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Wednesday, March 31st

One For Toronto, One For Nashville
In time for the 50th anniversary of Toronto's subway system, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin pledged to spend $268 million (U.S. Dollars) over the next five years to modernize and expand Toronto's transit.

Canadian cities are often models her American sisters should look up to. A recognition that cities need transit--cities need permanent arteries to move their blood--is one key to why Canadian cities like Toronto seem more healthy and vigorous than nearby American neighbors like Cleveland and Buffalo.

Inside the U.S., positive movement of rail is thundering the ground in Nashville-- a city long without any rail or fixed transit. When Al Gore was running against George Bush, I often thought a transit comparision between say Nashville and Dallas would leave the Democratic candidate cold. Not that Gore could specifically blamed for the lack of transit in Nashville or Bush credited with a new subway in Dallas.

If that election were held now (and we don't ever want to experience an election like that again) Gore might have more to stand on. A $37.6 million commuter line is planned to link Nashville and Wilson County--the first of five projected commuter lines linking Nashville and its surrounding communities. Don't speak too soon, however. Local officials are sending out the common cry that often kills essential transit projects. They say, mistakenly, the money could be better spent to boost bus service.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.31.04 @ 07:18PST

Tuesday, March 30th

More New Feudalism
The New Feudalism is alive and growing, with transnational companies such as Wal-Mart among its most vigorous tentacles.

The City of Inglewood recently voted to prevent the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter in its city boundaries, citing environmental, economic, and social concerns. Wal-Mart responded by putting a 71-page initiative on the ballot and stuffing mailboxes with an endless stream of brochures extolling the wonders of the Wal-Mart economy .

However, the "Home Stretch Specific Plan" amounts to a dismantling of local government and its replacement by the Wal-Mart board, all under the guise of local democracy (hah!)...read the following:

"The Home Stretch Specific Plan shall … preempt and replace all of the standards, criteria, procedures for review (including, without limitation, permit procedures) and other requirements of Chapter 12 of the Municipal Code." As for construction plans, the city's "reviewing official shall be required to issue the requested permit or permits, without the exercise of any discretion … " — a rubber stamp.

The comments are from Los Angeles Times columnist Patt Morrison; I strongly recommend you read her entire article here.

Mussolini said that fascism should be more properly described as "the merger of state and corporate power"--so welcome to the New Feudalism.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.30.04 @ 09:10PST

Sunday, March 28th

Cycling the Gaps in the Concrete
I went on one of my favoured urban runs Sunday evening, with my terrier in the front basket of my bicycle. This entails threading the mesh of dual carriageways and concrete limbos east and north-east of my city's centre, taking in Spaghetti Junction’s nether parts, seeking the serenity of branching canal towpaths beneath a constant thumping hum of motorised traffic, rolling along alleys that cars can’t negotiate and onto pedestrian bridges over dual carriageways, from which I can gaze at the stream of speeding lights skirting the asphalted ribbons that sever walled estates bordered by warehouses and their car parks, boarded-up shops, derelict housing, and abandoned pubs.

Within this world I find--even in winter--gaps between the concrete where the proliferation of car-dependent life has left niches of sturdy shrubs and grasses and the life they harbour. This scrubland is not the stuff of landscaped parks. Gardeners buy chemicals to control and kill these delinquents. From a wedge of human time I watch these weeds unpointing masonry, splitting concrete to its reinforcing rods, rooting through iron and stone, and growing amid quilts of branded cardboard, aluminium, cellophane, polythene bags, cans, packets, boxes, tubes, tearing, crushing, splitting, digesting trapped litter. I sat on a pile of rubble cushioned by crouch grass beside a canal and ate my prosciutto with bread dipped in olive oil, sipping a chianti followed by a cigarette, and felt sheer content. This wasn’t the virtual beauty of Venice. This is not the carefully posed city of our postcards and publicity calendars, nor the manicured parks beginning to recover their regulated environments.

This is the residue and blight created by thousands of choices supported by government policy about the way people want to live. It’s like this in Belgium, France, Spain, and everywhere that the population--with the support of government--treats the car as the default way to get about...our popularly chosen means of messing up our relations with each other. Yet nature, about which we express so much concern, is feral and resurgent on this darkling midden.

In all the pleasant hours of yesterday's sojourn the landscape was inundated with the sounds of fossil fuelled transport rushing around, I encountered one other human being. We paused and had a chat about our dogs and went our separate ways home. Today I’ll phone my mechanic to check my car in readiness for its annual test. As I drive it on errands I also will treat my surroundings as irrelevant to the urgency of my journey.

Simon Baddeley (sjb@newcolonist.com), on 03.28.04 @ 12:04PST

Thoughts about Portland's light rail system
Anyone who thinks light rail is wasteful and money down the drain, hasn't been to Portland, Oregon.

Read the article below from the Portland Tribune about how businesses along the latest light rail line are gearing up for new business when the line officially opens on May 1st, 2004. And if it's like the three other light rail lines already running in Portland, they've got a goldmine in their future.

Packed light rail trains are the norm here. They are extremely popular with commuters. And masses of suburbanites use them to go downtown on the weekends. Yes, we have mainstream shopping malls in Portland's suburbs, but unlike most American cities, the well-known secret here where the Willamette
meets the Columbia is that the real fun is downtown in the parks, shops, restaurants, squares, theaters, arenas, and gardens. If you think downtown USA is dead, you need to come to Portland. It will change your mind.

The lesson for all is if you build a world-class public transportation system, the people (even if they're certified car addicts) will use it. Light rail IS NOT an expense. It's an investment; pump-priming at its
finest.

