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Saturday, July 31st

World Carfree Network Conference Report
The World Carfree Network held its fourth annual conference in Berlin last week (July 18-25), and has now assembled a series of reports on the presentations on its websites. There is a wealth of information, including abstracts of all presentation and many links to full papers, films, slideshows, and more, among which you will find:

• The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
• The Principles of Carfree Urban Design
• Structuring Car Culture: Driving within Social and Spatial Arrangements
• The Impossibility of a Balanced Transportation System
• When the Wheels Are On Your Side: How the Disabled Are Our Strategic Allies
• Market Studies on Carfree Areas: the Example of Cologne
• Towards the Carfree City: The Situation in Belgium
• Lamma: A Carfree Chinese Island
• Europe's Carfree Residential Developments
• Carfree Urban Tourism and Green Traffic Routes in the City
• Berlin's Optically Carfree Quarters

There are many more abstracts and reports than I will list here, so I strongly recommend a visit to the website at:

www.worldcarfree.net

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.31.04 @ 18:19PST

Thursday, July 29th

Portland's public transportation system hits new ridership record
TriMet Delivers Record 91 Million Rides for the Year

This is a success story based in part on higher gas prices, and a system that offers increasing convenience, frequent service, and an all new light rail line.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 07.29.04 @ 20:58PST

Tuesday, July 27th

The Value of a Dollar
Many urban neighborhoods, mine included, are starved for stores. Severely lacking in places to buy regular household items, residents must travel to suburban strip malls. That's why my ears stood at attention when my friend told me a sign on an old auto parts store said a Family Dollar was coming soon.

Dollar stores are big business. While some see the stores as a sign of a low socioeconomic population makeup, the trend that’s led theaters, banks and empty storefronts to be filled with discounted household items is not one that’s expected to subside any day soon. Merrill Lynch forecasts that four leading chains--Dollar General, Family Dollar Stores, 99 Cents Only and Dollar Tree--will post the fastest growth of any retail sector over the next five years.

Dollar General Corporation alone plans to open approximately 675 new stores in its upcoming fiscal year. In addition to the 675 new conventional Dollar General stores planned for 2004, the company announced, it plans to continue testing its Dollar General Market concept by adding approximately 20 Dollar General Market stores in 2004. The Dollar General Market is a larger format store that adds fresh produce and a broad assortment of refrigerated, frozen and nonperishable food items to the merchandise mix.

Dollar stores may seem new, but in one form or another they have been around for a while. Dollar General traces its roots to 1950s Tennessee. Before that, stores like McCrory’s and Woolworth's did what dollar stores do today-- provide things like shampoo, soda and light bulbs at locations near home. The typical Dollar General store has 6,750 square feet of selling space and is located within five miles of its target customers.

It's true, you don’t find many dollar stores in an upscale mall. Dollar General says most of its stores are rural, located in places other stores won’t consider. There isn’t one downtown (Pittsburgh), and the Mayor’s plan hasn’t called for one to be nestled between Saks Fifth Avenue and Brooks Brothers. Yet the products offered by a dollar store are items city residents desperately need.

The average Dollar General customer is on a fixed income and earns less than $30,000 a year. A large segment of customers are senior citizens. Dollar General has at least twenty stores in the Pittsburgh area. Family Dollar has at least fifty stores in the market that includes Pittsburgh and may be the only thing expanding faster than downtown parking rates.

It's good news for me that Family Dollar is moving in. No longer will I have to drive to Bellevue to get $1 bags of cat litter. Of course my guess is the store will be so popular many items will be frequently out of stock.

While many of these stores are rural, urban markets like Pittsburgh's Northside present great opportunities for stores selling these general items. Now that Family Dollar is moving in, it seems only natural Dollar General should look for a nearby competing location.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.27.04 @ 05:41PST

Sunday, July 25th

Son's 11 year friend rides a public bus for the first time: thoughts about public transportation
My 11 year old son Kory has a friend who is easily the most knowledgeable boy I know when it comes to facts about the teams and players in the National Football League (NFL), and the National Basketball Association (NBA). He reads voraciously. He is also full of life and excitement; a great kid.

At any rate, we'd heard about a slam dunk/three-point shootout to be held in an urban high school gym in North Portland last night. Particularly enticing for both Kory and his friend were the NBA stars who were going to be there signing autographs.

To get there, my wife and the two boys would take a bus ride, followed by light rail, and finally another bus ride. Returning home would be the same reversed.

