Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Larry

Come on. US gas consumption has declined since the price spike. Recycling the fleet takes 15 years or so, and longer in times as tough as these. And prices crashed as quickly as they had risen. If you want proof, check out your local Hummer dealer, if you still have one. Those folks are not happy campers, because nobody is buying those rides anymore.

November 21, 2009 at 1:39 am Link
in response to Higher Gas Prices Alone Won't Make Cleaner Cars a Reality

Andrew

"In real pollution terms, that means the average American car will emit just 2 gallons fewer CO2 per mile this year than it did in 2008."

You can't measure a gas by volume. Gases will fill up any container you put them in. Gaseous carbon dioxide must be measured by weight.

November 20, 2009 at 11:42 pm Link
in response to Higher Gas Prices Alone Won't Make Cleaner Cars a Reality

Jamie Kendrick

Its hard to look at one deal and make a major conclusion of a firm's interest. To Carlyle's credit, they are a major investor in Baltimore's http://www.westportwaterfront.com transit-oriented development. They have stuck it out on this project despite a very tough climate

November 20, 2009 at 6:45 pm Link
in response to Carlyle Group's New Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership: Donuts

Peter Smith

i'm happy to see more rail lines instead of buses!

i'm not sure about the whole 'bring folks together' stuff -- not for any other reason than i believe that Republicans just do not care in the least about policy and its implications for regular people. Democrats are only slightly less worse, of course -- for example, it's Democrats who are doing something, however insignificant, to address healthcare (either that, or they're just keeping the whole capitalist experiment from completely imploding). maybe, hopefully, the governing pendulum swings back towards 'sanity' a bit, now.

i think Kunstler has good stuff to say on how towns will survive -- simply put, if you don't have a local economy, you don't have a town, period -- they're one and the same. think one of his podcasts talks about local ownership of 'the corner store', etc.

also, i'm curious if the US ever climbs out of this recession. it's starting to seem like this might be the new norm. what economy does the US have left for middle class, or formerly-middle class, folks? manufacturing? gone. IT? leaving. do we build housing and transit infrastructure for the next 20 years and hope that turns the country around somehow? can the US survive on low-wage service jobs from here on out? maybe so.

for those 'out there' suburbs, i'm guessing there's going to be a lot more 'back to the land'-type stuff going on (local farming, community gardens, solar/wind energy capture, bike riding, public spaces, less tv, more democracy, DIY, etc.), with inherently sustainable business models like worker-owned and controlled coops, or at least, slightly more democratic workplaces that, presumably, would not be so eager to corrupt the political process.

November 20, 2009 at 12:26 pm Link
in response to To Thrive, Suburbs Might Become More Urban

Kenney

I'm familiar with this "fundamental shift in thinking" solution that Wessel proposes, and although I agree with it, I think its proponents are missing a crucial link: Members of Congress. It takes either blindness or a healthy serving of willful arrogance to suggest that if only the American public was collectively more rational in its opinions, Congress would be able to act more swiftly and efficiently to solve our problems.

If you want to see a fundamental shift in the way the public thinks, you first have to see a fundamental shift in the way Members of Congress treat the responsibilities of their office. They need to abandon their knee-jerk indulgence of self-preservation, reacting to the winds of public opinion, and shift to a more "educational" style of representation, where they become willing to call their constituents out on how they've been misled.

A great example of where this should have happened is the vote on funding for the closure of Guantanamo Bay. Several congressmen and senators said they must vote against the money because they had been inundated with calls from constituents worried about terrorists walking around in their neighborhoods. What should have happened was for the congressmen and senators to explain to their constituents that not only is it impossible for the Guantanamo Bay suspects to escape the Supermax prisons they would have been transferred to, but also that US Supermax prisons already house convicted terrorists!

Likewise with the gas tax, politicians are more content to indulge (largely fabricated) reports of resistance to a gas tax increase, than to be straight with their constituents about what the tax would fund and how it works. My overall point is that Members of Congress don't manage their relationship with their constituents. Rather, they are content to operate within the current framework of electoral politics that feeds on high emotion and hyper-partisanship.