Read the article here.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 03.28.04 @ 06:06PST

Saturday, March 27th

A Taste of the Night
Late last evening I was walking home from the Farmers Market, where I had sat a long time with two friends, talking and snacking. I guess it was after 10PM, and I strolled along Third Street with fancy condos on one hand and a large park, fragrant with jasmine, across the roadway. The moon and Venus shone brightly high overhead, and several other pedestrians moved along the sidewalks on both sides of the road.

Suddenly the wind kicked up a bit, swirling leaves and bits of paper around the trunks of the palm trees, and I could smell the sweet tang of the sea, though we are some twelve miles inland.

I looked at the cars passing endlessly and noisily by, emitting a variety of hums and thumps from motors, tires, air conditioners, and stereos. All their windows rolled up tight.

They were missing so much.... I cut into a residential area of mixed highrise and townhouses and left the noise of the street behind. Voices drifted from the doors of homes and from the shadows of couples walking. I moved on, immersed in perfumes of jasmine and the sea, inhabited by the night, a free man then.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.27.04 @ 18:10PST

Friday, March 26th

Road & Rail & ROI
A question that is coming up more often lately is whether the government should invest in--ie, subsidize--private rail companies so they can improve their networks and operations.

Now, before our more conservative readers immediatley start railing about "wasted tax dollars," I beg them to consider that air and highway travel already receives a collective subsidy of $90 billion per year, more or less. Railroads, on the other hand, haven't received much in the way of government help since the land grants of the mid to late 1800s; they buy their own rights-of-way and build and maintain their own "highways," with almost no help from anybody. The exception is Amtrak, with its modest $500 million dollar subsidy, which, though it's 1/20^th of the help that airlines and private driving receive, draws incessant complaint from the Right.

Yet rail is environmentally far cleaner than road or air travel, uses far less land and imported oil, and charges lower rates for heavy goods transport and usually for passenger transport as well. So why shouldn't we as a polity encourage the more environmentally, socially, and economically efficient mode of transport over dirty costly modes that wreak havoc on our land and our cities?

For a detailed perspective on this question from the Washington Post Writers Group, click here. It'll help you think about what we do and what we might do differently.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.26.04 @ 15:03PST

Thursday, March 25th

Rethinking Municipal Borders
Today I live in an area with more than 100 different governments. None of these have any economic basis for existence. The economy of "Pittsburgh" begins at the center of the city, say downtown at the intersection of Grant Street and Liberty Avenue. It extends out to the limits of where people commute from to work in the city. It also encompasses those who commute elsewhere within the region but access the network of education, manufacturing, and arts facilites of Pittsburgh. People in the city see the suburbs as a different place that robs the city of tax money. People in the suburbs see the city as a weight they don't need. Both perspectives are far removed from reality.

Some would argue that these small competing governments would help each other to be better because they compete for residents. That may be a good argument when when you are talking about commercial enterprises, but it is important to note that a government is not a commercial enterprise. Its purpose is to protect rights and facilitate commercial enterprise. These fractures of small boroughs do not compete for the ultimate improvement of each; rather they hinder the ability of an economic region to facilitate commercial enterprise.

"Pittsburgh" as an economic entity competes with "Cleveland" and Taipei. The "states rights" sort of argument that more governments is better because of local control does not enhance the ability of an economic entity--a city--to compete.

There is more than an economic argument to be made for streamlining and simplifying government entities. Ayn Rand said Objective law cannot arise if governments compete. Rights are universal and laws should be too. While not dealing with municipality issues specifically, important issues (gay marriage is a good current example) cannot be left to individual municipalities for economic and moral/ethical reasons. Liquor laws could be an example on the local level.

Governments must be streamlined, rethought and reinvented.

I would even favor getting rid of counties. When counties were made they were designed to let everyone get to a county seat within one day's travel. By today's standards, a state government alone is sufficient. City or specifically MSA governments have more of a purpose.

Jane Jacobs noted cities are the only political entity that can measure economic output since that's where production occurs. But production does not occur within the city limits of Pittsburgh, it occurs within the economic region of Pittsburgh. So, a government that encompasses an economic region is the essence of where municipal borders should be drawn. There measures of import and export become apparent. Today, however most of our municipalities are just "random" borders for political and historical purposes.

Here is a quote from Jane Jacobs: "Cities are the chief motors of economies. You can't talk about economies without talking, at least obliquely, about cities. Any human settlement is an economic equivalent to a local ecosystem. Cities are about the most durable things we have. People think of them as superficial things, but they aren't. They're very, very basic."

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.25.04 @ 16:26PST

Wednesday, March 24th

Faces
There's a sweet little rhythm of the street I enjoy every morning as I sit in the corner coffeehouse down the block from the office....

I recognize so many faces that pass by the plate glass windows: the old lady in pastels who stands very straight but walks very slowly; the long-haired young man dressed entirely in black, who rides by on his bicycle at the same time every day, often with an electric guitar strapped to his back; the delicate blonde, with her well-behaved dog who waits untethered at the door to the coffeehouse; the middle-aged Chinese woman commuting down the sidewalk on her folding bicycle...many, many more.

And I see them all against a backdrop of anonymous car traffic in the street beyond the curb, souls unseen behind their metal walls and the obscuring reflections of curved glass...it makes me wonder how many faces, how many lives, are passing by invisible to us, as we on the sidewalk are invisible to them, simply because they are stuck in the cars in traffic.

