Looking at median housing prices and Walk Scores in more than 250 cities, Emily Washington found a clear correlation. Photo: Market Urbanism

As part of her graduate studies, Emily Washington at Network blog Market Urbanism set out to determine if people were willing to pay a premium for housing in a walkable urban setting. She developed two different models to see if there’s a link between housing prices and Walk Scores in 259 cities. Wouldn’t you know it, she found a pretty clear connection. Washington shared the results of her research in a post yesterday and is asking for feedback on her methodology:

I tested the impact of Walk Score on median house prices controlling for household income, unemployment, and cost of living. The sample includes 259 cities for which I had Walk Score data and Census data by Metropolitan Statistical Area for the other controls. The results suggest that for a one-point increase in Walk Score, we can expect a .5% increase in a cities’ median house price, and this result is statistically significant.

In another way of measuring the same question (an IV regression using the year the city was founded as the instrument), I found that a one-point increase in Walk Score can be expected to increase home prices by 3%. This result is also statistically significant, but I have less faith in this model.

For the most part, the other studies that I’ve seen of Walk Score’s relationship to house prices look at one city or a few cities and control for variables like a neighborhood’s crime rate and housing quality. While there are obvious advantages to these more detailed, local studies, I think the national view gets around the sample selection problems that make other results ungeneralizable.

Elsewhere on the Network today: An exhibit brings the trains rejected by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker to Milwaukee, demonstrating what might have been if it weren’t for political antics, reports Urban Milwaukee. BikeWalkLee writes that a Fort Myers area women who fell asleep at the wheel and killed a local cyclist won’t face criminal charges. And Bike Portland highlights some of the successes from the local political action committee dedicated to walking and biking issues.

Photo: Salon

Today Adonia Lugo at Urban Adonia points to another unexpected source of venom: the feminist blogosphere, a.k.a. ladyblogs. These bastions of tolerance and acceptance have a strange blind spot for cyclists, Lugo writes:

When the topic of bikes comes up, there’s always a mini-war in the comments between people who despise “bike hipsters” (read: entitled, privileged jerks who think they own the road) and people who actually ride bikes. Commenters trot out their most extreme stories of negative interactions they’ve had with people on bikes, sometimes concluding with things like “F#%* BIKING HIPSTERS I HOPE A BUS HITS YOU.”

These are the same websites that promote things like fat acceptance and anti-bullying campaigns. Why are bicyclists portrayed as inhuman creatures unworthy of sympathy, dismissing an incredibly diverse world of practice (bicycling) because of the stupid behavior of a few jerks? And, this is the thing that really confuses me, why do people find jerk bicyclists so harmful to society when they constantly interact with motorists who run red lights and stop signs, use infrastructure like traffic circles in dangerous ways, talk and text in the car, drive without looking from side to side when entering intersections, and engage in other dangerous behaviors that kill people every day?

I asked a few of my friends, one a bicyclist and one less inclined to the bicycling arts, what they thought about this phenomenon. Both responded that it’s because you can see a bicyclist’s face, whereas it’s easier to think of a motorist as a car. The interactions with bicyclists stick out in people’s minds, and maybe they feel more personally insulted by the face-to-face flouting of laws. I think it’s also because we’ve trained ourselves to think of driving as passing through an obstacle course rather than moving through a social space. Cars that do dumb stuff are a nuisance, but they do not interrupt the illusion until there’s an actual crash. Bodies that do dumb stuff are a threat to the idea that driving is a no harm, no foul activity. You might actually hurt someone!

Elsewhere on the Network today: Mobilizing the Region shares a story about New Jersey high school students who are fighting for 0.2 miles of sidewalk at a dangerous turn by their school. Greater Greater Washington sees parallels between the misperceptions of New York City’s bike-share plans and the days preceding the launch of Capital Bikeshare. And the Transport Politic says Dallas’s Trinity highway plan, which will parallel a new light-rail line, represents “transportation planning at its worst.”

Stephen Lee Davis at Transportation for America took an in depth look yesterday at how transit advocates in this Deep South city built a broad, diverse coalition to make the case for transit:

Hundreds of Baton Rouge residents turned out for strategy meetings on how to save the local public transit system. The wide-ranging campaign worked. Photo: T4A

Even before the prolonged fiscal crisis hitting governments everywhere, Baton Rouge’s Capital Area Transit System (CATS) struggled to do more with less. Over the last few years, service had degraded to the point that the wait for a bus exceeded 75 minutes and average rides were over two hours long. The system was saved repeatedly only by last-ditch city budget shuffles, creative grants and even private donations.

After cobbling together grants and funding to make it through 2011, the mayor appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission to make recommendations not only to save the service, but to create something much better. But the first job was to save the system, as Rev. Raymond Jetson, the chair of that commission, told the Baton Rouge Advocate:  “Before there can be a robust transit system, before you can do novel things like light rail between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, and before you can have street cars from downtown to LSU, you have to have a backbone to the system,” he said. “And that backbone is a quality bus system.”

