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Thursday, April 29th

Bike to Work Days
Bike to Work Day is coming up in Los Angeles in May, and while it is a commendable promotion--some 30% of past participants still ride to work at least occasionally a year later--it saddens me a bit that the concept needs promotion.

Let's face it, in LA bicycle commuters fall into three general classes:

• Those too poor to drive or even take the bus
• Committed activists
• Exercise fanatics

What I'd like to see in this city is people who bicycle simply because that's a normal part of the transportation matrix here.

I'm remembering Japan, especially Osaka--ironically, the "Detroit of Japan," where most of the car factories are.... Bicycles were everywhere (literally!), and everyone was riding: women going shopping with one or two children in child carriers, middle-aged middle managers in suits, briefcase and umbrella in one hand, pedaling serenely through the drizzle to the office or the subway station...people walking, riding, getting on trains, sometimes driving cars. It was just the way it was.

Bike to Work Day is a good start. But bicycling to work should not be an event. It should be a commute. What a world it would be, where that was just the way things were....

(Those interested in our travelogue of the Japan visit--it includes many bicycle images--click here.)

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.29.04 @ 12:17PST

Tuesday, April 27th

Rail Transit Benefits Report
Last week I posted a new report on our website which evaluates the benefits of rail transit (www.vtpi.org/railben.htm). It began as a response to a paper by Randal O'Toole ("Great Rail Disasters," available at www.rppi.org), but evolved into quite an intresting study in its own right, as I investigated an increasing number of impacts, including per capita transit ridership, vehicle ownership, transportation costs, traffic congestion, traffic fatalities, etc. between cities with and without rail transit systems.

It is unfortunate that the debate over the merits of rail transit has become so polarized. Some people have criticized my report without even reading it, because they think that rail transit receives too much support.

My report is not simply a list good things about rail and bad things about bus or automobile travel (in contrast with O'Toole's document, which only discusses the disadvantages of rail). I have tried to provide a balanced discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each mode, and therefore the situations in which each is most appropriate. I have yet to have anybody challenge the basic concepts or the categories of advantages and disadvantages in my paper.

A key difference between my analysis and that of O'Toole and other anti-transit and anti-smart growth critics is that I focus on accessibility (including the effects of different land use patterns and the degree of transportation diversity) and they only consider mobility (physical movement). For example, they measure traffic accident risk per passenger-mile, while I measure it per capita, which takes into acocunt the safety benefits that result when people reduce their annual mileage.

I am certainly not saying that rail transit is always a cost-effective investment, or that all rail projects are optimal. I have, however, identified a number of benefits in terms of transportation system performance (per capita transportation costs, congestion delays, fatal traffic accidents, etc.) which seem to result from the leverage effects rail can have on a city's transportation and land use patterns. There are legitimate questions as to whether these advantages are simply legacies of older cities that cannot be achieved with new rail (experience in cities such as Portland indicate that new rail systems can reduce per capita vehicle ownership and mileage, but more research is needed to determine the overall magnitude of these impacts, as well as the total potential market for associated housing patterns), and different people may place different values on these benefits, but it would be unfair to a community to evaluate rail system benefits without considering these additional impacts. They are potentially very large and so have significant implications for project evaluation.

Todd Litman (litman@vtpi.org), on 04.27.04 @ 06:12PST

Monday, April 26th

Kerry's SUV
The number of "environmentalists" caught with SUV's is alarming. I remember going into Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco and seeing the parking lot filled with gas guzzlers used to carry Grapenuts home. Now John Kerry, who supports increasing existing fuel economy standards to 36 miles per gallon by 2015 in order to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil supplies, admitted that a Chevy Suburban, the grand obnoxiousest of the SUVs, is parked at his Idaho home.

Despite the SUV, Kerry's website promises to put the environment at the forefront if he's elected. Among the agenda items are:

• Reduce our Dependence on Foreign Oil
• A Commitment to Cleaner and Greener Communities
• Fighting for Environmental Justice
• Enter into a 'Conservation Covenant' with the American People
• Protect our Health by Reducing Dangerous Emissions
• Smart Growth and Livable Communities....

But, ah, the reality... oh, in case you didn't hear, Kerry told the press he doesn't own the SUV. His wife does.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.26.04 @ 19:07PST

Back Home Again, SUV's Love Their Indiana Home
There's no small car revolution in Indiana, where the number of SUVs registered went up 105 percent between 1997 and 2002. A new report by the Census bureau also shows Wisconsin and the District of Columbia experienced double-digit increases, while Rhode Island saw no significant change.