November 19, 2009 at 3:51 pm Link
in response to A Warning From America's Cities: The Recession Has Only Just Begun to Hit

Colin Peppard

Reminds me of my favorite Onion headline of all time...

Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/report_98_percent_of_u_s_commuters

November 19, 2009 at 11:07 am Link
in response to Today's Headlines

Rob

The third bullet, though annoying, really isn't surprising. If nine out of ten people switched from driving alone to carpooling, that would be good for the environment; it would also be good for the one person who chooses not to carpool. Most people, it seems, believes they can be that one person.

November 19, 2009 at 8:35 am Link
in response to Today's Headlines

Todd Edelman Green Idea Factory

It’s great that this meeting happened, and I hope that Secretary LaHood does all he can to decrease the number of deaths and injuries on US streets. But this term “complete” really bothers me, just like “safer”, “everyone” and so on… Language is a powerful thing. More on my blog.

November 18, 2009 at 12:55 pm Link
in response to US DOT Secretary Gets a Message on Pedestrian Safety

John Rob

When my friends send text messages to me, drivesafe.ly mobile application respond with a message I am not in a position to look at their messages. I am not distracted from what I do.

November 18, 2009 at 12:25 pm Link
in response to Distracted Driving Debate Continues in Congress as Consensus Looks Elusive

Eric B

How beautiful is it to see the new Union Station bike parking facility on every story involving the Feds and bike/ped/transit. It's such a symbolic way to include bicycles in the past, present, and future of transportation.

November 17, 2009 at 2:21 am Link
in response to Feds Propose to Expand Opportunities for Biking and Walking to Transit

Amanda S

Sweet. This is perfect for alot of us because we don't need to pay 100K for an EV that takes us hundreds of miles. Sure.. that would be nice but I would just be happy if I could get to the office and back. Most of us are at work half the time any way.

Take Goss132 EV for example. The price is perfect. What a great EV.

November 17, 2009 at 1:02 am Link
in response to New Business Group Launches to Push Regional Electric Vehicles

Cap'n Transit

Wow, that Randall Road that LaHood not-quite-promised to widen is the worst kind of sprawl enabler.

November 16, 2009 at 12:08 pm Link
in response to Today's Headlines

John

Density around train stops? OMG, this has been done before...near every train stop in America, before zoning started making density illegal.

I like to live in dense urban settings. Why should it be illegal for the free market to build what I like?

November 16, 2009 at 11:58 am Link
in response to "Building Cities Shouldn't Be a Partisan Issue"

anonym

Low-pressure sodium fixtures are much more efficient than the best LEDs.

November 14, 2009 at 8:52 pm Link
in response to California Cities Lead Nation in Reducing Emissions from Streetlights

Trust me, I'm from Chrysler

Why would anyone buy a Chrysler? They cheated their bondholders,cheated their dealers and cheated their suppliers. They protected the union and management that caused the bankruptcy. The next time they go bankrupt they will have the opportunity to cheat their cukstomers out of their warranty. World famous for the worst vehicle quality they will not last two years. That is why Fiat did not put any money in the business.

November 14, 2009 at 10:24 am Link
in response to Chrysler: Taking Taxpayer Money and Running Away From Cleaner Cars

Unsuck DC Metro

from the apta web site:

APTA initially got involved in standards development at the request of federal safety oversight organizations. In conducting their reviews, state and federal safety oversight organizations look first to industry safety standards to fulfill their regulatory needs. If industry standards are in place, effective and followed, no need exists for additional government safety regulations. Until APTA began a safety standards program, these standards were lacking in the transit industry. Thus, a primary benefit from standards is that the industry regulates itself.

laughable.

November 13, 2009 at 4:01 pm Link
in response to House to Tackle Transit Safety Gaps in December Hearing

Nathanael

Asinine.

Deficit reduction == anti-stimulus, almost by definition.

If we were pulling the money out of money going abroad -- like some of the military funding -- it might work out OK. Instead, this is a recipe for a double-dip recession.