It's a sad thing we've done to ourselves. Eric Miller, my co-editor here, says that "The best thing you can do for your city is not to drive." Let me add that it is the best thing you can do for yourself as well.

Break out of your shell...come join us on the street, in the "intimate anonymity" that architect Hillel Schocken speaks of. We'd love your company!

And if you can't think of how to break the driving habit...just start reading through our archives...that'll get you started.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.24.04 @ 09:37PST

Monday, March 22nd

Go Ahead--Make My Day
Every weekday morning, I head to the office by bus and train, and I make a point of it to leave earlier than I really need to. Not that I'm worried about traffic--I leave that to someone who's paid to suffer. I have my little indulgences, and one of my favorite ones is a stop at the coffeehouse on the corner between the Metro stop and the office.

I order a chai latte (this is LA) and sit at my usual table facing the picture windows. There's always a lot to see--this is an old neighborhood just climbing out of a long decrepitude as the relatively new Metro stop spurs investment, and it has the most thorough mix of ethnicities, ages, and incomes I have seen in this city outside of my home 'hood. Shop owners know almost everyone who comes in, and if they don't, they will after the first meeting. So there are people walking by, old, young, beautiful, dull, spiffy, shabby, bohemian, conservative, and so forth.

I remember seeing this street through the windshield of a car for many years and thinking that there was nothing there. After I broke the car addiction, the street was still not on any of my usual bicycle or walking routes, and I thought the same of it for many years.

Now I've been coming here to work for a year and a half, and I realize it's one of the hidden secrets of Los Angeles, a wealth of little shops, excellent restaurants, bakeries arming the morning with odors of bread, coffeehouses, and--most of all--people who are comfortable, friendly, and, often, interesting to talk with. And you meet them as you walk around.

It is a neighborhood. Even though I don't live there, it is my neighborhood too.

It makes my day.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.22.04 @ 07:37PST

Sunday, March 21st

10 urban-based hands-on jobs that can enable you to be autonomous and car-free
If high autonomy, hands-on work, and car-free living are top priorities when it comes to career and lifestyle, read on.

This is not an exhaustive list, just some of the careers I've encountered. Also, when stressing autonomy, I strongly favor self-employment or working for a small (5 employees or less) locally owned business. Large businesses, educational institutions, or government agencies can offer some degree of autonomy if you're the type of person who isn't averse to that sort of environment. Since those aren't my cup of tea, I did not include them on the list.

I've also left out creative fields like artist, photographer, or writer because financial success in such fields requires a high degree of natural talent, and a fair amount of luck.

By contrast, the careers I've listed below, are relatively accessible, in demand, and reward adequate salaries to virtually anyone with common sense, good work habits, desire to learn, and solid business skills. A hidden bonus? Many of these fulfilling careers don't even require a college degree!

1. Bicycle mechanic
2. Gardener
3. Urban independent retail store owner/retail clerk (art, books, music, gifts, hardware, etc.)
4. Window cleaning business
5. Bicycle or foot courier
6. Apartment manager/maintenance person/handyman
7. Carpet cleaning for highrise apartments/condos
8. Self-employed janitor/maid
9. Stock and sell parts in the parts department for a small mechanical supply company
10. Chef assistant at a locally-owned restaurant (learn by doing)


Wouldn't it be refreshing to once read in the paper about a top high school student with career aspirations such as these:

"I love living downtown. Someday I hope to have my own solo janitorial business in which I clean historic buildings. I want to earn enough to live downtown so I can spend lots of leisure time enjoying the ambience: the community spirit, the plays, the art exhibits, the festivals, the change of seasons, eating in funky hole-in-the-wall restaurants, the simple encounters with people on the street. This is my dream."

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 03.21.04 @ 06:58PST

Thursday, March 18th

150th Anniversary of the Horseshoe Curve
Railroad and transportation fans won't want to miss the second light-up of the Horseshoe Curve in Altoona, Pennsylvania on July 4, 2004.

The event will be reminiscent of the famous 1954 "SYLVANIA Big Shot," which featured the simultaneous deployment of more than 6,500 SYLVANIA Blue Dot flashbulbs to light Horseshoe Curve. The first time around, SYLVANIA and the Pennsylvania Railroad illuminated Horseshoe Curve, which was the sixth in a series of 18 photographic achievements known as Big Shots.

This time, OSRAM SYLVANIA and Norfolk Southern railroad will provide technology, equipment and sizzle for the celebration of the Curve's birthday.

In 1854, J. Edgar Thomson designed a method to scale the Allegheny Mountains. In order to avoid a sharp incline, which would be impossible for heavy steam trains to manage, Thomson routed the right-of-way in a horseshoe shape, so the rise would be gradual. The feat was considered a major engineering masterpiece at the time and was pivotal to opening commerce across the continental U.S.

Today, an average of 60 Norfolk Southern freight trains and four Amtrak passenger trains operate over Horseshoe Curve daily. This volume translates into more than 100 million gross tons of freight annually.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.18.04 @ 13:30PST

Wednesday, March 17th

Commute to Work: It’s Early, Lonely and Long

The typical U.S. commuter in 2000 left home between 6:30 a.m. and 8:29 a.m. and drove alone for 26 minutes to get to work, the U.S. Census Bureau said today in a report based on Census 2000 results. Overall, people were leaving home earlier and spending more time in traffic in 2000 than in previous censuses.

According to the report about 53 percent of all workers headed to their jobs between 6:30 a.m. and 8:29 a.m. Another 20 percent of workers departed for work between midnight and 6:29 a.m, up 2 percentage points or 4.8 million workers from a decade earlier, the largest hike in any time period of the day.