According to the 2002 Economic Census-related survey, SUV registrations jumped from 276,000 to 565,000 in the Hoosier State, an increase of 105 percent, for the five-year period. The District of Columbia saw an increase of about 81 percent, and Wisconsin registrations were up about 43 percent.

Additional highlights include:

• An estimated 2.2 million private and commercial trucks were registered in Indiana during 2002, 1.9 million in Wisconsin, 216,700 in Rhode Island, and 42,600 in the District of Columbia
• Between 1997 and 2002, minivan registrations increased an estimated 32 percent in the District of Columbia and 23 percent in Wisconsin
• The estimated number of pickup trucks registered in the District of Columbia dropped 12 percent, from 7,500 to 6,600, between 1997 and 2002
• Indiana and Wisconsin each had about one pickup truck for every four licensed drivers, Rhode Island had one for every nine licensees, and the District of Columbia had one for every 47 drivers, according to estimates in the reports and statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration
• In 2002, an estimated 7 percent of large trucks registered in the District of Columbia carried hazardous materials, as did 6 percent in Indiana, 5 percent in Wisconsin, and 4 percent in Rhode Island.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.26.04 @ 18:49PST

Sunday, April 25th

Portland opening new light rail line on Saturday, May 1st
This will be Portland's fourth line.

We're excited that now we can ride the light rail out to the Expo Center!

There are more plans in the works for future light rail lines, but we won't see them running for at least another five years.

Check out this website which describes the grand opening celebration, and a bit about Portland's system:

http://www.trimet.org/promotions/celebrateinterstate.htm

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 04.25.04 @ 05:55PST

Saturday, April 24th

Rail Revitalizes Regions
For a comprehensive analysis of the ways good rail mass transit benefits cities, and even suburbs, see the Victoria Transport Policy Institute's excellent report:

www.vtpi.org/railben.htm

The complete numbers show that rail does in fact spur transit-oriented development that increases regional prosperity and worker efficiency...it's one of the best investments a city can make in itself, as long as it's coupled with policy changes that permit human-scale mixed-use development.

A valuable resource.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.24.04 @ 10:20PST

Wednesday, April 21st

Life and Near-Death
We spent last weekend in the Bay Area, dividing our time between San Francisco and Mountain View. The first is everybody's favorite city in the US; the second a suburb so dull you can't describe it even as forgettable, for there is nothing there to forget.

San Francisco--what a pleasure simply to be there! My soul felt like a bird flying on soft wings through an ether of conviviality...the busy sidewalks, the faces, the gulfs of light and air among handsome buildings, shop windows shining with fashion, air rich with odors of a thousand cuisines. Every step was rich with pleasure and the harmony of fellow souls. Not to mention that it was easy to get around anywhere, with buses, streetcars, trams, and BART all over...I remember riding the Muni tram to Golden Gate park with a chattering party of Asians celebrating a young woman's graduation from culinary school....

Then the suburbs, where we visited a cousin. From the restaurant by the BART station to her home, we rode strapped into her SUV, strictly aligned with the broad gray lanes of the freeway for a soporific half-hour drive. In the morning I went out for a walk, hoping for a bit of breakfast with my exercise...I trudged along empty sidewalks next to empty streets, with other humans dimly visible as lonely specks in the distance, eventually coming to a shopping mall that centered itself around a parking lot that spread so far you could almost see the curvature of the earth...nothing was open at 8 in the morning except the Wal-Mart that wallowed in the distance like a half-sunken battleship. I turned back to the little suburban house, where I sat in the gray uninsulated chill reading a paperback till the rest of the folks woke up--and dreamed of croissants in a cafe on Union Square.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.21.04 @ 09:24PST

Monday, April 19th

Self-propelled railcar promises immediate solution to intercity transit
A self-propelled railcar is making its way through a tour of cities and towns in the United States, promising an immediate boost to transportation options. One link that would connect Pittsburgh and Harrisburg could provide interim service until the implementation of high-speed rail service that would otherwise be decades away. The car, which can travel 100 miles an hour or more on existing tracks, would shorten the trip and make the trip more frequently. Most appealing, service could start before the end of the year.

In Pittsburgh, legislators are looking at connecting suburbs along the Allegheny River, including Oakmont, with the Golden Triangle, using the railcar.