Kory's friend lives in an upscale neighborhood in the Portland suburbs. He has great parents, and enjoys every advantage such as regular enrollment on sports teams, and a summer full of daily camps and clinics. His parents drive him to all of his activities. There are no bus stops in his neighborhood.

Last night was an eye-opener for him. Yes, he had previously ridden the light rail. Many Portland suburbanites ride the light rail to sporting events downtown because it's so much easier with the park and ride network, and the downtown parking for major events is very limited.

But he hadn't ridden the bus before.

My wife told me about a loud uncomfortable encounter on the way home between a passenger carrying a toddler, and the bus driver. The lady apparently didn't have the required fare, and was trying to appeal to help from the other passengers.

In the end, the bus driver checked all of the passengers' tickets, and lectured the lady about having enough money before she entered the bus.

Such a negative impression from a first bus ride!

As my wife later said, "that's how the other half live." And certainly Kory's friend will long remember this encounter. Kory felt very embarrassed that his friend had to experience this.

Hopefully though this exposure will plant a seed in the young friend's thoughts that not everyone enjoys the comfortable life he has; that some people just scrape by. He may feel more grateful in the future. And perhaps memories of this incident may one day spark an interest in a career in which he builds or improves public transportation systems, or does something in public service to improve the plight of the underprivileged.

Who knows?

Today Kory talked again about the experience. Though he sometimes wishes we had a family car to avoid such moments, he also sees the other advantages of taking the bus instead of owning a car, such as more family money left over for quality food, and more money for vacations.

When Kory gets older, the environmental and community advantages of using public transportation may also become clear.

Whatever the case, there's no question that momentary unsettling experiences can have very positive long range effects if we learn to perceive them in the right way.

We can either shake our head in disgust and turn away, or we can pick up the ball, drive down the court around the defenders, and dunk it at the other end.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 07.25.04 @ 20:16PST

Friday, July 23rd

Cars & Buses & Trains, oh my....
Here's my take on the attractions of buses versus light rail. Shortly after I gave up my car in Portland, I got a temporary teaching job in the outer suburb of Forest Grove. In one sense, getting there on the bus was no problem, since there was frequent service from downtown. However, the one-hour ride had lots of stops and starts, the bus got stalled in traffic, the interior of the bus had an automotive smell
that may have come from leaking exhaust fumes, and I invariably arrived at the campus slightly nauseated.

Westside light rail stops a few miles short of Forest Grove. But what a difference in ambience! The ride is smooth, and the interior of the train has no particular odor. On a bad day, the trains may be three to
five minutes off schedule, but they never get stuck in traffic. If I were commuting to Forest Grove now, I would spend perhaps 40 minutes on the train and would need to ride only a few miles on the bus.

The managers of Tri-Met expected the westside line to be used mostly by daily commuters. While commuters patronize it heavily, so do leisure riders: weekend shoppers headed downtown and people attending Trail Blazers games or rock concerts or other large-scale events. After a Blazers game, the trains are jammed, something that never happened on the buses that used to be the only public transportation for westside suburbanites.

Trains definitely have an indefinable "cool" factor.

ksandness (ksandness@newcolonist.com), on 07.23.04 @ 07:32PST

Thursday, July 22nd

Frivolous Fears
Tuesday night, my fiancée and I were out with a group of folks for a birthday. We went first (together in a car) to a somewhat loud and contrived sushi bar in North Hollywood, and were on the guest list for a jazz gig at the Catalina in Hollywood at 8:30.

This is LA, so of course we got to the sushi bar late, and as the evening progressed, I understood (there being a couple of notoriously dilatory people present), that we would never be able to get to the jazz club by the time the band started playing--even given that the band would be operating on "musician time," and so start to play around nine. One of the band members was an old friend from thirty years back, so I wanted to be there--it was her first gig in this big-time club. A little after eight, I excused myself and said I would run down to Hollywood now and meet them later.

One of our party--a woman in her fifties who lived nearby and had driven us over from her house, where we'd met--asked, with genuine puzzlement, how I would get there.

"Well, there's a Metro stop a block away," I said.

Her eyes opened wide, and she asked in a trembling voice, "Will you be safe?"

I assured her that I was often in this part of town and hadn't noticed gangs of murderers roving about lately. Then I hit the door, and I was at the Catalina about twenty minutes later.

So here's the scoop:

• This woman spends hours a day driving all over town for her commute and errands--engaging in the most dangerous activity most of us ever do.
  
• Every year, about 15,000 are murdered. About ten thousand of those murders take place in or near work or home and involve people who know each other well. "Street murders" thus comprise about 5,000 a year.
  