November 13, 2009 at 12:16 pm Link
in response to White House to Agencies: Prepare for Broad Spending Freeze or 5% Cut

hsr0601

1. The EV battery is expected to act as a catalyst to accelerate development of sustainable power, specifically as a storage for wind power at nighttime and for solar panel system via recycling. In return, this situation has a chance to bring a solid win-win outcome -- rendering EVs affordable.

2. In many cases, power plants like a nuclear reactor maintain operation during night, and EVs could take full advantage of the surplus energy :

With the concept of "V2H" (vehicle to home), the vehicle can supply 100V electricity stored in its on-board lithium-ion batteries to electric appliances in a house.

It is possible to charge the batteries at night, when electricity is cheaper, and use it for home appliances during daytime, Mitsubishi Motors said.

And the company claims that the batteries can provide almost all the electricity used in a normal household throughout the day.

November 13, 2009 at 1:49 am Link
in response to Which is the Fastest-Rising U.S. Emissions Source: Transport or Electricity?

Doug

I'm happy that the comments are at least telling the truth since the media is still clueless.

I'd rather buy a 40+ mpg Chrysler badged Fiat for $25K instead of a $40K Chevy Volt. We'll see who sells more.

November 12, 2009 at 5:40 pm Link
in response to Chrysler: Taking Taxpayer Money and Running Away From Cleaner Cars

pgcooldad

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The current owners of Chrysler were not the ones who “trotted-out alt power vehicles to secure some $12.5 billion (plus) in federal bailout bucks” That dubious distinction belongs to Cerberus, who got the boot when the government sought Fiat as a partner.

Below one can clearly see that the government courted Chrysler’s current owners/managers, Fiat, for the tie-up.

We did not believe we could underwrite its viability without a strong corporate partner, so we turned our attention to that single possibility, an overture from Fiat.

After about an hour, the President asked for any final comments and then said, “I’ve decided. I’m prepared to support Chrysler if we can get the Fiat alliance done on terms that make sense to us.” And we were thrilled when the President said, “I want you to be tough, and I want you to be commercial.”

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/21/autos/auto_bailout_rattner.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009102104

Fiat never ever promised any electric, hybrid, or alike vehicles and the government knew about it.

Fiat also brought its advanced products to the table — small, stylish cars and fuel-sipping engines, Rattner wrote.

If anything, the taxpayers should be happy to see a management team at Chrysler telling the truth and not pumping a profit-killing program that will not help it pay the government back. They need to concentrate on the core and if feasible work on the fluff.
The current Corporation is NOT the old “Cerberus Owned” one.
The current corporation is a 20% Fiat Owned and Managed Company.
The current corporation never lied to congress.

November 12, 2009 at 6:35 am Link
in response to Chrysler: Taking Taxpayer Money and Running Away From Cleaner Cars

Sarah Goodyear

Karen,

Here:
http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/11/02/brooklyn-bus-stop-draws-bigger-crowd-than-thompson-anti-brt-rally/

And I fixed in the item above.

November 12, 2009 at 6:29 am Link
in response to Wanted: Your Photos of Crummy Transit Conditions

Cindy Posey

So the NY Times said that Lachlan Seward runs the DOE car money and that he worked with and for Chrysler in their last bailout and that he isn't giving out the car money.. except to Chrysler, his buddies.. Looking for a private sector job it looks like.

November 12, 2009 at 12:23 am Link
in response to Chrysler: Taking Taxpayer Money and Running Away From Cleaner Cars

Karen

Link to the previous story is broken, would love to read more about the context of that picture, thanks!

November 11, 2009 at 9:04 pm Link
in response to Wanted: Your Photos of Crummy Transit Conditions

Jack Mason, IBM Global Business Services

Great idea and project. I've shared it into the Smarter Cities Scan -- http://smartercities.tumblr.com -- our project in collective intelligence gathering. Maybe we can make this a weekly focus/project as a cross collaboration?!