Heralded as the “Train of the Future” for commuter rail, the train, known as a DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit), was recently purchased for use in Florida. The Florida Regional Transportation Authority (formerly Tri-Rail), representing the FRA and Florida DOT in a joint procurement agreement, approved the contract for the DMU Demonstration Project and authorized the acquisition of 3 commuter railcars from Colorado Railcar Manufacturing in Denver, Colorado. The vehicle is a modern version of self-propelled Budd Rail Diesel Cars built in Northeast Philadelphia, a half century ago.

One DMU has seating for 92 and a maximum passenger capacity of over 200 (including standees). The DMU gets 2 miles per gallon carrying 90 passengers and 1.5 mpg carrying two additional coaches. This is about 4 times better than a standard commuter rail locomotive. The DMU is engineered to pull two or three additional single level coaches depending on the ruling grade. Each unit costs 2.9 million dollars.

For me, it would mean five additional trains going to Harrisburg from Pittsburgh each day. Harrisburg is well connected to the entire Northeast corridor by rail, opening Pittsburgh up to Boston, New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington. For my parents who live in the mountain town of Altoona, it would take things back to the days when catching a train meant showing up at the station and waiting for the next departure, rather than scheduling weeks in advance. The speed would make appointments in Pittsburgh convenient.

The article in the Altoona Mirror said it could even lead to Altoona becoming a bedroom suburb of the Steel City. "Ha," I thought. The way the population is declining here, Pittsburgh might as likely become a bedroom suburb for Altoona, State College, and the I-99 Corridor....

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.19.04 @ 08:41PST

Saturday, April 17th

Cars necessary to get to the hospital in an emergency?
One of the arguments I hear over and over about the necessity of car ownership is that people need it in case of an emergency.

Well, last fall, we had an emergency, and our bikes got us to the emergency room quite handily.

Heidi had a speck of bark in her eye. We had tried to wash it out, but to no avail. It wasn't causing pain, just a bit of redness. Nonetheless, it needed to be removed.

So we pedaled to the nearest hospital some two plus miles away (uphill, I might add).

When we arrived, we locked our bikes to the bus shelter (not surprisingly, the ER doesn't have a bike rack). Mind you, the staff was a bit surprised to see us show up on bikes. Some forty-five minutes later we emerged, problem solved. We rode down the hill to pharmacy for eye drops, and a few minutes later, we were home safe and sound.

On the following Tuesday, Heidi had a follow-up appointment with an opthamologist downtown. Mandy and Heidi used the bus and light rail to get there.

Sure, there are cases when clearly, an emergency patient wouldn't be able to pedal herself to the hospital. My only point is there are workarounds, and sometimes we think we can't do without a car when, with a little ingenuity, we could.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 04.17.04 @ 22:38PST

Thoughts On Philadelphia
It was my second trip to Philadelphia this year. The first was in the dead of winter, and while rewarding, the second trip, in April, gave me a measure of the beats of the city streets.

I hear many people in other places refer to Philadelphia as "a pit" or some other derogatory descriptive. If someone describes Philadelphia like this to you, you can be assured they haven't been to the city in a while.

I wasn't in every part of the city, but I did cover a good bit of it. I can't recall a place that was void of people or activity, and I can't recall a neighborhood that seemed unsafe. At one point I was thinking San Francisco didn't have much on it. There had been a four or five year void before my visits this year. I don't recall it ever being as bad as some folks would have you believe, but Philadelphia today is a city that ranks with the best for street life, diversity and culture.

In many locations, the number of cafes, small restaurants, and people on the narrow streets leads me to recall being in San Francisco. I didn't see any abandoned row houses, and a run through the real estate section of the local weeklies showed these townhouses--most without parking--were very desirable.

I did make the mistake of driving to Philadelphia. The life in the city is also seen in the auto traffic that seems to be at a standstill more often than not. Riding a city bus, I found moving through the streets was equally frustrating. Philadelphia does have a subway and streetcars, but I did not ride these. The line to the area where the universities are seemed to run very frequent cars.

As you might expect, parking is at a premium. I would guess it's even worse (or better) than San Francisco. The streets aren't as wide and the old brick row-houses can't be lifted to snuggle a garage underneath, unlike the wooden houses in the city by the bay.

The mix of people on the streets seemed about the same as in San Francisco or New York. It might be even that street crowds in Philadelphia are more diverse because of larger numbers of African-Americans often absent from a west coast street crowd snap shot. The number of Asian and Latino faces in Philadelphia is clearly on the rise.