Some other things you might note:

* Whites use public transit less than other racial groups.
* The number living in metropolitan areas increased.
* The number working in central cities decreased--more than half did not work in central cities.
* Carpooling is more popular in the Southwest while public transit is more popular in the Northeast.
* States without large metropolitan areas had large numbers walking to work (New York and DC also had high numbers of walkers).

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.17.04 @ 16:40PST

Some thoughts for St. Patrick's Day
This is dangerous material to tread on, but I would like to reflect a bit on the idea of community and St. Patrick's Day. While the day is certainly as good a reason to celebrate as any (without getting into the man St. Patrick and his doings), it always bothered me somewhat the degree to which anyone with a sprinkling of Irish shows their "pride" that day. "Proud to be Irish."

Besides being one of those deadly sins, Irish pride would seem fine in a country filled with ethnic enclaves. Looking further, Irish is not exactly a quality that says much about a person. “You are Irish. Yeah so what. You were born Irish. What have you done lately.”

Irish Pride seems innocent enough, but imagine if there was a "White" pride day with t-shirts that read "Proud to be White." An ethnicity is of course a little different than a race, yet even a day for a minority race may be equally acceptable.

“What have you done?” Celebrating an attribute we could affect like our education or earnings would seem to be even more obnoxious. "Proud to be rich," or "Ph.D. and Proud."

“Ha ha you silly poor uneducated slob!” The t’s would read on those days.

Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted wrote some about community, and I think these kind of exclusive communities might be what he was thinking of. Olmsted said the foundation of civilized society is not community (gasp, really???). This is because communities are bound by personal prejudices.

"I am Irish and you are not," an inference of the t-shirts can be taken away.

I know, "get over it. People are just having fun." I ask still, why do we feel the need to point out that we are Irish and "Irish Rocks?"

It may be a little too much to think about when you’re gulping down a green beer and wearing those silly shamrock stickers on your cheeks. On this Saint Patrick's Day, do have fun.

Also keep in mind the things you do or relate to might put up those community walls Olmsted knew existed. Make an extra effort to make your sense of community an inclusive one. Gated communities, whether in our suburbs or in our minds only do harm and go against the very idea of civilization. Be mindful that your community be bound by friendships and not bend to the instincts of tribal gangs of ethnicity or race.

Invite everyone to be Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.17.04 @ 08:47PST

Monday, March 15th

Answered Prayers
Since 2000, two new shopping malls have sprung up inside a three mile radius. What kind of town am I? Some western boom-berg still rolling out tracts homes like gardeners roll out sod? An exurb, perhaps, whose residents finally realize that they hate driving thirty miles for supplies? Los Angeles is the answer, and the trendiest part of it at that: between Hollywood and Beverly Hills, where much of West Coast's trendiest -- stuff-- is born.

What does this mean? Do shopping malls suddenly "test well" with this pace-setting demographic? Are these areas, suffering from urban flight, desperate for the promise of quick revenue? Both of these are possible, but here is a third theory: suddenly aware of people's desire to move back into urban neighborhoods, mall developers are sprinting to catch up. Now add a growing, ethnic urban middle-class and now there's some real money to be made.

Another urban shopping mall? It is not a hard sell. Suburbanites like their distant lives, but hate their commute. Now, new in town, they pine for the comforts of home, and what piece of their previous existence is more emblematic than the shopping mall? Besides, Los Angeles' legendary love affair with the bland-scape offers little architectural incentive to preserve the past, right? So, 75 year-old permeable, street-front commercial services are closed and plowed under to build the retail equivalent of Biosphere II resplendent with glittering parking structures.

There are some good things I could say about the design of these two specific malls. For example, I could note how they serve as anchors for a vibrant stretch of street life, how they attract people back into the cities, how they are open-air, how they are close to mass transit. But all these belie the fact that shopping malls, like cars, foster point-to-point living. We are not toads that pop out annually during the rainy season. We are human beings who live our lives in continuous, interconnected experiences. That is why the cities we love have continuous, interconnected neighborhoods that flow together.

The saying goes, "be careful what you wish for." We wanted suburbanites to abandon their distant lives and return to the cities. Now they are back and they've brought their shopping malls with them. Not only that, two big boxes, Target and a future Costco, have staked out claims, too. Then there's the nearby Home Depot.

This wonderful little area of Los Angeles is in real danger. It is being slowly transformed into a suburb. L.A. sustainability advocates assumed that high real estate prices would deter this kind of development, but it seems they were wrong. We are watching an allegory unfold before our eyes. Let us learn its lesson early.

GS Morey (gsm@newcolonist.com), on 03.15.04 @ 23:30PST

Sunday, March 14th

Rail Transit Lays Tracks To Sustainable Future
Colin McNickle recently wrote in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review about a study he says proves rail-transit systems are a waste of money. Hogwash. A conservative think tank like the Independent Institute is not the place to find a fair assessment of mass transit systems.

The reason to spend money on rail transit is because a dense, walkable and efficient community can be built around it. Building rail transit systems is essential to creating the framework where people can move about efficiently. More than half of commuting New Yorkers use the city's mass transit system--including the most extensive rail network in the U.S.-- to get to work. New York grew around its transit system. It did not try to serve existing suburban developments.

A different type of development will grow around highways--one that makes the use of public transit ineffective. Mass transit systems cannot adequately serve housing developments and strip malls spaced far from each other. It is a no-brainer that attempts to do this will be inefficient (as McNickle points out). Rail transit systems can effectively connect dense pedestrian-oriented communities and spur their growth. It's the pattern of growth that's environmentally-friendly and efficient as much as the transit system. Yet only fixed-transit can spur that growth and connect it efficiently.