The commission learned that Baton Rouge was the largest city of its size in the country to have a transit system without a dedicated revenue source, subsisting on annual local government appropriations.

For the message, especially in the key districts with heavy transit usage and service, the campaign kept it very basic. “Save our system.” They noted that Baton Rouge was the only city of its size without a decent transit system, and talked about the people who depend on it each day: Perhaps the nurse who cares for your mother at the hospital, or your neighbor or friend. The campaign steered clear of some of the typical statistics in transit campaigns about reducing traffic congestion, gas prices or environmental impacts.

Here’s the ballot measure’s election day team:

Approval of the measure will allow the city to shorten wait times from 75 minutes to 15 minutes and keep the city of Baton Rouge running smoothly. Great job by everyone involved!

Elsewhere on the Network today: Systemic Failure takes issue with an LA Times’ article saying California High Speed Rail has an unrealistic timeline. Extraordinary Observations wonders if deregulation of the taxi industry would improve service. And Greater Greater Washington reports that Virginia Governor Bob O’Donnell threatens to halt the expansion of a new segment of DC’s Metro.

The Nationals' new stadium has turned a dead urban zone into a hotspot. Photo: NRDC Switchboard

But that doesn’t stop too many cities, and there are examples of places that have gambled on sports facilities and won big.

There’s a new member of that club now: Washington, DC. It’s been nearly 10 years since the city green-lighted a package of 30-year bonds for a new home for the Nationals baseball franchise in a depressed southeastern section of the city. Kaid Benfield at the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Switchboard blog reports that the investment is paying off:

According to developers in the area, building didn’t really become financially feasible there until the city committed to the ballpark. Today, the neighborhood’s new projects are about 30 percent built. In addition to the new commercial properties, the area’s residential population has increased from about 1,000 to more than 3,500 and should eventually reach 16,000.

It is especially heartening that even those originally opposed to the stadium like what they see. Neighborhood resident Naomi Monk was a prominent skeptic, arguing that the park would only be an eyesore benefiting millionaire players and businessmen, with nothing in it for low-income residents. But in March she told Fisher that “I have to say, it’s been for the betterment of the community. Our crime seems to be under control. The neighborhood looks 100 percent better. The new housing is a great improvement.”

I’m not going to make a broader point about the extent to which public investment in sports is a good thing. It’s likely situational and, though it has been enormously beneficial here in Washington twice (though in the case of Verizon Center the city paid only for infrastructure), and it also appears to have been beneficial in nearby Baltimore, the facts and circumstances vary.

Benfield reports that the tax issued on big businesses to support the stadium is bringing in twice what was expected. Plus additional property taxes related to new investment have added $13 million to the city’s coffers. Nice, for a change, to see a city enjoying a windfall at this moment in history.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Bike Delaware shares a League of American Bicyclists’ report showing that one in four collisions between cyclists and cars involve cyclists being hit from behind. Bike Portland reports the city’s first open streets event of the season attracted an astounding 28,000 people. And Transit in Utah says sustainable transportation advocates need to do a better job developing sales pitches and buzz words.

This campaign season, opponents of smart growth policies are running against urbanism in greater Portland. Photo: The Oregonian

Even in Portland, a group called the Oregon Transformation Project is running candidates to overturn the region’s longstanding commitment to urbanism. Engineer Scotty at Portland Transport posits that the smart growth opponents are motivated by self-interested fear of the urban renaissance:

Some density opponents are staunch conservatives, motivated by cultural politics, free-market economics, or political solidarity with other conservative constituencies such as big oil. Many other density opponents come from the left — viewing big-ticket capital transportation projects (as well as urban renewal projects designed to encourage infill) as little more than corruption and cronyism, indistinguishable (other than in scope) from the antics of Wall Street banksters, with greenwashing being used to deceive a gullible public. But a common theme that motivates many of the critics on both the left and the right, is a dislike of density itself.

A billboard run by OTP compares a picturesque view of Mount Hood with a grainy, black-and-white photo of downtown Portland, with the words “CONGESTION DENSITY CRIME” lying under the latter. The implication being that if the current course continues, much of Clackamas County will soon resemble the worst attributes of Portland. There seems to be a fear that single-family neighborhoods all over the tri-county area will soon be overrun by apartment housing of the worst sort, and that middle-class communities will be transformed overnight into budding Rockwoods. In some cases, this fear is expressed in near-apocalyptic terms, with dire warnings about an urbanist tyranny literally forcing people out of homes and cars and into Soviet style block housing. (The term “Potemkin Village” gets used quite a bit as well — although the term originates from Tsarist Russia and has nothing to do with communism or forced living arrangements.)

For many people, public investment in new urbanism represents public disinvestments in where they live. One other geometric fact about density is that unless the local population explodes, density can’t go up everywhere. If the overall population stays more or less constant, and one neighborhood sees its density rise, then simple mathematics dictates that some other community will see its population decline. Property values and tax base will go down; and the quality of services will decline, leading to a vicious cycle of decay.

