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MOST RECENT ARTICLES BY:

Alissa Walker

See all their articles from across New York Magazine
@awalkerinLA

Alissa Walker is a Los Angeles-based writer and a former senior writer at Curbed, where she covered cities, transportation, and architecture for seven years. She is the 2021 recipient of the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary for her writing on cities and transportation.

  1. getting around
    You May Soon Have to Pay More to Drive That SUV in New YorkA state bill proposes that owners pay much more for their heavier (and deadlier) vehicles.
  2. canada wildfires
    Learning to Live in the SmokeWhat six years of California’s worst wildfires, and two kids, have taught me about getting by.
  3. canada wildfires
    Talking to an Air-Quality Expert About That HazeShould you go outside? Wear a mask? Let us explain.
  4. drought
    No Water? No Subdivision.The end of Arizona’s desert sprawl may be near. It’s a good first step.
  5. getting around
    Amtrak’s New Acela Fleet Is Languishing in a Rail YardAll dressed up with nowhere to go on the Northeast Corridor.
  6. wildfires
    California Is Becoming UninsurableState Farm has put a moratorium on new home-insurance customers in the state. It’s a sign of what’s to come.
  7. getting around
    The Case for Taxing Vehicles by WeightMeet Deion Sanders’s Ford F-650 super-truck.
  8. getting around
    The Off-Peak Rider Is the Future of the SubwayThe pandemic changed how we commute. Time to invest accordingly.
  9. getting around
    ‘We Were Riding in a City That Simply Hadn’t Existed Just a Few Years Earlier’Reflecting on a decade of Citi Bike with a dozen New Yorkers who made it happen.
  10. getting around
    We’re Another Step Closer to Congestion PricingThe Federal Highway Administration has given the plan its blessing, even if New Jersey politicians are crying.
  11. getting around
    Free the Curb!Talking to Henry Grabar about how parking ate our cities, and how to get them back.
  12. getting around
    The Small Electric Car Is an Endangered Species in AmericaGM is killing the Chevy Bolt to go all-in on supersized EVs.
  13. infrastructure
    Heavier Vehicles in Aging Parking Garages Are a Recipe for DisasterAn engineer sees the risk of more collapses like the one on Ann Street.
  14. getting around
    L.A. Cops Have a Helicopter ProblemThe city’s aerial law-enforcement fleet is more wasteful, and just as pointless, as Kylie Jenner’s and Elon Musk’s private-jet habits.
  15. getting around
    Elon Musk Could Ruin Your Commute (Again)The Twitter CEO’s planned API paywall could be bad news for the MTA’s service alerts.
  16. getting around
    Uber Says It’s Trying to Fix the E-bike Battery CrisisThe company also helped create it.
  17. getting around
    A New Way to Track How the City MovesA pilot of street-light-mounted sensors can tell a lot about building safer streets. Will it matter?
  18. getting around
    It’s Already Been a Deadly Year for New York CyclistsAnd we haven’t even reached peak riding season yet.
  19. getting around
    What Does the Potential Demise of Lyft Mean for Citi Bike?The perils of tying a crucial public service to Silicon Valley whims.
  20. remote work
    No, Cities Aren’t Doomed Because of Remote WorkEmptier downtowns offer an opportunity to reimagine who they serve.
  21. florida
    Point Goes to Disney in the Ron DeSantis Land BattleThe company has invoked the British monarchy to retain power over a special tax district.
  22. getting around
    Will Train Daddy Finally Get Us High-Speed Rail?Andy Byford is joining Amtrak to oversee the system’s high-speed network.
  23. getting around
    Los Angeles’s Metro Is Using Classical Music as a WeaponThe loud volume is part of the agency’s effort to push unhoused people off the system.
  24. housing crisis
    What Does the Mayor Have Against Windows?Natural daylight is not the enemy of affordable housing.
  25. the real estate
    Deals, Deals, Deals on Los Angeles Megamansions!Brokers are trying all kinds of gimmicks to beat an April 1 transfer tax on homes above $5 million.
  26. boring news
    Elon Musk Is Building a MontessoriThe Boring Company’s Texas preschool will educate the children of the hard-core.
  27. freedom cities
    Donald Trump Wants to Build a City“Freedom Cities” and the rise of conspiracy urbanism.
  28. florida
    Every Petty Detail of Ron DeSantis’s Feud With DisneyDisney is canceling a $1 billion Florida development.
  29. getting around
    A Brief History of Elon Musk’s Master PlansPart 1 was a practical post-gasoline vision, Part Deux was more like rambly billionaire futurism, and Part 3 arrives next week.
  30. getting around
    Did Tesla Just Admit Its Self-Driving Feature Is Dangerous?The company is issuing a 300,000-vehicle voluntary recall in the form of a mass software update.
  31. getting around
    Police Crashes Cost New Yorkers a Lot of MoneyAnd the growing number of NYPD SUVs on the road isn’t helping.
  32. ohio train derailment
    What Is Going On in East Palestine, Ohio?Parsing the most reliable information circulating about the catastrophic train derailment.
  33. boring news
    Elon Musk Is Building a NeighborhoodProject Amazing is the company town reimagined!
  34. getting around
    My EV Is Big and StrongBy rolling out larger and faster offerings, the electric-vehicle industry is going after “the boys.”
  35. upzoning
    Not in Steph Curry’s BackyardAnother famous resident of Atherton, California — the country’s wealthiest Zip Code — has some concerns about multifamily zoning.
  36. atmospheric rivers
    L.A.’s ‘Green Alley’ Experiments Are WorkingThe city’s efforts to become flood- and drought-resilient are ready to be scaled up.
  37. getting around
    An EV in Every Driveway Is an Environmental DisasterWe can’t lithium mine our way out of climate crisis.
  38. getting around
    Al Roker Is at War With His TeslaHe can’t get in, and he can’t get out.
  39. california storms
    California’s Lost TreesAfter the current storms end, the state will face a new challenge: restoring an already diminished urban canopy.
  40. getting around
    Make 2023 the Year of the BusCori Bush’s first-of-its-kind BRT bill is a start.
  41. urban fauna
    Los Angeles’s Celebrity Mountain Lion Was Also Its HostageWithout an easy way to cross the freeways that bisect his natural habitat, P-22’s life in the city was a lonely one.
  42. getting around
    Eric Garcetti’s Broken SidewalksIf you want to know what kind of mayor he’s been for Los Angeles, just look down.
  43. getting around
    Where Is the Tesla Bus?Elon Musk announced it alongside the Tesla Semi all those years ago. So what gives?
  44. drought
    Is the American West Finally Ready to Kill the Lawn?A historic agreement to save the Colorado River by tearing up more grass is a small step, but a crucial one.
  45. getting around
    GM Is Fixing Busted Teslas NowAbout 11,000 of them so far, according to GM’s president.
  46. cityscape
    The University of California Strike Has Been 50 Years in the MakingAn obscure 1978 property-tax law helps explain why nearly 50,000 grad workers walked out.
  47. getting around
    Don’t Blame the E-BikeThere’s fear and confusion after a surge of preventable battery fires.
  48. getting around
    Can Transit Ambassadors Make the Subway Safer Just by Being There?Los Angeles and other cities are trying to find out if better customer service offers an alternative to policing.
  49. getting around
    Elon Musk’s ‘Hyperloop Prototype’ Was Always a GimmickAt least a parking lot will be useful?
  50. landlords and tenants
    California Has a Brand-new, Very Tiny Renters’ CaucusTalking to the chair of the four-member group about skyrocketing costs, landlord colleagues, and what he pays for a one-bedroom.
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