A bus independent of a track cannot do this because a dense development or transit village will not grow around a bus route which can be moved at any time with the stroke of a pen. The fact remains that private rail systems served United States cities almost exclusively for many years until federal subsidies began funding the construction of highways.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.14.04 @ 11:25PST

Smaller can be better: A lesson from my carpet cleaning business
My 3/4 ton full-size carpet cleaning van is getting tired. It has come time to replace it. When I started looking at new vans, I discovered a comparable one is actually two inches higher.

This is a problem.

You see, our garage door opening is just high enough to fit my old van, but would be too short for the new one. The only option is a cargo minivan.

Conventional wisdom is that bigger is better, and no self-respecting carpet cleaner would ever opt for anything other than a full-size van. And there's the cleaning machinery issue (in the industry we call them "truckmounts." Surely you need the biggest you can get don't you?

Well, necessity made me challenge those assumptions, and led me to purchase this coming week, a minivan with a smaller truckmount.

What's amazing is the new truckmount will actually outperfom the old one in water temperature, pressure and vacuum.

Even better is the fact that my fuel consumption should drop by at least a third. I'll report on that in a few weeks as I start tallying the gas receipts.

Sure, plenty of people warned me not to go this route. Supposedly I'll need all of the extra space, power, and stuff like that.

But when I look at steadily increasing fuel prices, and I consider about how much more environmentally friendly my new vehicle and truckmount will be, I have to think at the end of the day, smaller will indeed be better.

John Lennnon once sang: "People asking questions, lost in confusion. Well I tell them there's no problem, only solutions."

Solutions!

That's the word. I suppose all it takes is to let go of old assumptions, re-examine problems with new eyes, and keep our minds open to what we may discover.

Smaller can indeed be better.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 03.14.04 @ 09:19PST

Saturday, March 13th

Transit, Fear, and Money
Saw an interesting article in the New York Times yesterday, discussing measures to take to prevent a terror attack similar to the one in Spain last week. While the possibility of such an attack is awful, and the reality of the attack in Spain horrifying, what struck me after the gut feelings subsided were the ridership figures for mass transit compared to air travel, which I quote below:

Experts say that to be successful, public transit must be convenient and inexpensive, making it difficult to impose the types of strict security seen at airports. The passenger volumes are enormous, about 14 million people a day, according to the American Public Transportation Association, of whom most are on buses, plus about 4 million on subways, suburban commuter trains or other rail transport, and smaller numbers on ferries. In contrast, there are a little under 2 million airplane boardings every day..."More people use Amtrak's Pennsylvania Station in New York City in a single day than use all of New York's airports combined," said Senator Thomas R. Carper of Delaware....

Why then do our policymakers routinely deprecate the popularity and utility of mass transit while lavishly subsidizing environmentally-damaging and economically-unsustainabile air travel, which puts us further into dependence on Middle Eastern oil oligarchs and their US corporate sycophants?

And why is the automobile even more lavishly subsidized when it destroys community through sprawl, keeps us even more heavily in thrall to the various petro-cabals of the world than air travel does, and kills more people by far every year than terrorism, suicide, and murder combined? (Nicholas Kristof's NYT editorial bears directly on this.)

A little something to think about in this election season, embroiled as we are in an oily war led by a president who disses transit and is gung-ho for sprawl....

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.13.04 @ 11:15PST

Wednesday, March 10th

Same Old Same Old
I look at the sameness of strip malls and shopping malls all around me in the US; I marvel at the emptiness and structural similarity of mainstream news purveyors, from magazines to television (but I give thanks for the New York Times!); I listen to the redundant thumping of commercial pop; I watch and worry as mechanisms of control become ever more pervasive in the political and commercial realm; and I think of this comment from Wendell Berry, words we should all think about, because they will make us think about all that we're doing to ourselves in the US in the name of our temeritous indifference:

We're collapsing from excess equilibrium. Look at concrete and asphalt. They're flat. They're under control. That's a form of equilibrium, probably the ultimate form: stasis--which is surely what Western civilization aims for. We can't stand the wild. We can't stand the creative disequilibrium.

What good is a comfort founded on emptiness? The order of long lines of metal cells, each in its lane in the broad trench of the freeway, induces numbness without providing security...indeed, far more US citizens died from road accidents than from murder, suicide, and terrorism combined in 2001. And most of them died alone...let's not only tolerate but celebrate the eccentric: the café with the absurd sandwiches, the old man telling bad jokes on the bus, the punks and fags and rappers and poets, the old women in shorts tending gardens in the vacant lots, the loud and graceful youth, and all those who live life in detail. They show us the way, and each way they show us is different. So we can make our own way through life, together.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.10.04 @ 22:19PST

Tuesday, March 9th

Gooseneck Lamps
I guess I had never thought about it before. Gooseneck lamps shine on the street, not on the sidewalk. I was at a community meeting and a neighbor was complaining about a lack of lighting in the park. I agreed, and thought: "but there is a lack of lighting everywhere." On the way home I took special notice. There were plenty of street lights, but all arched over the street. No sidewalk lights. No wonder it's so dark around here!

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.09.04 @ 18:31PST

Saving a Lighthouse
Savannah--Hampton "Save-A-Landmark" volunteers Levy Morgan and Margaret Johnson give 231-year-old Tybee Island Lighthouse an $80,000 new shine, Tues., March 9, 2004, in Savannah, Ga. This week historians and preservationists lobby members of Congress to seek more funding for historical landmarks and national parks. Tybee Island's Lighthouse is Hampton Inn's 19th landmark to help historical groups that continue to turn to other sources for support.