November 11, 2009 at 4:42 pm Link
in response to Wanted: Your Photos of Crummy Transit Conditions

Travis

This article is not only misleading it is wrong. The vehicle does not have to be electric to be clean and efficient. They abandoned the program to go with a more viable option. Hybrid electric cars are a nitch market. Chrysler isnt interested in selling to .02% of the buying population. They want to sell to the majority. Chrysler already has ULEV vehicles on the road. And with fiat technology (some of the best diesel technology in the world) they will have clean fuel effecient AFFORDABLE vehicles. If you think you Diesel, what does that have to do with clean cars? Look at the VW TDI Jetta as an example it is Ultra Low Emmission Clean Diesel that gets better fuel economy, power, and style than the Prius. Fiat is also going to utilize forced induction technology that will make better power without losing fuel economy.

So before you say they took the money and run realize they ditched the electric pipe dream and went with a REAL viable option.

November 11, 2009 at 4:05 pm Link
in response to Chrysler: Taking Taxpayer Money and Running Away From Cleaner Cars

George Famish

Lachlan Seward was put in charge of the ATVM money by George Bush in order to maintain a longstanding cronyism between Detroit and Bush “friends-and-family”. His job was to conduit every possible dime to Detroit, hire only support staff who were “in compliance” with the crony program and make sure that nobody could compete with Detroit using federal funds.

November 11, 2009 at 2:54 pm Link
in response to Meet the Obama Administration's New Clean Energy Loan Man

Sarah Goodyear

Fixed the link, thanks!

And we love Fort Worthology.

November 10, 2009 at 2:30 pm Link
in response to "All Infrastructure -- and No People"

Kenney

The link to the MJS story is incorrect. Here's the correct link: http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/69419357.html.

Thanks for bringing it to our attention, Sarah. What a great, sad, but ultimately uplifting story. It's uplifting insofar as more and more media attention is being given to the fact that our built environment has huge implications for the course of our family and social lives, as well as our financial security.

On this topic, you should check out the following blog post: http://fortworthology.com/2009/01/16/traditional-urbanism-and-conservatives/. The overall message is similar to the MJS article, but with a slightly different angle. It's perhaps the best illumination of, and argument for, traditional urbanism.

November 10, 2009 at 1:50 pm Link
in response to "All Infrastructure -- and No People"

k

Re: Biscayne Times article: Amendment 4 (hometown democracy) will affect the entire state of Florida, not just Miami. While the Florida growth management system is broken, Amendment 4 is not likely to fix it. First, how many people are likely to do their due diligence and then get to their polling place to vote on every comp plan amendment request? Second, supporters of Amendment 4 assume that every current county and city comp plan represents sound planning, while the opposite is more often true; many comp plans currently on the books are in need of updating to allow the type of mixed-use, walkable, transit-oriented, sustainable development patterns that a number of communities in Florida still deem illegal. Finally, the author derides smart growth as just another term for urban sprawl. On the contrary, smart growth supports the development and redevelopment of walkable, mixed-use communities and the protection of our open spaces and natural resources as an antidote to sprawl. The author is correct in that years of political corruption have allowed developers to have their way with city and county commissions and comp plan changes, and a solution is sorely needed. However, it is unlikely that Amendment 4 will offer much positive change, although it may be an interesting experiment at best.

November 9, 2009 at 3:29 pm Link
in response to Today's Headlines

Andrew

Looks like you need to start a Streetsblog in Florida.

November 9, 2009 at 2:16 pm Link
in response to New Report Maps the Gap Between Pedestrian Risks and Federal Safety Aid

Layne

I believe it is 5,000 pedestrians killed per year, not per month. Still a terrible loss.

November 9, 2009 at 2:14 pm Link
in response to New Report Maps the Gap Between Pedestrian Risks and Federal Safety Aid

river

terrific collection of 'bikes at work' photos. Thank you!

November 9, 2009 at 7:52 am Link
in response to Bikes at Work Where You Live, Part 1

Matt

I'm not in the beltway but I think a new federal transportation bill would have a significant effect. The enhancement program came from Washington, and hasn't always enjoyed support from my delegation but the benefits are visible in almost every community.