Given all of that, it’s not surprising that a backlash is continuing to brew. The recession hit many people hard, and when government elects not to maintain the status quo, it’s not hard to see how people feel abandoned or even threatened. People are attached to their homes, and will often go to great lengths to defend them.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Extraordinary Observations examines how college graduates cluster in cities. A View from the Cycle Path looks at average commuting distances across Canada’s largest cities. And Human Transit analyzes Tweets about transit agencies in an attempt to assess performance.

The West Town Girls' Bike Club in Chicago's Humboldt Park. The neighborhood, once resistant to bike infrastructure, now embraces it. Photo: Grid Chicago

The perception of bike infrastructure as a sign of gentrification used to hold sway in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood too. But John Greenfield at Grid Chicago reports that attitudes toward bike lanes in this Latino and African-American neighborhood have shifted from resistance to enthusiasm:

People in Humboldt Park, a largely low-income Latino and African-American community on Chicago’s West Side, once opposed bike facilities as well. So it was a good feeling yesterday when I took my first spin on new buffered bike lanes under the giant Puerto Rican flag arches of the neighborhood’s Division Street business strip. I viewed them as a sign of how much attitudes about cycling have changed in Humboldt Park over the last decade. And as the city moves forward with the Streets for Cycling plan to install 100 miles of protected bike lanes within Mayor Emanuel’s first term, the story of the Division Street bike lanes offers a lesson on the need to engage local people in the process.

In 2003, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) installed bike lanes in gentrified, bike-crazy Wicker Park, located just east of Humboldt Park, on Division from Ashland Avenue to Western Avenue, the border between the two neighborhoods. The stretch of Division in Humboldt Park between Western to California Avenue, known as the Paseo Boricua (“Puerto Rican Way”) and defined by the flag arches, is the same road width. But Chicago aldermen have final say on whether bike facilities get built in their wards and Billy Ocasio, Humboldt Park’s alderman at the time, opposed extending the lanes into his ward, according to CDOT spokesman Pete Scales.

The Paseo, lined with Puerto Rican cafes, restaurants, bodegas and salsa clubs, has retained its character over the past decade, but times have changed since Ocasio vetoed the lanes. Wilson, who’s white, says he worked hard to get the blessing of local community leaders before opening West Town on the Paseo in 2009. Since then his organization has taught safe cycling and mechanics skills to hundreds of at-risk kids in Humboldt Park. The store also offers affordable repair services in a neighborhood that already had a vibrant cruiser bike culture as the home of the Chicago Cruisers, a mostly Puerto Rican club that organizes rides with dozens of members parading on classic Schwinns.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Transportation for America outlines its “Transportation Vote 2012″ campaign to bolster smart transportation policies in the upcoming election. Mobilizing the Region reports on how the Connecticut Legislature blew it this session when it came to transportation safety measures. And Walkable Dallas Fort Worth explains why the city’s grand plans for a central park are unlikely to succeed.

Dallas wants to add another downtown freeway. Jason Roberts says the city will soon have to confront the limits to car-based planning. Photo: Freelancecrunch.com

This Dallas highway proposal could turn out differently than previous ones. There is real opposition at the grassroots level. And even though the majority of local decision makers are supportive, a notable few have vocally joined the opposition. Still, the endless road widening campaigns and the complete lack of vision are getting to Jason Roberts at Bike Friendly Oak Cliff – and to other people he knows. Roberts says the Big D’s apparent inability face up to its unsustainable development patterns will be its downfall:

What we’re witnessing today is a generational divide where outdated philosophies are represented by a leadership that refuses to acknowledge the obvious fact that their children are all saying, “I’d rather live in Austin/Portland/NY/SF/Chicago than Dallas.” Stubbornly, the parents keep saying, “they’ll come back for the jobs,” without realizing that the jobs are starting to go where the people want to be. We’re well aware of the $1.4 billion levee toll road, and the Winfrey Point parking debacle at the Dallas Arboretum (both ironic due to their nature vs. machine conflict), but another instance also making the news is the “lack of parking” headlines in the historic (and walkable) Bishop Arts District. Every week we’re seeing one costly issue after another related to our endless pursuit of maintaining unsustainable suburban development patterns, and the solutions are always the same: take more land, and give it to cars. For some reason, the adage “When you’re in a hole, stop digging” has been completely ignored, and I’m beginning to become numb to the monthly, “I’m finally leaving Dallas!” emails that friends keep sending me.

While other major US cities are disincentivizing auto use and incentivizing mixed transportation models in order to balance their costly strain on infrastructure, we continue to do the reverse.  It’s obvious that our leadership is going to have to eventually take a stand (and a few arrows) and say, “we’re going to have to try something different,” or else they’re going to be the embarrassing “Before” picture to an eventual leader who decides to take the inevitable path that every other city around them is taking. Like George Wallace in 1963, Dallas is waiting for its Bobby Kennedy.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The Washington Area Bicyclists Association tells how they determined that DC-area police don’t know much about cycling and traffic law. Walk Bike Lee shares an expert’s advice that complete streets should be adapted to their surroundings, not shaped by a cookie cutter. And Mobilizing the Region reports that New Jersey’s Camden County is getting bike-share.

