog

Written by Mike Sherman and John Livermore

Recently, in a the New York Times article entitled "Old Power Gear Is Slowing Use of Clean Energy and Electric Cars,"* it was reported that the structure and condition of the electric grid are increasingly serious obstacles to transitioning away from one-way central electricity generation to a more complex grid design where energy is generated by both utilities and new, distributed customer inputs for which the central systems were never designed.

Written by Ira Hirschman and Jenna Goldberg

It has been nearly a year since our last blog about New York City and its COVID-19 related challenges and responses. At that time, uncertainty about how well the City would cope, as well as long-term prospects for recovery, were at their height. Since then, the national, state, and local public health responses have greatly improved. COVID-19 vaccines have been rolled out, and after initial difficulties in production, distribution and administration, vaccines are now plentiful, as is COVID-19 testing.

Maps are an excellent tool for conveying information, but what if there’s too much information, and you don’t know what dimensions you’ll want to filter on?

Here at EBP, we are starting a bimonthly blog series on “Shiny apps” we’ve been working on to show how specific data sets can be visualized and explored. Shiny apps are lightweight tools, typically serving a single function or illustrating a specific data series and often turning otherwise static charts into interactive maps or graphs that can answer questions and show subtle patterns.

Written by Scott Middleton and Ira Hirschman

With the current economic crisis from the COVID-19 pandemic still upon us and recovery only just on the horizon, the need for federal assistance is more pressing than ever. In cash-strapped cities like New York, federal aid is critical to meeting ever-present infrastructure needs and accelerating the economic recovery from COVID-19. Fortunately, for some federal grant programs, the 2021 application season is already upon us, and more grant programs will be announced soon.

Written by Scott Middleton and Ira Hirschman

As we enter the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, transportation planners continue to face an unprecedented set of new challenges. These challenges relate not only to public health, but also to economics. In the world of public transportation, we not only need to move people safely, but we also need to move people affordably.

Earlier this month I attended the Association of Metropolitan Planning Organizations (AMPO) annual conference, which took place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AMPO is a nonprofit organization that represents many of the nation’s 402 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and other regional planning agencies.

Written by Ira Hirschman and Scott Middleton.

A staggering 1 in 4 families in New York City is food insecure, up from 1 in 8 before the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in massive job loss and economic hardship. This means that over 1.75 million households lack access to enough food for an active, healthy life and face limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate foods, according to Feeding America.

In early May, EBP’s Scott Middleton examined the national drop in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) from January through April to see the decline in driving caused by the pandemic. Using data from StreetLight’s VMT Monitor program, he found that in late April, VMT at the national level was about half of what was expected in a business-as-usual year.