(Robin Weiner/U.S. Newswire)

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.09.04 @ 11:58PST

Concrete Steps
A map never got anyone anywhere. You still have to take every step yourself.

When was the last time you felt the sidewalk under your feet? Get out and walk today--to work, to the store, to the bus stop or the Metro station. Feel the wind or the sun or the rain, and nod "Good morning" to a stranger passing by. We know how to save the world. We just have to take those concrete steps to do it....

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.09.04 @ 07:28PST

Sunday, March 7th

Sweet Home, sweet memory: thoughts about exposing children to the treasures of urban life
Recently, my daughter and I had the pleasure of guiding a group of elementary school students through an exhibit at the Oregon History Center.

These children were from Sweet Home, Oregon, a town of some 8,000 which is 100 miles south southeast of Portland.

They were here as part of an initiative to bring rural schoolchildren from far-flung corners of the state to Portland for two days to see its cultural treasures including the zoo, the Portland Art Museum, and the Oregon History Center for starters.

What particularly impressed me about THIS group was their enthusiasm. They lingered at the artifacts. They had questions. They participated. We didn't have to attract their attention. It was ours, and in great abundance.

We asked about things in their lives today that will one day be treasured artifacts if not in a museum, at least in their own collection. One boy told of a model train set. A girl mentioned some dolls.

The visit was upbeat, educational, a pure joy for them and for us. They gave us a thank-you chorus as they left for their next adventure.

Later, my daughter and I reflected on the experience.

If children are to become adults who prize the city, the urban experience, certainly they need early exposure to its treasures.

This program in Oregon is a step in the right direction, particularly for children who live so far away, they rarely get to visit a big city.

Parents who live in outlying suburbs of our great American cities have some responsibility as well. We know some in our neighborhood just 15 minutes from downtown who rarely take their children downtown to exhibits, shows, festivals, outdoor markets, shopping, or concerts.

This is a shame. So much so close yet mostly missed.

There are few places better than a vibrant urban setting where children can experience the diversity of cultures, ideas, sounds, smells, and tastes--things they probably won't find at the suburban shopping mall, the batting cages, soccer game, or fast-food > restaurant.

What an education! What fun!

The Sweet Home children took away a memory that day many of them will cherish for life. Similarly, the treasures of the city await us and our children.

The magic is there. Are we?

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 03.07.04 @ 06:27PST

Saturday, March 6th

Let the beer flow!
I used to wonder why San Francisco could support so many corner groceries and Pittsburgh so few. Part of it of course is the density. When people live close to corner stores, they have the walking traffic needed to survive. Part is the transit. A transit-friendly city brings more pedestrians who stop in the stores for a snack or newspaper. Part is the ability and creativeness of the store owners. Many specialize in one thing or another, cold cuts, salads or organic products.

That's not the entire story, however. San Francisco's corner stores have one advantage those in Pittsburgh (and Philadelphia) don't, the ability to sell alcohol. A six pack in San Francisco is just a few steps away for most people and many of the stores there offer variety not found in even a large outlet. One store at Noe and 17th in San Francisco specializes in Wine. The variety and quality of wine of varying price astonishes. There are even wine-tasting events.

Liquor sales in Pennsylvania cities are the exclusive property of state-run liquor stores. Beer is sold at private beer outlets and only available by the case (though a tavern can sell a six-pack). That's starting to loosen up with the state trying out sales in certain locations . Freeing the industry up and allowing wine, beer and liquor to be sold most anywhere would undoubtedly bless cities in the "State of Independence" (Pennsylvania's soon to be new slogan) with not only more readily available vice, but countless additional convenience stores and a ready supply of grocery items for city residents.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.06.04 @ 16:08PST

Friday, March 5th

'Bucks and Boxes
Why is Starbucks the model for the American Coffeehouse, when I can get better-tasting coffee, cheaper, served to me by a friendlier barista, at any of the independent coffeehouses I go to in the course of my week?

Why is Home Depot so big when I can find a greater variety of the parts and tools I occasionally need (though not as many of each item) at my neighborhood hardware stores, and place a special order if I have to? (Special orders are taboo at bigboxes.)

If efficiencies of scale really do work, how come I can get better produce cheaper, and in greater variety, at my local greengrocer at the Farmers Market than at Ralphs or even Whole Foods?

Could it be that the efficiencies of corporate entities function not to provide the customer with product, but to redistribute money from neighborhood to headquarters with the least return of quality to customer?

Think globally; shop locally. Buy from neighbors, so they can buy from you. Get real coffee, even if it does cost less than at Starbucks. Enjoy life. And remember: they're lying to you on TV.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.05.04 @ 15:31PST

Wednesday, March 3rd

New York, a model and a goal
A new report from the Census bureau finds that New York is the only city in the United States where the majority of workers — 55 percent, or 1.9 million people — commute from home to work via public transportation. That is by far the highest percentage among the nation’s largest cities.

The numbers from New York are applauded for America's first city, but the New York tale leaves much to be desired for the rest of the country where over-all only 5 percent use public transportation to get to work.