If someone tells you Philadelphia is a "pit" or anything like it, don't believe them. Either they don't like cities or haven't been there in a decade or more.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.17.04 @ 15:23PST

Tuesday, April 13th

Celebrating The NYC Subway's 100th Birthday
The New York City Subway has been around for a century. New York celebrated with lower ridership numbers thanks to a fare hike. That's not to diminish one of the world's finest systems that keeps a city humming.

New Yorkers have it made. No other city in the United States can boast of such a comprehensive and efficient system that transports her citizens across town efficiently and economically. A private helicopter could hardly do it better.

If other cities, especially growing ones like Los Angeles and Las Vegas, could only realize the importance of building a comprehensive system. A subway can make a city an efficient machine and help keep her borders from sprawling, protecting the quality of life and insuring the elements are present that make a city vibrant.

If you've been to New York and ridden the subway, I am preaching to the choir. If you live somewhere else, ask yourself, do you want your city to grow out, like Indianapolis, or grow up, like New York. If you happen to like New York, call your local representatives and officials and ask them if they support bringing or improving fixed-transit systems. If they don't, explain to them why they should.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.13.04 @ 15:20PST

A Pleasant Commute
This morning I left home a little earlier than usual, as I had chores to do before getting to the office. In short, I visited my favorite Aremnian bakery to pick up some manaesh for the office, then went up the street to the post office to send a package off to Holland, and, of course, I had to stop at my favorite coffeehouse for a few hedonistic minutes before starting my deskbound day. And I did it all without fretting at stoplights, fuming at other drivers, or looking for parking...a Metro pass and a good pair of shoes was all it took.

To those of you who live in Manhattan or Chicago or Paris or Tokyo or any number of other cities, this might not seem unusual, but I am in Los Angeles, a city just edging out of its automobilistic adolescence, and I feel a great sense of liberation...twelve years ago, my morning chores would have taken twice as long if I had dared to attempt them on public transit, and in fact at that time I just used a bicycle, or a car if I had to.

Now I know that I live someplace that cares about me...and about itself. That just feels good.

It's still kind of a secret, though: all day I hear complaints about traffic all around me. The people look so weary as they face the beginning of their day....

A recent Brookings study found that workers in higher-density urban areas are more productive. I suspect it's in part simply that having a couple of nice short walks in the morning, and not having to wrestle a car through traffic, leave you in better physical and psychological shape to work...and to live.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.13.04 @ 11:54PST

Sunday, April 11th

"...A place without traffic"
“Most cherished in this mundane world is a place without traffic; truly in the midst of a city, there can be mountains and forest.”
– Wen Zhengming (1470-1559)

This is a key quote we often use when we give tours at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden. Indeed, our garden is a peaceful oasis surrounded by city on all sides.

To me, on another level, this quote suggests the possibility of a city without "the motor traffic rumble" (from the song "Apeman" by the Kinks). It suggests that our cities can be places of rest and respite. They needn't be mind-numbing centers of noise, and pollution.

And the amazing fact is this state of serenity is within our grasp, if we truly want it.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 04.11.04 @ 06:14PST

Saturday, April 10th

It's the Little Things....
Though our apartment is upstairs, we have a private stairway, so our front door is at ground level. As we came in this morning I noticed that the decorative grill over the glass door was looking a little grimy, so I brought down a sponge and dragged the hose from the little front yard and set to work cleaning it.

Well, enough filth came off those delicate iron curlicues to blacken most of the expanse of driveway in front of the door, including our neighbor Andrew's parking spot.

Our windowsills suffer similarly. When we first moved in, my girlfriend tried to blame it on the buses that run down Wilshire a few hundred feet away--but they all use natural gas. However,they also, like the trucks and cars that pass endlessly by, use rubber tires. It's rubber dust dirtying things up!

At this rate, we will soon have a rubber-coated building. And lungs as well.

The little things add up--speck after speck of tire debris, mixed with whatever burps out of the stacks of delivery trucks and the tailpipes of the hordes of cars that afflict an otherwise satisfying neighborhood. Speck after speck, the car addicts sully our lives, body and soul.

There's talk of extending the subway down this far in a decade or two. Maybe if my neighbors got more of their exercise walking to the Metro stop, I could get less of mine cleaning windows. We can only hope.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.10.04 @ 13:04PST

Thursday, April 8th

Industrial Triangle Still Losing Residents 
A new U.S. Census report showed the counties containing Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Cleveland continued to lose residents last year with Cuyahoga County faring the worst as more than 10,000 people packed their bags and left or died.

