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• Rail projects are no longer just an “interesting idea” for US cities — they’re now a “core investment.” Case in point: Carrollton, Texas, which is looking to revitalize its downtown area. (NY Times)
• Is global warming calming the wind in the US? That is one possibility raised by a new study showing wind speeds across the country have declined by 30 in recent decades. Not good news for wind farms. (Green Inc.)
• Ray LaHood says that Americans now “get it” about transportation and are ready to embrace livable communities and high speed rail. He also wants an infrastructure bank. (US News)
• Rio de Janeiro is building “eco-barrier” walls around the city’s slums. Is this a smart strategy to prevent sprawl from eating up more rainforest or just a way to make poor people feel like they’re in jail? (WSJ)
• Winston Salem, NC, is pursuing federal money for a 2.6 mile, $65 million streetcar project. (Winston Salem Journal)
• The Dept of Energy is exploring ways to encourage Americans to paint their roofs white to help fight climate change — including using weatherizing grants to help pay for it. (WaPo)
• The most pedestrian-unfriendly city in the US–Oklahoma City–has started wrestling with the bad PR of that label and is hiring a walkability consultant. (Oklahoman)
• In foreclosed and abandoned homes in places like Phoenix, home alarms are going off. But authorities aren’t allowed under the law to enter to silence them, so everybody just has to endure the godawful wailing for days or weeks on end. (BLDGBLOG)

Oakland’s “coffee bike” via Richard Florida. For more zero-carbon food vendors, see the “Kitchens on the Go” portfolio at Metropolis magazine.

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