Among other large cities (250,000 population or more) the highest public transportation rates are in Washington, D.C. (37 percent), Boston and San Francisco (31 percent each), Chicago and Philadelphia (27 percent each), Newark, N.J. (26 percent), and Baltimore (25 percent). Only 1-in-8 workers (12 percent) in Los Angeles, the nation’s second largest city, use public transportation, and in Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, only 6 percent of workers use public transportation. (In my home of Pittsburgh 22 percent used public transportation.) More city numbers

Driven by New York City’s dominance, New York state led all states in the percentage of its public transportation commuters. Statewide, 27 percent of New York workers used public transportation. Other states above the national average were: New Jersey (10 percent), Maryland (9 percent), Massachusetts (9 percent), Illinois (9 percent) and Hawaii (6 percent).

Nationwide, 77 percent of workers drove alone to work, 10 percent carpooled and 2 percent walked. Bus transportation accounted for 55 percent of public transportation use nationally; subway or elevated rail use ranked second at 29 percent.

I needn't tell many of our readers that more cities in the United States should be like New York. The Big Apple is the economic powerhouse it is in part because of the density, ease of transportation and ability to bring "different molecules together" as Lewis Mumford would say.

Other cities wishing to improve their ranking should not try to accommodate cars (per my other recent post), they only create space that detracts from density and ability to easily utilize public transit. Subways, light-rail lines and to a lesser extent efficient bus routes--in addition to an availability of housing that's accessible to both retail and business districts and public transportation is the route to take to bring the percent using public transit more in line with New York.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.03.04 @ 14:53PST

A few notes on density...
Today, even as we rediscover the conveniences and advantages of urban areas, density and multi-use areas are often seen as the enemies of livable environments. Density is essential to giving a city its "energy," and a lack of it--large spaces between buildings-- serves only as a limiter of interaction, like suburban sprawl.

Unlike in the animal world, density, for humans, does not ultimately lead to aggression. Writer Stephan Friedman noted that Hong Kong, while dense, has not been plagued with the affronts to physical safety as has Atlanta or Washington, DC.

"It's an oversimplification to view high density as directly leading to individual or group pathology. For example, Hong Kong, considered to be the most dense city in the world, has thirteen census tracts with more than 2,000 residents per acre. In terms of room density, many Hong Kong residents have only twenty-four square feet per person. The fact that the mortality rate, number of psychiatric disorders, and amount of serious crime in Hong Kong is considerably lower than in many cities with much lower density figures argues strongly against extrapolating from these animal studies."

Creating spaces for cars rather than people does not contribute to a city's density or liveliness. Space used for cars, especially parking lots, cannot be used for people. If there must be space for cars, it should be in the form of a garage which is built with stores and even apartments. Parking in the rear, while more visually appealing than in the front of buildings, serves to reduce density just the same.

On the contrary to the suburban ideal of one house on a few acres and drive in strip malls, density is essential for a city to maximize its potential to advance knowledge through interaction, not to mention be convenient to the largest array of entertainment, consumption and transportation options.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.03.04 @ 12:14PST

Coming of Age
My eighteen-year-old son called me yesterday, and in the course of the conversation mentioned that he'd just voted...it was his first time, and when I congratulated him, he said, a tad miffed, that of course he voted; he wasn't going to pass up the chance to have a say.

I didn't ask him how he voted, and I don't care. In a culture often based on irresponsibility, here's someone young and self-centered who nevertheless took on the joyful burden of the vote.

The truest act of adulthood in a democratic culture, the real coming of age, is not having sex or chilcdren or getting married, it is not engaging in work or making money or buying property--it is voting, because in voting you step outside yourself and join with your fellows to take on the reponsibility of shaping and managing an entire city, a state, the nation.

More power to him and to his fellows. I know many of his friends, and I suspect that most of them went to the polls.

Good thing, too. Somebody's got to, if we're to survive as a culture. Turnout in this California election (which included important and controversial--I'd say misguided--economic initiatives) was about 37% for LA County....

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.03.04 @ 07:30PST

Cities & Suburbs
Another note on the dependence of suburbs on cities that Eric Miller noted below: most suburbs cannot exist economically separate from cities, since infrastructure and services derive their funding primarily from property taxes. Suburbs, with their low densities and large properties, require more infrastructure for fewer people; they are generally undertaxed (suburbanites being notorious anti-taxers), with their infrastructure and services (police, fire, health, library, etc) most often quite heavily subsidized by their associated urban centers.

A simple illustration: on my high-rent urban block, one hundred feet of water or sewer pipe serves about 80 people. On a suburban street, that same hundred feet of pipe serves maybe 8. Same pipe, fewer people, and with property values (and usually tax rates) lower in the 'burbs, well, where's the money come from for those pipes? (And the feeder pipes leading out thereb?)

Likewise, with bedroom suburbs offering no good jobs, and not having enough density to support mass transit, you end up with two-, three-, or even four-car families who drive everywehre, requiring roads and freeways and parking (8 spaces per car, anywhere, on the average, if you add up all the partly-used spaces). The county builds most roads, develops most water, etc, and the state builds the freeways--all with money derived from efficient concentrations of people and activity and tax revenue in cities.

In other words, the real welfare queens are all those soccer moms chaffeuring their kids around in minivans on the freeways...suburbs are a drain on cities, and a mandated subsidy which our current development patterns force city residents--often working-class people paying property taxes through their landlords--to shell out for, directly and through the underfunding of urban services.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.03.04 @ 07:13PST

Before You Drink That Bottled Water...
Bottled water is a delight for health concious urbanites from joggers to thirsty commuters wanting to avoid the calories of a soda. There is a downside to the bottled water craze, however. From my own research I discovered boiled tap water is cleaner and safer than most any water you can purchase or filter (though filtering can get rid of some contamination boiling can't). It's a distrust of tap water of course that has spawned the rush to bottled water. Bottled water, however is adding up to problems for the environment.