Half of the nation’s 10 fastest-growing counties between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2003, were located in Georgia and a Virginia county —Loudoun, near Washington, D.C. gained 30.7 percent population increase over a three-year, three-month period.

Of the 100 fastest-growing counties, 60 were located in the South, 20 in the West, 18 in the Midwest and two in the Northeast.

Of the 100 most populous counties, 32 were located in the South, 27 in the Northeast, 25 in the West and 16 in the Midwest.

Sadly many of the fastest growing counties surround major metropolitan areas indicating a continued supply of fuel for suburban sprawl.

The fastest growing counties in Georgia were Chattahoochee, Forsyth, Henry, Newton and Paulding — all with growth rates above 20 percent. In all, the Peach State was home to 20 of the nation’s 100 fastest-growing counties. Next were Texas (12 counties) and Florida (nine counties).

Douglas, Colo. (near Denver), ranked No. 3 in growth at 27.1 percent. Rockwall, Texas (near Dallas), fourth with a rate of 26.8 percent; Flagler, Fla. (just north of Daytona Beach), seventh with 24.8 percent; and Kendall, Ill. (in the Chicago area), 10th at 22 percent, rounded out the top 10.

Los Angeles, Calif., continued to be the most populous county in the nation, with 9.9 million residents. It also gained the most residents with an increase of 352,000 over the 39-month period. Other counties that ranked in the top 10 in both categories — total population and numerical increase — were Maricopa (Phoenix), Ariz.; Harris (Houston), Texas; San Diego, Calif.; and Orange, Calif.
    
California (15) had the most counties among the 100 most populous, followed by New York (nine), Texas (eight) and Florida (seven)

On the losing side, Allegheny County (Pittsburgh) lost 7,277 people last year alone. Erie County (Buffalo) bled a bit slower losing 1,501 residents.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.08.04 @ 15:29PST

Another Tentacle....
So you thought that, just because worldwide indignation beat back the Multilateral Agrement on Investments a few years back, economic democracy was safe? Or that because the little city of Inglewood won one skirmish against the rayon-clad hordes of the Wal-Mart insurgency last week, local control and rule of law can breathe easy?

Eternal vigilance is the price not only of liberty but of its necessary foundation, justice: on 22 May 2003, George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13303, which effectively exempts oil companies operating in Iraq from any liability, claimed by any person, group, or other entity, for any harm they may cause of any sort, indefinitely!

A quote from EO13303:

"The threat of attachment or judicial process against the Development Fund for Iraq, Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein [...] constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States […] any […] judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void."

The New Feudalism uncoils another quiet tentacle........

For more on this fairly gross "taking" of rights considered essential to a democratic and civil world, click here.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.08.04 @ 12:35PST

Wednesday, April 7th

Wal-Mart Loses One
The people have spoken in Inglewood, a poor mostly Black and Latino enclave in South Los Angeles.

My March 30^th post outlined how Wal-Mart, thwarted in its plans to build a "Supercenter" on a parcel the size of 17 football fields in Inglewood, connived to put an initiative on the ballot that, if it had passed, would have exempted it from all planning reviews and decisions--zoning, environmental, labor, what have you.

The 71-page text of course made no mention of below-poverty-level wages, no health care, huge traffic issues, and the infrastructure burdens such establishments impose on a community--not to mention the restriction of retail choice to whatever sweatshop products Wal-Mart finds it most profitable to offer, nor the deleterious effect on the US image, and thus political and trade relationships, when you associate our country with oppressive neo-feudal economic exploitation worldwide. Nevertheless, an energetic coalition of religious, labor, and community groups joined forces with the Ingelwood city council and got the word out that Wal-Mart is unhealthy for the neighborhoods around it and the people who live in them. Read more in the New York Times or Los Angeles Times.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.07.04 @ 07:22PST

Monday, April 5th

Things may not be what they seem...
My friend asked me recently what the economy was like in Pittsburgh. "I don't really know," I said. "It's probably better than in San Francisco, but then again almost everywhere has been better than San Francisco in the last year."

To read some of the news reports things don't always look so good. That in mind, I often have cause to look twice and ponder when traversing the city streets. For example, I have read that the Strip District isn't what it used to be. There are a few clubs closing and the reason may be some parking meters they put in a few years back. Driving on Penn Avenue the other day, though I had no intention of stopping, I couldn't help but notice a lack of parking spaces. More, it seemed the sidewalks were crowded with club-going type folk and one club had a line outside. Hmmm, could it be the old clubs closed because there were now newer and better ones?