• Each year, automobile accidents kill over 45,000 persons. Nine street murders by car for every one by thug.

She should feel that fear she expressed every time she gets in her car. To worry about me walking to the Metro stop a block away is, quite frankly, insane. Yet many people share her fear.

When will they ever learn?

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.22.04 @ 10:45PST

Wednesday, July 21st

Where to put slot machines?
As you may have heard, Pennsylvania recently legalized slot machines--more than any state but Nevada. Folks in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are busy discussing where to put slot machines.

The topic recently came up in a discussion group. There are several potential locations for slot machines in Pittsburgh--Station Square, the Northshore, and incorporated into a new hockey Arena.

My thoughts on this: I can't imagine they would put slots in Center City Philadelphia anywhere but Penn's Landing. It does seem trashy to have slot machines anywhere near the Liberty Bell, but also to be considered--how well do residential neighborhoods and gambling mix?

I suspect Center City Philadelphia thrives in part because of the large number of townhouses that remain downtown. So, people still live in the city. The city also has great transit and it's a great walking city.

In Pittsburgh, we're slowly adding downtown residences. Slots of course will attract a lot of people, so its essential to utilize the parking that exists 24-7. Otherwise we'll end up with more parking and less
housing. And here's where I bring up light rail again... the parking that isn't used at night is downtown.

The current best place for slots in Pittsburgh is then Station Square because the light rail connects the parking lots to it. For this reason the North Shore will also be a good location when the planned connector is built. Mellon Arena (this is where we've gone to in Pittsburgh, we throw the word "civic" away for Mellon--not that Thomas Mellon wasn't a grand fellow, but...) could also be a good location because of the proximity to the convention center and some sort of connection could be made to Steel Plaza when they build the convention center link. Slots are sure to make conventions more appealing.

Now let's figure in the fact that while I am not a big fan of most zoning, slots and residential dwellings may not mix well (the reason to be very careful about putting slots in Center-City Phili). The lower
Hill District (around Mellon Arena) is filled with new housing. Likewise the North Shore plan calls
for mixing housing between the stadiums. More, 1/5th of the city lives on the North Side. That leaves us with Station Square, which, in my opinion is the best place in Pittsburgh to put slots.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.21.04 @ 12:22PST

Fiscally Fit Cities
We're not talking about the city budgets, but the savings of citizens. State Farm Insurance recently found the folks in Chicago and Los Angeles spend too much, while those in Salt Lake City and Portland save it all.

The "Fiscally Fit Cities Report" has found that fewer than half of American households are taking proper steps today to prepare for a secure financial future. Fiscal Fitness was defined by investments, quality of life and steps Americans are taking today to prepare for tomorrow. (Of course State Farm sells Life Insurance and investments).


State farm ranked the ten Most Fiscally Fit Cities as follows:

1. Salt Lake City, Utah
2. Portland, Ore.
3. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla.
4. Pittsburgh, Pa.
5. Orlando, Fla.
6. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
7. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
8. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.
9. Indianapolis, Ind.
10. Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.

State Farm says with a number one ranking in quality of life, Salt Lake City ranked in the top ten for its high number of marriages and low Body Mass Index (BMI) and smoking incident. It was also in the top 20 for average of physical activity. Relative to its median household income ($49,710), Salt Lake City area residents ranked 15th in two categories: income to home value, meaning their mortgages are in line with earnings; and percent of households participating in investment strategies.

Some other interesting facts: Pittsburgh tops the list in percentage of households with life insurance (46.9 percent), but more than half of its residents are uninsured; Fort Worth-Arlington scores the highest in income to home value ratio at 47.37 percent; Miami has the highest savings to income ratio (164.9 percent); San Jose boasts the highest total savings with an average of $78,934 and also has the highest average of stocks ($12,253) and savings in retirement accounts ($30,070); Indianapolis has the highest rate of marriage (58.4 percent); Phoenix residents are trim with a lowest Body Mass Index (BMI) average of 24.9 percent, but ironically, one of the lower rates of physical activity; Cleveland has the highest incidence of smoking with an average of more than 7 packs of cigarettes per month; San Francisco residents are the most active, exercising an average of 42 minutes per day.

Want to become fiscally fit? Go here: State Farm

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.21.04 @ 09:18PST

Light Rail Vs. Bus
There's a wonderful conversation going on light-rail and fixed transit vs. bus lines going in the Discover Pittsburgh email group. Feel free to join and discuss.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.21.04 @ 06:51PST

Monday, July 19th

Almost Heaven, Wheeling, WV
I took a short trip down along the Ohio River to Wheeling, West Virginia, this past weekend. I had been there before and knew the city was filled with architectural gems of the historic variety, but I wasn't aware there was much life to the town.

