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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
    7-Inch Platform Gaps Are Keeping Disabled Riders Off the SubwaysA new class-action lawsuit is demanding the MTA do something to actually fix them.
  2. remembrance
    Mike Davis Was RightAbout the fires in Malibu, the hostile approach to urban planning, the inequality crushing Los Angeles.
  3. getting around
    New York’s Halloween Streets Plan Should Be in Place Year-RoundIt shouldn’t be this dangerous for kids to walk around their neighborhoods.
  4. getting around
    Can You Make Drivers Pay Attention to Cyclists?Automakers are betting that a series of built-in alerts will help save lives.
  5. landlords and tenants
    ‘That’s the One to Put in a Blender’The secret Los Angeles City Council recordings reveal a real fear of a potential tenants’ bloc.
  6. getting around
    The SUV-ification of Police FleetsExperts sound the alarm as departments across the country embrace bigger, faster vehicles.
  7. getting around
    The Case for the One-Car BuildingWhy a midtown tower’s communal Porsche is kind of a good thing.
  8. utopias
    Is There Such a Thing As an Ethical Smart City?Josh O’Kane’s new book on Sidewalk Labs’ failed city of the future says there’s potential.
  9. jackson water crisis
    ‘I Remember This Happening As a Little Girl and We’re Still Dealing With It’Living through Jackson’s perpetual water crisis.
  10. extreme heat
    When the Playground Slide Reaches 122 DegreesHow we’ve surrendered some of our most essential public spaces to extreme heat.
  11. hot garbage
    Is Alternate-Side Parking a Mistake?How the weekly car ballet does, and doesn’t, keep the city clean.
  12. getting around
    California Banned Gas Cars. Now It Needs a Plan for Fewer Cars.“Responding to climate change requires diminishing that car dependence.”
  13. water wars
    Kim Kardashian, Have You Considered Spray-painting Your Lawn?Like your friend Rick Caruso.
  14. getting around
    Good Luck to This Man Who Became His Own Tesla KeyThe doors can be fickle.
  15. getting around
    Can a Garage Full of Revel Taxis Stop the Next Blackout?Electric vehicles could become a giant energy-storage bank.
  16. getting around
    Should It Be Easier to Take Away a Driver’s License?It’s not a right, but we often treat it like one.
  17. operators
    When Is a Property Not a Home? Dr. Oz Knows.Maybe when it’s in New Jersey.
  18. getting around
    We’re So Close to Having Cars That You Can’t Drive DrunkA simple fix that Republicans are trying to oppose.
  19. the unhoused
    Trump’s Grotesque Plan to ‘End Homelessness’ Is Already Mainstream PolicyAmong plenty of Democrats, too.
  20. getting around
    DALL-E Is Actually Kind of Good at Designing Walkable StreetsIn case we want to replace car-centric engineers with bots.
  21. getting around
    A Possible Explanation Behind Kylie Jenner’s Extra-Short Private-Jet TripsShe’s (probably) not flying just to the mall.
  22. getting around
    A Bike Lane Built for a Car CrashWhy did L.A.’s 6th Street Bridge turn into just another altar to the automobile?
  23. gun violence
    52 Empty School Buses Drove to Ted Cruz’s HouseThe mobile memorial is visiting NRA-funded politicians to remind them of the 4,368 U.S. children murdered by gun violence since 2020.
  24. life after roe
    Ozark, of All Things, Inspired a Plan for a Floating Gulf Coast Abortion Clinic“I began thinking of how it could be legal because of those casino ships on the Mississippi.”
  25. flooding
    The City’s Inflatable-Dam Handout Is Essentially Useless“Not everybody is a general contractor.”
  26. life after roe
    The Lobby Newsstand Could be the Future of AbortionPeople lease federal land to sell chips and drill for oil. Why not a clinic?
  27. getting around
    How California Got ‘Relief at the Pump’ RightLawmakers realized it’s not just about drivers.
  28. capitol riot
    A Funny Thing Happened in Trump’s SUV on the Way to the Capitol RiotMaybe he should have walked after all.
  29. getting around
    Bring on the SUV CrushingIf New York City wants to do safety spectacle, let’s go big.
  30. getting around
    The MTA Bus Driver Who Won’t Tell You to Pay“I’m not enforcing a fare that can lead to me being hurt.”
  31. getting around
    Los Angeles Is Trying to Ban Bike Repair in PublicThe council just advanced an ordinance that would make it illegal to be in public space with bike parts.
  32. big boxes
    The American Dream Is Almost in DefaultThe mall, that is.
  33. back to the office
    Elon Musk Is Over Remote WorkPut in 40 hours a week at the office first, then he’ll consider it.
  34. texas school shooting
    The Pro-Gun, Anti-Door PartyAfter Uvalde, Republicans turn to a bizarre talking point about school safety.
  35. ikea
    Solar Panels Are Coming to IkeaLuckily, you don’t have to put them together yourself.
  36. the unhoused
    The Homeless Shelter Bearing Alex Trebek’s Name Is Finally OpenThe Jeopardy! host was a generous and outspoken advocate for more housing.
  37. getting around
    This Funny Little Fire Engine Is Pro-PedestrianHow rightsizing emergency fleets is safer in more ways than one.
  38. getting around
    Ann Coulter Discovers the War on CarsHer math checks out.
  39. boring news
    That Light in the Distance May Be an Oncoming TeslaElon Musk’s new Vegas tunnel will, for the time being, alternate one-way traffic in two directions.
  40. the suburbs
    Samuel Alito’s Right to PrivacyThe justice’s wealthy neighborhood, now a site of protests, was built to keep people out.
  41. getting around
    Uber Is Ready to Accept Failure, Sort OfIn a leaked memo, the CEO admits the plan was never going to work.
  42. getting around
    ‘Stay in Jersey’ Has Some MeritA troll campaign makes the accidental case for congestion pricing.
  43. special delivery
    Who Isn’t Suing the USPS Over Its Gas-Guzzler Trucks?Sixteen states, plus three big metro regions, are trying to get the post office to electrify faster.
  44. getting around
    Lattes Are the Fuel of the Turnstile JumperThe MTA chairman sees a pattern, con panna.
  45. boring news
    Elon Musk Pivots to Pedestrian TunnelsHis Boring Company is trying to dig holes all over Texas.
  46. florida
    Disney Is a Kingdom Within a StateUndoing its self-governance will be more complicated than Ron DeSantis thinks.
  47. the rent is too damn high
    LAPD Wants a Rent Subsidy for Cops“What landlord wouldn’t want a cop living in their complex?”
  48. getting around
    A Streets Plan That’s Really a Time MachineNYC’s City Council wants you to get everywhere faster.
  49. getting around
    Turn Gas Subsidies Into Money for EveryonePeople can spend it on gas if they want!
  50. getting around
    The Electrification Revolution Can Start in Smaller CitiesJust look at California’s Antelope Valley.
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