ASC's Intersections Newsletter — June 11, 2026

Nora's NoteTransportationEnergy/EnvironmentEconomic Development

Jun 11

🎧 Listen to this article

Nora's Note

I have to tell you about Tuesday night. We were at the Marriott Marquis in New York, at the American Business Awards® dinner, in a room full of CVS Health, Ford, Cisco, IBM—brands with marketing budgets that dwarf ours by orders of magnitude. We won a Gold Stevie® Award for digital marketing in transportation, for our work on GoMyWayVA®.

When I got up to accept, I thanked our sponsors—the Virginia Department of Transportation and the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation—and our client, Metropia, the technical developers who built something genuinely new. And I tried to say something true about what GoMyWayVA® actually does: it helps move people out of their cars and into something better, in one of the most complex commuting landscapes in the country. That's not a small thing. Better mobility means access to jobs, cleaner air, a little more room on the road. It also means less time in a car, and more time with your family.

Then I thanked my team, because they earned it.

Alvin Martinez, Dianne Walsh, Khanh Tran, Michelle Farnum, Polly Lasch, and Sheila Enright were in that room with me. But so were the colleagues who weren't—all 25 of us, who have worked together for 30 years to create something we don't have a modest way to describe: extraordinary work that improves lives, at the intersection of people and policy. A gold Stevie® in a room full of giants felt like the right way to mark that.

We're already back at work, but I wanted to make sure you knew.

Transportation

This month, New York Governor Kathy Hochul joined the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to officially break ground for construction of the Second Avenue Subway, a $6.9 billion effort to extend the NYC Q line subway northwards to 125th Street. The long-awaited project will connect the 4, 5, 6, and Q lines with Metro North at 125th Street–providing New Yorkers and 100,000 East Harlem residents with better transit connectivity. The project also includes construction of three new Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-accessible subway stations along 106th, 116th, and 125th Streets. Read more about the project and its transformative impact on the city’s transportation network. (Source: AMNY)

Gothamist: NYC to install traffic sensors to track how pedestrians, bikers, and drivers behave
Streetsblog: These advocates are mapping—and grading—every bike rack in town
Mass Transit Magazine: Union County, NJ partners with Via for microtransit pilot

Climate

Due to the steep increase in gas prices, public transportation is seeing a historic boost in ridership throughout the US. California, Texas, and Washington, DC, are prime examples of this, with pre-existing upgraded and robust systems in place for commuters, as gas prices rise as high as $6.15 per gallon in major cities. However, the trend also highlights the significant gaps in transit access that leave many communities with few alternatives to driving. Read more to learn about how despite these increases, this is not a realistic solution for many Americans on a larger scale. (Source: Grist)

Inside Climate News: Troubled by spreading landfill pollution, a Long Island community demands action
Canary Media: Want a deal on a heat pump? Team up with your neighbors
Columbia Climate School: World Oceans Day reimagines our relationship with the water around us

Economic Development

Monterey Park, in Southern California, has become the first U.S. city to permanently ban data centers through a ballot measure. While other cities have enacted temporary moratoriums, Monterey Park's prohibition measure can only be overturned if voters choose to repeal it in a future vote. City officials framed the ban as a means of safeguarding air and water quality, protecting public health, and shielding residents from potential increases in electricity and water costs tied to large-scale computing facilities. The vote comes amid a national surge in data center development with more than 4,300 facilities already operating across the country. Read more about the ballot measure and concerns over surging AI demand. (Source: USA Today)

Fresno Bee: CA High-Speed Rail okays $3.5B contract that puts laying first tracks on new timeline
Chicago Sun Times: As short-term rentals decline citywide, they explode near the new Obama center in Chicago
Multi-Housing News: Connected Cos. Secures $27M for SoCal mixed-use development

Digital

New York lawmakers have approved a one year moratorium on new data centers, a move that could become the first statewide pause of its kind if Governor Kathy Hochul signs it. The bill is meant to buy time by directing the state environmental agency to study impacts on energy demand and prices, as well as water and land use and pollution. It also adds a transparency requirement: developers of facilities with peak demand of at least 20 megawatts would need to fund a public hearing at least three months before seeking approval. Governor Hochul has until December to sign or veto the bill, as NYISO reviews 24 proposed data center projects totaling more than 9,000 megawatts. (Source: The Verge)

The City: MTA seeks AI subway ‘track intrusion’ tech
Route Fifty: Feds intensify screen time scrutiny in schools
GovTech: For cities, collecting visual data brings privacy concerns

About Arch Street Communications

At ASC, we help government agencies, corporations and nonprofit organizations across the globe communicate issues that affect people’s lives. We’re the bold, nimble, women-owned small business (WBE) that has supported strategic communications programs to build stronger communities for 30 years.