I still wouldn't call it energetic, but I found a market house that seemed to be active enough, and something many cities much larger than Wheeling lack. The streets on either side of the market house were lined with antique stores and also included a loud and lively coffee house and a used book store packed with books.

I felt a little jealousy. Wheeling with its 32,000 or so residents may have a boarded up downtown, but this little area had a market house, a coffee shop and a book store. The Northside neighborhood of Pittsburgh has more residents (45,000), and guess what? No book store, no centrally located shop specializing in coffee, and certainly no market house (they tore that down in the 1960s).

In fact, I noticed more than a few coffee shops in Wheeling... some were closed on Saturday evening, but at least they have coffee shops.

This post is of course two-fold. Wheeling is a terrific getaway (that has not been transformed by legalized gambling). It is filled with beautiful old buildings nestled in the natural beauty of the mountains and river. There are jogging trails and a waterfront park. This place screams to be made into a resort town.

The other side of the fold is this. The Northside is so lacking in businesses it's a crime. The people are here, where's the coffee?

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.19.04 @ 07:03PST

Sunday, July 18th

Children and Cycling
This past week has been inspirational as I've pedaled along with my 11 year old son and his fellow boy scouts on their final two bike rides (a 25 miler, and a 50 miler).

They finished their required rides for the cycling merit badge. These include two 10 milers, two 15 milers, two 25 milers, and yesterday, the capstone 50 miler--for a grand total of 150 miles.

What's encouraging is to see these young teens and pre-teens demonstrate levels of endurance they probably didn't know they had, and learn to see bikes as tools they can use as a means to adventure as well as simple everyday needs.

Beyond that, it became very clear to me that active elbow-to-elbow participation with young people may just be the best way to build the future we need in transportation.

These young people are impressionable, and when they see adults who get around under their own steam, and even enjoy doing that, they may be more open to the idea of bicycles as everyday transportation. The same is true with walking.

Young people need to envision everyday utility cycling and walking as viable transportation alternatives.

This different view will be helpful in the next decade or two when they become adults and are faced with the cold reality of diminishing oil reserves, crippling traffic congestion, hefty insurance and repair bills, and seeing their property taxes diverted to pay for car culture infrastructure (instead of paying for other priorities such as education).

At any rate, if you want to get involved, here's a link to a section devoted to teaching young people cycling.

www.bicyclinglife.com/SafetySkills/teachingscouts.htm
One thing I learned from the two rides with the boys this past week is I can play an active role influencing the younger generation to love cycling, be physically fit, enjoy nature, and visualize the possibilities of cycling as an everyday means of transportation.

That discovery, even more than the personal sense of accomplishment (I've never before pedaled so many miles in a day), was clearly the best thing I took from those cycling adventures.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 07.18.04 @ 08:52PST

Saturday, July 17th

Night Music
As I came home from visiting my mother this morning, I encountered the building manager and a friend from across the street out in front of our building. (Our manager used to manage the building across the street, in fact, where I also used to live.) We were talking about the neighborhood, and he mentioned how it had changed a great deal when the store on the corner changed from an electrical supply house, which closed at 5pm during the week and 3pm on Saturdays, to a drugstore that stays open till eleven most nights.

Now that there are more people coming to the store in the evening, and especially walking there from within the neighborhood, there is enough life on the streets that crime has almost vanished. The presence of a couple of nightclub/music-halls around the corner--while adding a bit of noise--has extended the effect into the wee hours. The manager plaintively commented that he missed the camaraderie of the Neighborhood Watch patrols, which were no longer necessary.

And it's true. While the voices of little groups of revelers out in front can be irritating sometimes, I'd rather hear a happy cackle than the quiet click of a switchblade under my window any night of the week, I am sure.

And I love to hear the murmur of couples talking as they walk, the words weaving in and out of the sound of unhurried footsteps. Urban poetry at its best.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.17.04 @ 13:59PST

Friday, July 16th

Asphalt Paradise
On July 5th, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development issued the impressively-titled report, "Mobility 2030: Meeting the Challenges to Sustainability," which includes the wonderfully beneficial-sounding "Seven Sustainable Mobility Goals." Reaching these goals apparently requires nothing more than the following:

• More cars
  
• More roads
  
• Wider roads
  
• More wider roads
  
• And a few emissions controls....