Pittsburgh faces transit cuts of 35 percent. Image: Port Authority of Allegheny County

The last four years have been rough on American transit riders, as fare increases and route reductions became the norm, even as demand for service increased.

For many cities there’s still no end in sight, as Pittsburgh can attest. The Steel City is facing across-the-board cuts of 35 percent if the state doesn’t step in — and that comes just a year after the Port Authority slashed transit spending 15 percent.

Yonah Freemark at the Transport Politic says Pittsburgh — and other cities around the country — are suffering as a result of systemic problems with the way transit is funded at the local and national level:

The service cuts planned would be, suffice it to say, devastating. As the maps [above] illustrate, the Port Authority’s austerity plans would eliminate almost half of the region’s routes. This is in a city where, according to the U.S. Census, more than 25% of households have no vehicle available and almost 20% of workers use transit to get to work — figures that are far higher than the national average or even that of the vast majority of American center cities.

Pittsburgh, of course, is far from alone. From Boston — where a 23% fare increase and service cuts were approved a month ago — to Athens, Georgia — where night bus service is expected to be fully eliminated — American cities continue to cut their transit offerings. Friday’s U.S. national jobs report, which showed about 20,000 fewer people working in transit operations in April compared to a year ago (a 5% decline), only reinforced the fact that when it comes to transit service, cuts are the rule of the game.

At least part of the problem is the reliance on local and state revenues to subsidize operations costs for bus and rail services in cities across the country. Whereas the federal government was willing to cover more than half of the costs of a $523 million light rail expansion to Pittsburgh’s North Shore — opened in March — it can do nothing to cover the agency’s $64 million operating deficit expected for next year because of Congressionally imposed rules about what Washington can and cannot pay for.

The counterintuitive result is that cities that are doing well economically are able to pay for improved transit services whereas those with many economic problems — the ones where transit is often needed most — are left to cut operations dramatically. Thus regional inequities are reinforced.

We recommend checking out Freemark’s entire article, a fresh and interesting take on an all-too-familiar problem.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Alarmist flyers are making the rounds in the nation’s capital as Washington attempts a zoning update, reports Greater Greater Washington. The League of American Bicyclists shares the latest research on making bike sharing socially equitable. And Spacing Toronto reports that Vancouver’s empty parking garages are being reused as agricultural spaces.

Image: Systemic Failure

Network blog Systemic Failure recently looked at how the Federal Railroad Administration is about to spend a staggering sum to ensure that its new railcars are made with materials sourced from America. Rail in the United States will be worse for it:

The FRA is soliciting bids for a $551 million contract for 130 bi-level railcars. As a condition for the contract, the railcars must be manufactured entirely with American steel and components. If you do the math, that comes to 4.2 million dollars each – double the global market price for a bi-level car.

In other words, the FRA is pissing away a quarter billion dollars. Imagine all the projects that might have been done with $250 million. Imagine all the jobs that might have been created with that money. I’m talking real jobs — not bureaucrats enforcing Made-in-America rules. Jobs like installing new PTC signaling, repairing bridges, or expanding the transit network. You know, things that have tangible benefit to riders.

Sorry, but domestic passenger rail manufacturing is gone. And subsidizing obsolete FRA-compliant rolling stock isn’t the way to revitalize it.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Greater Greater Washington reports on how the suburb of White Flint is making itself more walkable and sustainable. M-bike.org peeks in on Detroiters who are carfree by choice. And The Political Environment shares the disappointing news that US DOT has thrown its support behind the billion-dollar-plus Zoo Interchange in Wisconsin — a boondoggle if there ever was one.

Los Angeles' Gold Line's ridership is still growing, two years after its opening -- blowing a huge hole in new "research" by the Reason Foundation. Photo: Stop and Move

The Reason Foundation’s “research” on high-speed rail is pretty predictable. We know what this oil industry-backed think tank is going to say before they’ve said it: Ridership will be lower than expected; costs will be higher.

What’s more interesting than the conclusions, to us anyway, is the methodological contortion needed to draw them. So with some nose-holding, today we’ll examine Reason’s latest report on LA’s Exposition line.

The group claims the $930 million line will take 60 to 170 years to pay for its construction costs. (Never mind that nobody expects the line to pay for its construction costs, just like nobody expects roads to pay for themselves. Moving on.)

Here’s how the Reason folks reached their specious conclusion: They stood at the station on two of the first several days this rail line was open and counted passengers. Too bad that’s a nonsensical way to judge how many people will be riding the line a year from now, much less 60 years into the future, says James Sinclair at Network blog Stop and Move:

It’s easy to point out that ridership in week 1 of a transit line is meaningless. For example, this excellent ridership chart of the Gold Line in LA [above] shows that after opening an extension (which was almost like a brand new line), after 2 years ridership still has not stabilized and continues to increase as people become aware of the line and have time to adapt their patterns to take advantage of it.