Here is a paragraph from a recent USA Today Article:

"In addition to such environmental harm in watersheds, bottled water causes more water to be used in making bottles. Producing one kilogram of PET [#1] plastic requires 17.5 kg of water and results in air emissions of hydrocarbons, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide. And non-recycled plastic bottles can wind up right back in our watershed's streams and lakes, like salmon returning to spawn, in ever greater numbers. Whether there'll be enough water left for real salmon is anyone's guess."

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.03.04 @ 06:34PST

Tuesday, March 2nd

Running On Empty? The End of America?
It pains me not to respond to the provocative title "Will The End of Oil Mean The End of America?" written by Robert Freeman and posted here by Richard Risemberg. I will alleviate my discomfort by posting a sounding "NO." America is, more than anything else, an idea. America is not an industry or an administration. Yes, we should find ways not to depend on foreign oil. Yes, we should develop alternate forms of transportation, and yes, we have it within our power to begin today. I welcome the drying up of the oil supply because it will spark a flurry of innovation that will ignite an economic boom that will make 1998-2000 look like a cap pistol. It will be an innovation in transportation, infrastructure and information transport not seen since the industrial revolution. Other sources of energy do exist, and it would be great if we could have the foresight to make the adaptations early. We can of course change the course through legislation and initiatives, which can result from voting. The problem with oil, however, comes from consuming. If we can vote to change the course through electing politicians, we can also stop consuming so much oil, move to denser areas, walk more and use public transportation. Sometimes I think, if we are really running out of oil, let it happen sooner rather than later. Then we can move on.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.02.04 @ 16:38PST

Regional Governments: What Is A City?
While Allegheny County and Pittsburgh consider merging services and complete governments, I would like to share some ideas on what a city is and what its purpose is in the 21st Century. While many suburbs and county residents shudder at the idea of becoming part of the city, attempting to exist without the city would be a far worse fate, and in the long-term an impossibility.

While it is true that technology has improved the efficiency in transmitting information, allowing development patterns to disperse into suburbs, the importance of being in close proximity to the source of the knowledge is more important than ever. Silicon Valley is a geographic place. It is real rather than virtual. An increasing number of people live in metropolitan areas, including Silicon Valley. Likewise most cities, including Pittsburgh are a source of knowledge and technology.

Perhaps even more important is the capacity for interaction and exchange between people and organizations and the accessibility of these organizations to more limited people, groups and institutions of a city. Which brings us to the importance of a physical, traditional central setting of a city.

The American development patterns which have in recent times disregarded the central city in favor of office parks, suburban enclaves and "edge cities," may not be able to compete as well in a global society as the more suited London, Berlin and Hong Kong. The extent to which knowledge translates into power and serves to perpetuate itself is somewhat dependent on the ability of the information to be useful and available to all segments of the population. This necessitates the center-city as a dense urban area which maximizes interaction--exchange of information.

Regardless of technology, the easiest and most efficient way to transfer goods and information is to be in the same place. Technology sometimes serves to limit interactions that would occur in a "bricks and mortar" setting. While business can and is being conducted without real locations, development of new ideas and technologies is dependent on physical locations.

Suburban developments exist "independently" at least as far as government services are concerned in the United States primarily through a false assumption that urban areas have become wealth draining, costly relics. But if the traditional center-city environment is not essential to the existence of suburban centers, why are they always located within easy commuting distance of the city?

Suburbs are dependent on the research and educational centers, not to mention the entertainment, arts and business centers yet exist without providing adequate financial support of such institutions located in a separate government area. This system of many governments, one region limits the economic strength and cultural influence of a region.

The division that exists in American "Metropolitan Areas" between the suburbs and traditional city in terms of wealth and access to wealth will be detrimental to the ability to compete in a global environment. The populations in these regions are inextricably linked to a common future in a world economy, and a region bent on separating the suburban and urban futures will not be able to create or maintain the quality of life essential to attracting and holding the most important commodity in a knowledge- based society, talented people.

Neil R. Pierce expressed in his 1993 book Citistates that:

"Political boundaries do not seal off problems of pollution, solid waste disposal, transportation, schools, inadequate infrastructure. Advertise a suburb by itself and you may be able to offer an above-average labor force and housing stock, but probably fewer educational centers and no really significant concentrations of financial and legal services. Advertise a center city alone and you may talk of great centralized facilities but end up exposing to your catch conditions of severe poverty and lack of a skilled labor force."

If knowledge is the most important commodity in the global society, then the ability to educate, attract and hold people will be the most important asset an emerging world-city can work to create. The only effective way to do that is to form a unified regional government or a city that spans to the edges of economic rather than political borders. High tech workers and people who start businesses and develop technology are young, single, and not content to live in the isolation offered by the suburbs. Further, they are educated and desirous of cultural facilities, theaters and libraries and most importantly the potential to interact with others like themselves.

Only the traditional city can offer these amenities. Pierce said, "Once upon a time, quality of life may have been thought of solely as an aesthetic or social issue. No more. Today it is a critical economic factor profoundly affecting the future prospects of a city-state."

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 03.02.04 @ 16:17PST

It's Really Starting to Show....
More and more, the agenda of the New Feudalism moves from covert to overt. Read economist Paul Krugman's comments in this morning's New York Times:

"Maestro of Chutzpah"

And a detailed analysis of its political development and its relation to energy consumption:

"Will the End of Oil Mean the End of America?"

The latter article ends by proposing a new agenda that regular readers of New Colonist will recognize, and perhaps already live out....

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 03.02.04 @ 07:42PST