I had the same notion today at the airport. To read the newspaper you'd think no one was using it anymore. Much to my surprise, I had to wade through a crowd inside the terminal near the coffee places, up the escalator to find lines of travelers waiting on a Monday morning. Tomorrow I may read everyone was leaving.

Today was the first Pirates game of the season. Almost 40,000 were expected to attend. The crowds at the bars and restaurants around the stadium surely noticed two new sizable buildings going up on the North Shore. If they looked to the East, they'd see a half dozen warehouse buildings taking form as a new apartment complex. The development on the North Shore is paled by the development taking place on an old mill site on the South Side.

Financial woes in city hall fill the newspapers, but the prospect of forming a regional government has a psychological boost in the works as such action would make Pittsburgh the seventh largest city in the United States. I have never known quite what to believe about this city. Sometimes it seems the tumbleweeds are stacked at the gates, waiting to blow through. Sometimes I am just as sure this place is on the verge of being the place to be in the coming decades.

Come and conclude for yourself.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.05.04 @ 15:02PST

Sunday, April 4th

Think locally, eat globally
Little Arax Bakery "Daily fresh lahmajune, manaesh, beureg cheurag, tahini bread," tucked away in a U-shaped mini-mini-mall with five little shops and a patch of asphalt for five cars. The unremarkable stucco mall is itself nestled in the crux of Little Armenia, Thai Town and a Latino quarter, at the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and Edgemont Street. Locally popular, but otherwise totally unknown.

I had to hear about it from someone else, who himself heard about it from a co-worker who happens to be Armenian. Thank the luck, because without these three-degrees of separation I would forever be ignorant of the place that, though couple-hundred yards from the office, I had never seen before.

True, it lies beyond my commute route, but even if it wasn't, I would pass it by every day in my drive to reach the office. Some might say that the car lets me easily visit any of the hundreds of similar buildings and more. After all, I am not beholden to the lay of the train tracks. I can change my route, weave in and out, and stop any time. They're right--on paper. But in a car, they are wrong. There is not time for gawking at the buildings flashing by, one every few seconds! I am operating a two-thousand pound free-moving machine surrounded by other like machines that are crossing my trajectory, entering my trajectory, and moving against my trajectory, 30 miles an hour, 60 miles an hour closure, with six feet of clearance. Sorry, but I have a responsibility here!

So these little shops flash past as I cross 40+ intersections on my way to work.

I could take the subway. Arax is on the same line as my office,the two stops are a minute apart, so counting the walks it’s ten or fifteen minutes away. True, I would pass by only a few-dozen buildings, but I could read a shop’s sign and peer in its window as I pass it by. And I could easily stop (and if someone bumped into me, I could apologize). There's plenty of time. Armenian savory baked goods are a wonder. Delicious, mouthwatering, and exotic. I bemoaned my reliance on the automobile when I had my first Lahmajune. L.A.’s fledgling subway system makes me take a bus to the Metro, but I’m still better off than those in our suburbs like Reseda or Chatsworth. I have a chance to walk to a dozen wonderful establishments for lunch. A dozen and one thanks to Arax.

GS Morey (gsm@newcolonist.com), on 04.04.04 @ 16:43PST

Saturday, April 3rd

New Classifieds Page
Whether you want to sell a house or rent an apartment, you'll be able to do it with The New Colonist's new classified page. It's in our MARKETPLACE section (the green lettering on the left menu bar).

We also have reduced the price to list an event in our calendar to $2! Check out events in your area and list an event you want others to know about.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 04.03.04 @ 19:14PST

The Productivity Lie
Much has been in the news lately about the "increasing productivity of the American worker," with the unstated premise that this is a great thing. Which it is, if you're an investor or a bonus-hungry manager. But this "increased productivity" really means that people are doing more work, in less time, for less money--and so, several questions come up:

What does it mean for the physical, mental, and social health of the nation when people have to work harder than ever just to break even?

What does it mean for the economic health of the nation, for our concept of "prosperity," when we are engaged in a comprehensive program of devaluing people's time and reducing their incomes, in effect mandating a transference of wealth from the many who work to the few who own? (How much will Wal-Mart's wage serfs spend at your place of business?)

And what does it mean for the moral health of our nation when our fundamental economic structures are based on manipulation, deception, and theft?

To read an interesting commentary on a small part of this big last question in the New York Times, click here.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 04.03.04 @ 10:55PST