If after 2 years ridership is still growing as people get exposed to the line, how on earth could you make 100+ year claims on 2 days of data on the first week of service? … oh no, I’m doing it. I’ve wasted valuable seconds of my time trying to point out mistakes in the article.

That’s time wasted that would have been just as effectively been spent questioning the “all natural” claims on bottles of soda, or the ludicrous lies sent out by Pizza Hut when they say you can get ANY pizza with ANY crust for $10 (and then charge extra for stuffed crust).

Instead of wasting time on the article, it’s best to simply understand how something so ridiculous can be written. It’s simple. The article is an ad by an oil company, and as such, should be held to the same standard as health claims on bottles of soda and the word “any” in fast food advertisements.

Elsewhere on the Network today: A View From the Cycle Path explains how the Dutch make maintaining safe cycleways a top priority even when roads are under construction. Burning the Midnight Oil reports that plans are moving forward for the Omaha-to-Chicago rail line. And Urban Review STL explains how, after decades of population loss in St. Louis, patterns are shifting.

Washington, DC has been experimenting with performance parking. Does a new hire mean the city is going to make more sweeping changes? Photo: We Love DC

New DC parking czar Angelo Rao has all the trappings of a real reformer, according to John Hendel at TBD on Foot, and his selection by Mayor Vince Gray could be telling.

For a few years now, Washington has taken some important steps toward a smarter parking system. Among them: a pilot project in performance parking began in 2008 under then-mayor Adrian Fenty, and the City Council voted this week to let the pilot expand citywide. Gray’s recently stated goal of making three out of four trips car-free by 2030 also presumably carries major implications for parking policy.

Rao seems like an apt choice if Gray is serious about parking reform, Hendel reports:

Parking in particular will play a crucial role as D.C. struggles to manage its gridlock and transportation priorities. Mayor Vince Gray identified parking as one of the short-term priorities in his Sustainable D.C. plans, which call for three out of four trips to be car-free within 20 years. Of the two short-term actions the city needs: “Reduce building parking minimums and increase the availability of on-street parking through citywide performance parking districts.”

Luckily Angelo Rao’s sensibilities seem to fit right into the direction that D.C. is heading — although they have apparently provoked controversy in the past.

In a 2009 presentation down in Florida, Rao named his father Giuseppe as his hero and referred to his motto: “If I can’t walk or take a streetcar to it, it isn’t worth going to.” In the presentation, Rao emphasizes right-of-way concerns and pedestrian rights. He shows how the speed of cars coincides with pedestrian fatalities. His slides point to traffic calming measures. “Think pedestrian first,” Rao advises, and “share the road.”

If that wasn’t endearing enough, rumor has it that Rao was let go from his job as transportation director of St. Peterburg, Florida for his “controversial” “vehicle-slowing devices.”

Elsewhere on the Network today: Bike PGH celebrates the coming unveiling of Pittsburgh’s first on-street bike corral. Rust Wire outlines greater Lansing, Michigan’s regional sustainability initiative. And Twin City Sidewalks presents a partial list of why St. Paul, Minnesota is a great biking city.

A freeway revolt in Dallas? A grassroots campaign produced this graphic as part of their push to stop the Trinity Parkway project, a planned downtown highway. Photo: Dallas Morning News Transportation Blog

Where at one time this would have been an open-and-shut case of “just build it,” Dallas’s Trinity Parkway toll road saga is already full of interesting twists and turns. Earlier this week, Rawlings sought public opinion on the project through his Facebook page, drawing far more jeers than cheers. Meanwhile, a petition has been circulating urging the city to call this one off. This has led some observers to wonder whether Dallas was witnessing its first “freeway revolt.”

Yesterday, Rawlings came out in favor of building the highway.

The anti-highway forces aren’t giving up. Helping to lead the charge is Patrick Kennedy, proprietor of Network blog Walkable Dallas-Fort Worth and well-known regional planning pundit. Responding to the mayor’s pro-highway statement, Kennedy posted this open letter to Rawlings:

If growth is what we’re focused on, then that is growth the highway may trigger regionally, i.e. outside of the city of Dallas boundaries. If we’re thinking that could induce investment in South Dallas, what kind of investment might that be? More gas stations and XXX shops, the eventual highest and best use of highway frontage property? South Dallas needs less car dependence and more empowerment via legitimate street networks, transit, and walkable infrastructure. More highway capacity simply adds more drivers and more dependence upon the car. It is South Dallas that will feel that pain the most.

If congestion relief is the goal, then shouldn’t we be tolling existing roads first? Ya know, working demand levers rather than new supply which has been proven over and over again to only be a temporary solution before inducing more traffic?

Considering the budgetary woes this city, like all public agencies across the country, is facing, profligate spending doesn’t seem to be the best direction. Particularly when it is founded on conventional wisdom from the 1960s through 1980s. It was pretty illuminating when you said that other North Texas cities will capitalize on mistakes that Dallas makes. So we’re competing against Waco and Waxahachie, now? Hardly world class, innit? Meanwhile, the cities at the top of the global competition food chain are removing freeways. And you know what? They’re inducing growth that way, back to the hearts of cities, by removing a structural impediment to livability and desirability while cutting the umbilical cord dependent places use to take advantage of host cities, like parasites. Cities are funny adaptable things.