Giving the MPOs more control over the "flexible account" alone would create a more balanced transportation system and both feed and be fed by new urbanist developmnent.

November 6, 2009 at 10:43 pm Link
in response to 'The Concrete is Cracking': Front-Loaded New Transport Bill Gains Steam

Jim M

Unless the process is streamlined as well as the categories, front-loading will be impossible. It takes twice as much time money to design and build a federal aid project as a locally-funded project.

November 6, 2009 at 9:14 pm Link
in response to 'The Concrete is Cracking': Front-Loaded New Transport Bill Gains Steam

Shemp

This idea that federal legislation is a silver bullet that will "move the nation towards a more rational mix of transit and roads" is pretty tired and mostly a creature of inside-the-beltway transit types who work on federal legislation. The nation could move dramatically in that direction under the current law if the will and know-how existed in states and metro areas. Unless something a lot more directed than the Oberstar bill gets passed, the next federal transportation bill isn't going to usher the revolution.

November 6, 2009 at 2:42 pm Link
in response to 'The Concrete is Cracking': Front-Loaded New Transport Bill Gains Steam

Mickey White

Marsha Blackburn Loves Big Government HealthCare:
Prescription Drug Benefit.
The final version (conference report) of H.R. 1 would create a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients. Beginning in 2006, prescription coverage would be available to seniors through private insurers for a monthly premium estimated at $35. There would be a $250 annual deductible, then 75 percent of drug costs up to $2,250 would be reimbursed. Drug costs greater than $2,250 would not be covered until out-ofpocket expenses exceeded $3,600, after which 95 percent of drug costs would be reimbursed. Low-income recipients would receive more subsidies than other seniors by paying lower premiums, having smaller deductibles, and making lower co-payments for each prescription. The total cost of the new prescription drug benefit would be limited to the $400 billion that Congress had budgeted earlier this year for the first 10 years of this new entitlement program. The House adopted the conference report on H.R. 1 on November 22, 2003 by a vote of 220 to 215 (Roll Call 669).
Marsha Blackburn Voted FOR this bill.
Marsha Blackburn is my Congressman.
See her unconstitutional votes at :
http://tinyurl.com/qhayna
Mickey

November 6, 2009 at 1:02 pm Link
in response to Distracted Driving Debate Continues in Congress as Consensus Looks Elusive

ZA

Oh please, the theatrics are so obvious, I wish the electorate had a better sense of how they're being manipulated. In this 'nuclear option' all parties got exactly what they wanted.

The Dems have their 'climate action' credentials for the next election.
The White House has some kind of hand to play at Copenhagen.
The GOP gets the 'victim card' for their next election.

Continue on theater...but this audience member isn't applauding.

November 6, 2009 at 12:26 pm Link
in response to Boxer Okays Senate Climate Bill, Without Amendments or GOP

Yahya E. B. Henry

Policy has to be crafted to encourage infill development - especially in cities with populations less than 200,000. Fringe development is the standard in most of these areas because infill hasn't been made a priority nor has policy directed it. Reform is definitely needed in our banking system but would also argue that lending institutions need to be educated on the benefits of walkable development.

November 6, 2009 at 10:39 am Link
in response to Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

K

"The presence of bicycle facilities was associated with lower risk"--but isn't that because bicycle facilities are disproportionately located on minor, quiet, residential streets? Think of Georgia Ave vs. 14th Street near Silver Spring...14th Street is much quieter, and that, not just the presence of a bike path, makes it safer.

November 5, 2009 at 3:22 pm Link
in response to There's Safety in (Bike-Specific) Infrastructure

Rmoen

From my vantage point, support for cap-and-trade has evaporated. Daily I read editorials, comments and letters-to-the-editor from all over the nation. When the House passed the cap-and-trade bill it was maybe 2-to-1 against cap-and-trade, opinion now is off the charts against it. This agrees with what I've read in the polls: 'attempting' to slow climate change is a low priority among Americans.