We’ll be following this story as it develops, and hoping it ends well for Dallas.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Systemic Failure suggests Torontonians should go for a bike ride in honor of Jane Jacobs tomorrow. Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling takes a look at the obstacles preventing children from getting to school by bike. And PubliCola reports that the Seattle Times continues to rail against the free market insofar as it relates to parking policy.

As the 40-year-old virgin, Steve Carell played an adult who still behaved like a child in many ways. One of his quirks was his choice of transportation: a bicycle. Photo: Entertainment Wallpaper

Adonia Lugo at Network blog Urban Adonia says the media reflects reality — up to a point. Non-automotive transportation is imbued with connotations of class and social standing — and the entertainment industry has not been shy about exploiting them:

Pretty much every time I watch TV or mainstream movies, I notice some scripted jab at people who don’t drive. In The 40 Year Old Virgin, the filmmakers indicate the main character’s incompetence at being an adult, along with his virginity and penchant for collecting toys, through the fact that he rides a bike to get around. Last week I watched an episode of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” where one character tells another that any adult who does not drive must be “retarded.” Jokes built on the subtle or blatant assertion that only driving counts, that people who bike, ride transit, and walk are weirdos, seem to be stock material for writers.

These jokes hinge on the idea that people who can pay to drive everywhere should know better than to choose to associate with the dregs of society outside of cars. To me, this comes across as pretty racist and classist. The continuing contempt for the poor is a huge problem for sustainable transportation because so many Americans think of the stuff we promote as symbolic of poverty and disempowerment. Whether it’s intentional or not, imagining that people can be tainted by the mode of transport they use is pretty dehumanizing. I’ve felt the shame of standing at a bus stop, waiting and waiting, while cars flow past. You’re not supposed to have to wait; you’re an American, the cultural conditioning says in the back of my mind.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The Dallas Morning News Transportation Blog reports that the city’s mayor is trying to make up his mind about the new toll road proposed for downtown — and he’s encountering overwhelming public opposition. Human Transit comments on an all-too-common phenomenon: when tax revenues approved for transit end up elsewhere. And Urban Velo introduces us to a handy new term: bike shop deserts.

The city of Cleveland recently installed a temporary, "pop-up" cycle track. But can the city get used to designing all its streets this way following the passage of a complete streets policy? Photo: Bike Cleveland

Complete streets policies represent a complete 180 from the way transportation planning has been done in 99 percent of communities for the past, oh, six decades. Former New Jersey DOT executive Gary Toth, now of Project for Public Spaces, was in Cleveland last week to help local engineers and construction managers understand exactly what the city’s new complete streets policy means.

Here’s a sampling of Toth’s message, as reported by Mark Lefkowitz of Green City Blue Lake:

The new reality, says Toth, will ask traffic engineers to consider ‘quality of place’ and to remove the blinders on such context sensitive issues as how is land being used.

Cities like Cleveland are discovering that they can create more value in this tumultuous funding landscape, he assured, when items like bike lanes are baked in to the design.

Engineers have a key role to play in leading the charge. Done right, complete streets can be good for cars, too.

“Completing the street does not change travel times,” Toth said, citing data from the addition of a bike lane on Prospect Park in New York City. “They decreased crash rates. Travel time is pretty much the same, but more cyclists are getting more value out of that road.”

Toth spent the better part of his career making the case for more highways and wider roads as an engineer for the New Jersey Department of Transportation until his revelation that ‘context’ and ‘quality of place’ don’t have to be pitted against the flow of motor vehicles.

Now, he helps cities design and use ‘multi-modal’ guidelines. He helps engineers gain the confidence to challenge assumptions that might work at odds with the new emphasis on vibrant places. For example, most engineers are padding in more ‘design speed’ which leads to wider roads even though street design standards already have a margin of error.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The FABB Blog peeks in on London, where some 10,000 gathered in the streets over the weekend to demonstrate for safer cycling conditions. Charleston Moves shares the disappointing news that leaders there are considering a skateboarding ban in many parts of the city. And Mobilizing the Region reports that complete streets policies are sweeping across the meadowlands of New Jersey.

Detroit Bikes is helping to keep manufacturing jobs in the Motor City. Photo: Detroit News

There’s no better example of Detroit taking those recommendations to heart than Detroit Bikes. Todd Scott at M-Bike.org has this report:

They are creating simple, low-cost, practical urban bikes that should retail for just under $500. And they expect to be building them in the city of Detroit – up to 100 a day if all goes as planned.

Detroit Bikes is starting to get noticed. The Detroit News and Crain’s Detroit Business both wrote about the new company and its founder, Zak Pashak, an entrepreneur from Calgary. Pashak told the News, “Henry Ford’s goal was to create affordable, reliable transportation. That’s my goal.”

This is really exciting. We’re not sure the last time bicycles were built in earnest within the city of Detroit.

Pashak told Detroit Make it Here that “it’s possible to produce affordable, American-made bikes in volume, especially in Detroit,” due to the city’s low cost.

Little known fact: Henry Ford tinkered with bicycles before getting sidetracked with that whole cars-and-assembly-lines business.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The League of American Bicyclists looks at a study finding that men are overrepresented on local bicycle and pedestrian advisory panels. Streets.mn examines how certain transportation projects can detract from local wealth, despite local leaders’ expectations to the contrary. And Cap’n Transit observes how drivers tend to see their vehicles as extensions of themselves, and how that can have deadly consequences for those without tons of metal protecting them.

San Diego Police Lieutenant Rick O'Hanlon says unless a cyclist is killed in a collision, the department will not pursue criminal charges. Photo: BikeSD

Sadly, New York is certainly not alone in this respect. Today we have a case study out of San Diego.

Sam Ollinger at Network blog Bike San Diego recently followed up with her local police department on the results of five crashes where cyclists were killed or injured. What she found was very similar to what’s happening in New York.

Rick O’Hanlon, San Diego’s lieutenant of Traffic Division, told Ollinger that unless a cyclist dies, charges won’t rise beyond a traffic violation. And even in cases when a cyclist is killed, criminal charges are no sure thing:

No charges have been filed against the driver who struck the little ten-year-old girl who was injured while riding with her father. No charges were filed because the little girl survived.

Since [Grant] Fisher survived, no charges have been filed. The SDPD has asked the DMV to reexamine the driver’s license [of the 76-year-old who was responsible]. Fisher, in the meantime, has filed a civil suit against the driver that is currently ongoing.

When asked for specific details on the [fatal] [Charles] Gilbreth case and details about the collision. O’Hanlon stated that speed, alcohol, road rage nor the sun’s glare (as was the reason stated in the Ortiz case) were not factors in the Gilbreth crash. He said that investigation was still ongoing as results from the medical examiner and the toxicologist could take anywhere from 6-8 weeks to wrap up. There were no witnesses in this crash as the MTS driver didn’t witness the crash.

O’Hanlon responded, “to be charged with a crime, there has to be a death.” Thus, the only recourse for the party injured is to pursue the case in Civil Court for damages. In order for a case to go to the District Attorney’s office the case has to be a felony – and the criteria for a felony includes intent, malice, gross negligence or substance abuse. But in a case that is not a manslaughter, “the law is very restrictive. We don’t have a misdemeanor.” Intentional road rage acts have “malice and premeditation and you have assault with a deadly weapon.”  Absent that, “you have a vehicle code violation.”

I imagine those tickets will be little consolation to individuals who have been badly injured, perhaps permanently. Hopefully, the campaign around this issue in New York will result in a more fair system for cyclists — one that can be replicated in San Diego and elsewhere around the nation.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Urban Milwaukee looks at the auto industry’s (successful) attempts to link driving with the hallowed concept of freedom. And Systemic Failure shares a picture that perfectly captures the absurdity of American car culture: an SUV with a built-in stationary bicycle!

This building was torn down and replaced by a suburban style office with a parking lot in front. Photo: UrbanReviewSTL

In a way, this story is about one property in St. Louis. But in a deeper sense, this story is much bigger than one block, bigger even than the city of St. Louis.

After decades of losing population to suburban areas, the attitude among many urban leaders was “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” St. Louis and other cities around the country endeavored to make themselves more like their suburban cousins.

Except now times are changing. Many urban areas have an appeal that is stronger than the places they once aspired to be like.

After. Via UrbanReviewSTL

But old habits die hard, reports Steve Patterson at UrbanReviewSTL. St. Louis is back to its old ways, this time on Delmar Boulevard, he reports:

For decades St. Louis’ “leadership” has thought that anything new — any investment — was better than no investment at all. What they continue to fail to understand is disconnected buildings set back behind parking doesn’t create anyplace special. Furthermore with old storefronts up to the sidewalk and new buildings set back, the look and feel isn’t pleasant. It’s not a contiguous wall of buildings or or consistent setback common in suburbia.

For decades now we’ve chipped away at the urban form then wondered why we also had population loss, increased pollution and disinvestment. We still would have experienced population loss based on the trend to the suburbs but trying to remake the city to be like the suburbs didn’t work to stop the loss and now it’s preventing the rejuvenation of many areas, such as along Delmar Blvd.

When I saw this building being built in 2006 I was appalled that it was set back from Delmar. This is the offices of 100 Black Men of Metropolitan St. Louis located at 4631 Delmar. None of this will encourage investment and improvement of the area, it’ll likely accelerate disinvestment and abandonment.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Systemic Failure points out shortcomings, even outright errors, in an influential study that claimed high speed rail has a surprisingly high carbon footprint. Car Free Baltimore sings the praises of small streets. And M-Bike.org catalogs the deluge of media coverage on Detroit’s growing bike scene.