Frankly, I don't see Americans supporting cap-and-trade or any CO2 regulation until we have our own 'Climate Truth Commission.' ...and no longer rely upon the climate opinions of the United Nations. The UN is a biased political organization whose climate forecasts haven't proven prescient. The United States needs our own objective, transparent climate commission to think-through global warming.

-- Robert Moen, http://www.energyplanUSA

November 5, 2009 at 10:49 am Link
in response to Boxer Okays Senate Climate Bill, Without Amendments or GOP

Mark

"U.S. DOT and the Federal Communications Commission team up to seek technological solutions to distracted driving."

I enjoy the irony of using technology to solve a problem that was created by technology.

November 5, 2009 at 9:10 am Link
in response to Today's Headlines

jamie kendrick

Given Tuesday's election results, will the House/Senate leadership get it that "its the economy, stupid" and move forward with a bold transportation bill???

November 5, 2009 at 8:05 am Link
in response to Today's Headlines

Crimson Wife

I agree with interesting's comments in #5. As much as I love the city, I've got 3 kids (and my DH talks about wanting a 4th) and there's no way we could afford a decent-sized home there. Decent-sized meaning 1800-2200 sq ft BTW not the 3500-4000+ sq ft McMansions some folks we know live in. We *are* trying to stay along the mass transit lines so that we can share just 1 car.

November 5, 2009 at 5:39 am Link
in response to Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

PolishKnight

It's not PC and therefore not something that leftists and even moderates want to hear, but suburban sprawl and eroding tax bases are a product of white flight and leftist racist policies along with feminism and the two parent working and commuting household.

The left have now painted themselves into a corner (using soy based paint, of course) in that the remaining white leftists that continue to vote democrat are located in the near suburbs and live in hypocrisy. Single mother leftist professionals, the biggest voting bloc of the left, drive around in big SUV's because they crave security and comfort.

I don't expect this to be met with a lot of enthusiasm but there you go. Deal with it.

November 4, 2009 at 12:39 pm Link
in response to Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

Jen

Good for you, interesting. As an urban taxpayer with no children I look forward to subsidizing your lifestyle choices.

November 4, 2009 at 10:18 am Link
in response to Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

Norb

Kerry is right. The Right Wing/Club for Growth people are going to put the super squeeze on GOP Senators to oppose any climate bill that includes putting a price on carbon. This is going to end up exactly like health care. A few GOPers initially seem open to some sort of compromise, but then that goes to hell when they see the tea bags around them.

November 4, 2009 at 10:14 am Link
in response to Kerry: There's a Narrow Window For GOP Cooperation on Pricing Pollution

Bossi

While the Philly strike is occurring during the World Series, it was specifically delayed until the World Series left Philly. Furthermore, not all transit is on strike; only certain modes. A good share of the transit network is still operating due to different unions. The headline provided here implies that the union went on strike while the World Series is in Philly, and that *all* transit is crippled.

November 4, 2009 at 9:37 am Link
in response to Today's Headlines

interesting

I think there are a lot of interesting theories here. And they may be coming true in many metro areas. In DC at least I don't see it happening to the exurbs here. Take Loudoun County and Prince William County. While they have had huge price drops as compared to the inner core of DC, I see absolutely no signs that they are becoming slums. Indeed, sales are brisk again in these counties. And I have read zero complaints about Loudoun or Prince William schools in the '09-'10 school year as opposed to earlier ones.

It still feels like the 80s, 90s, and 00s to me in terms of inner core versus suburbs/exurbs. I love living in a walkable, mass-transit heavy neighborhood. But as I near that child-rearing part of my life I feel the suburbs calling. Despite all the massive, amazing gains DC has had in the 2000s it's still the case that the public schools in DC are pretty bad (President Obama, just like Bill Clinton, refused to use them.) I also find it hard to afford a family-sized structure (sorry I'm not going to put a family of 3-4 in an 800 square foot condo) on my middle class salary.

So yes I really like living in the inner core where I almost never need a car and can walk/Metro everywhere. But unfortunately raising a family is still tough/way too expensive in the inner core and so I guess I'll soon move from a pretty green/walkable life to the car-centric sprawl life of my childhood in suburbia.