The group recently assailed CAHSR’s estimates that the system will cost 10 cents per passenger mile to operate, saying the figure is far too low and questioning the official math that the $81 San Francisco-to-LA fare would cover the costs of the trip.

But their numbers just don’t check out, says Network blog Systemic Failure:

CC-HSR extrapolated a 10-cent operating cost per passenger mile based on the the published $81 LA-SF premium fare, and assuming 50% profit. They compared this 10-cents number to a study done in 2007 that reports a per-mile operating cost of around 30-50 cents per mile for European high-speed rail operators.

So according to the CC-HSR, the LA-SF fares are too low, and would have to be at least triple the $81 fare just to break even. Does this argument make sense? Well, let’s look at SNCF fares for Paris-Avignon, which is exactly same distance as LA-SF. This image is a screenshot taken for a random reservation on the SNCF web site:

You are welcome to try your own trip reservations, and do the Euros to Dollars conversion —  but the SNCF fares don’t seem all the far off from CHSRA fares. And if it really cost SNCF more than 30 cents/passenger mile, then the Sud-Est wouldn’t even be profitable, which even CC-HSR admits is not the case.

Systemic Failure hints that CC-HSR’s supposedly economic objections are actually grounded in NIMBYism. The group is composed of people whose homes border the proposed rail line, whose published concerns include “dirt, dust noise” and “loss of trees.”

Elsewhere on the Network today: Discover Lee County marvels at the complete unwalkability of the greater Ft. Myers, Florida area, where walkscores of 0 — yep, zilch — are the default condition. Urban Review STL readers sound off on the Missouri proposal to allow concealed firearms on public transit. And This Big City shares 10 crowd-sourced ideas for improving cycling in cities.

A Megabus stop in New York City. Local residents have complained about idling, crowds and buses blocking streets and sidewalks. Now the city is looking to regulate inter-city buses for the first time. Photo: Foursquare

It’s a testament to their sudden emergence and overwhelming popularity that cities like New York are just getting around the regulating these services, following complaints from residents about idling, crowds and other nuisances.

According to Network blog Mobilizing the Region, the Big Apple is poised to for the first time create a permitting requirement, including designated drop-off and pick-up points within city limits. Tri-State Transportation Campaign’s Sam Handler has this report:

Separate bills on the topic have passed the New York State Assembly and Senate, and the legislation unveiled today bridges the gap between them.

The bill would grant municipal control over where the vehicles can load and unload and require bus operators to provide information about planned bus timetables, proposed stops, and off-duty parking locations when applying for a permit. In approving bus stop locations, the city would have to consult with community boards (and, if necessary, the MTA). The city would also be free to charge up to $275/vehicle annually for permits and could fine bus operators up to $1,000 for their first violation and up to $2,500 for further violations.

The legislation, if passed, would address concerns raised by bus riders and Manhattan neighborhoods such as rotating, overcrowded bus stops and hard to find bus arrival information.

Elsewhere on the Network today: PubliCola looks at the next steps in Seattle’s new climate action plan, which is full of good recommendations but lacking in political support. Walkable Dallas-Fort Worth endorses an incremental approach to the region’s $39 million complete streets plan. And Rails-to-Trails talks about a new app developed by “civic hackers” that will help people get around by foot and bike in Kansas City.

A woman was killed in Chicago this year trying to cross this intersection at 17th Place and Halsted Street. The hit-skip driver was not apprehended. Photo: Grid Chicago

Of course, this is sad business, and it brings some outrageous statistics to light. Today’s shocker: 83 percent of this year’s known Chicago pedestrian fatalities have been hit-and-run collisions. Steven Vance reports:

Four weeks later and three blocks away from a doubly-deadly car crash in March, 50-year old Cynthia Hoff was killed while crossing 4200 South block of Western Boulevard (the street on the east side; the west side street is Western Avenue). This makes the sixth pedestrian death and fifth hit-and-run pedestrian death in 2012, bringing our rate to 83%. While researching for this article, I came across a hit-and-run pedestrian death that I didn’t previously report, that of Aaliyah Kalimullahdunn at 80th Street and Ashland Avenue.

Whenever I talk about traffic safety, I, without pause or reservation, bring up the fatality statistics the Netherlands “enjoys”. And it is enjoyment that so few people will have to die on their roads in a year compared to the United States, Illinois, and Chicago, even after adjusting for population and time or distance spent on the road. I can imagine how outraged the people of the Netherlands would be if they saw that their traffic safety rate was degrading. See how citizens reacted to a particularly bad crash (that had zero fatalities). The country is such a model for safe transportation that Alderman Solis and two CDOT workers were sent there.

We should be outraged that a single person dies. We can change our culture (see what transportation commissioner Gabe Klein has to say about our culture), and we can change our roads.

Elsewhere on the Network today: The Urbanophile looks at the workings of infrastructure banks and wonders why this transportation financing method has gained such cachet. Burning the Midnight Oil wonders whether a “cap and trade” fund could be used to finance California high-speed rail. And M-bike.org examines Amtrak’s efforts to be more bike friendly.