November 4, 2009 at 1:10 am Link
in response to Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

Ruralist

RA:"Third, government officials should learn the lessons of urban decline..."

Haven't YOU learned the lessons of Spengler? The rampant growth of cities and urbanity is a major sign of cultural and civilizational degeneration. In other words, urbanism IS decline:

"Writing in the early twentieth century, Oswald Spengler described the character of world cities as follows: 'Spirit is non-existent in these cities. They are land in petrified form.' Cities play a particularly tragic role in Spengler's Doomsday scenario entitled The Decline of the West. For Spengler, cities were places where life ossified because the bodies, souls, and spirits of their inhabitants grew barren there. For this philosopher of history, the rise of the city heralded the start of the decline, not only of the West, but of all civilisations.

Spengler gave two reasons for his belief that the proliferation and growth of cities is an indication of the impending downfall of society. Firstly, he believed that by settling in cities, societies would enfeeble themselves both spiritually and culturally. He considered cities to be petrified, static structures in which social life could not flourish nor cultural renewal take place, let alone that they could be a source from which spiritual greatness could emanate." - http://www.goethe.de/ges/phi/prj/ffs/the/sta/en3042692.htm

SPENGLER WRITES: "What makes the man of the world-cities incapable of living on any but this artificial footing is that the cosmic beat in his being is every decreasing, while the tensions of his waking- consciousness become more and more dangerous...this then, is the conclusion of the city's history; growing from primitive barter-centre to Culture-city and at last to world-city, it sacrifices first the blood and soul of its creators to the needs of its majestic evolution, and then the first flower of that growth to the spirit of civilization--and so, doomed, moves on to final self-destruction." - http://www.duke.edu/~aparks/SPENGO.html

November 4, 2009 at 12:32 am Link
in response to Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

OGT

I really, really question the idea that government should encourage mobility. Family and social connections are systematically underestimated in the neo-classical economics profession. It's in part a data bias, anything they can't measure easily gets thrown out.

An anecdotal example is the $18,000 a year my wife and I pay in day care, which would be greatly reduced by grandparents back home (as you'll soon find out). That plus the higher real estate costs and higher marginal tax rate pretty much wipe out the extra earnings we make.

I am also not sure about your foreclosure premise. Foreclosures have generally been the worst in two areas, the poor part of the inner city and new development exurbs. Why is this? If a new development started in 2005 all of the loans would have 2005-2009 vintages. Those vintage loans have huge problems in most of the country, if one controls for the percentage of bubble year transactions I am not sure the difference would be as great, as condos in Miami indicate.

The inner city's problems have more to do with predatory lending opened by the bubble years, immigrant communities seem to have been pretty hard hit.

All that said, I do think the inversion will happen in a number of cities. As it has in Manhattan and SF. The big driver will be reaching the metro size limit of the auto technology's ability to deliver competitive mobility. The result is unlikely pretty in a number of exurban areas with few comparative advantages or a diverse tax base. More metro wide funding of services would be a big help, though the upper middle class newly ensconced in the cities won't like the idea anymore in the future than they do now in the burbs.

November 3, 2009 at 11:01 pm Link
in response to Has the Government Been Bailing Out Sprawl?

Recent Comments

Larry

Andrew

Jamie Kendrick

Peter Smith

Kenney

Colin Peppard

John Rob

Eric B

Amanda S

John

anonym

Trust me, I'm from Chrysler

Nathanael

hsr0601

Doug

pgcooldad

Sarah Goodyear

Cindy Posey

Travis

George Famish

Sarah Goodyear

Kenney

k

Andrew

Layne

Jim M

Shemp

ZA

K

Rmoen

Mark

jamie kendrick

Crimson Wife

PolishKnight

Jen

Norb

interesting

Ruralist

OGT

Word On The Street

Streetsblog Network

Archived Articles

Categories

Twitter Updates

Streetfilms Featured Video

SUBSCRIBE

About Streetsblog

Congressional Committees

Advocacy Organizations

Federal Agencies