Applied worldwide, this would apparently eliminate poverty as well as usher in a social and environmental paradise.

Oh, and the disinterested sponsors of this plan? Here they are, in part:

British Petroleum
DaimlerChrysler
Ford Motor Company
General Motors Corporation
Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Michelin
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd
Royal Dutch/Shell Group
Toyota Motor Corporation
Volkswagen

To get it straight from the horse's...er...mouth, click here.

So prepare yourself for an asphalt paradise, folks; it's coming your way!

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.16.04 @ 15:04PST

Build the spine line!
I have been spending more time than usual in Oakland recently. No, not Oakland on the other side of the San Francisco Bay, but Oakland the Pittsburgh neighborhood (though at first glance your confusion may be warranted; they look a lot alike).

There isn’t much in the way of parking in Oakland--in fact there will soon be less. That’s because a major parking lot is set to be transformed back into a pedestrian plaza. A grand idea, no doubt.

Getting rid of parking needs desperately to be accompanied by transit improvements, however. I could point out that Pennsylvania has more roads per capita than any other state in the country. Even while losing population, we continue to expand and build at an alarming rate. Oakland is one of the three top public transit destinations in the state, on the same level with center-city Philadelphia and downtown Pittsburgh.

It is the only one of the top three not served by a fixed-transit link. This is a travesty.

If you look at a map of rail transit in Pittsburgh, you’ll see a spider web of lines going from the Golden Triangle into the South Hills. It reminds me of one of those concocted political district maps to insure incumbents election. I am not sure if it's politics that creates this map. (It might be that the South Hills lines were the ones they never got around to removing in the 50s and 60s.)

What it does say that there hasn’t been the presence of leadership or foresight in the city since the early century when they first talked about building the “Spine Line” from downtown to Oakland.

Just the name “Spine Line.” The benefits of having such a connection are so obvious I needn’t point them out here. It’s not hard to find discussion of the line either. It has just never been a priority. When your spine is not a priority that doesn’t say much for the placement of your head. We’ve built two new ballparks, a convention center, two busways and rebuilt a South Hills transit line. We’ve built one new department store and renovated (or ruined) another building for a second. All these projects are more like finger nail polish than a spine. Can our leaders find their spine? Let’s not build anything else with public money until we have a light-rail connection to Oakland.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.16.04 @ 08:53PST

Wednesday, July 14th

Bush, Kerry, ho hum
Walking around Philadelphia, I was approached by more than a few Kerry campaigners who asking "Would you like to help us defeat George Bush?" There's a high tide of ABB (anybody but Bush) rhetoric out there, but where is the grassroots support for Kerry?

It's not a problem with either candidate. The problem is a system that gives us these guys as candidates. Every four years we are presented with two uninspiring candidates who are able to appeal to the most people and are perhaps statistically the best able to compete in an election. This system might be good for boosting the chances of winning an election, but it won't be good at producing another Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy or Ronald Reagan.

If you feel like the candidates you see on the ballot are failing to inspire, there is something you can do. Register as a third party, or under "no party affiliation." You don't have to vote that way, just register that way, helping to take away the certainty of a base for the major parties. Without such a guarantee and so many votes, the off-the-shelf candidates won't have such a good shot at winning; then watch candidates with personality and message--like Howard Dean, Barry Goldwater and Jerry Brown--make their way to center stage. It's the larger question mark--that larger base of voters who could vote any imaginable way they will appeal to.

The lack of a guarantee of support will also limit or dilute contributions, reforming the process financially, taking power away from corporations and giving it back to voters.

If you want to help change the system, change your party registration to Green, Libertarian, Constitution or best yet, none of the above.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.14.04 @ 10:54PST

Tuesday, July 13th

Almost Grownup
Los Angeles is growing up at last--in the literal as well as the figurative sense. In a sign that even our normally dense (in the wrong way) political structure is looking forward to a more efficient and more sociable future, construction of yet another Transit-Oriented Development has begun, right on top of the Metro station at Wilshire and Vermont.

The original agreement calls for over 400 apartments over a mix of retail, with an elementary school next door. This will be a welcome addition to an area blessed with many Art Deco originals, but which had, despite one busy retail strip, become rather shabby in the last thirty years.

With the office building kittycorner from the Metro station going to condos, this will bring a healthy variety of residents, which, with the foot traffic from the Metro station, will make for a livelier street and many happy merchants. And with the merchants come, of course, not just things to buy, but also jobs.

What a difference from the sprawled-out, neutron-bombed residential flats of the Valley and the outlying suburbs, where the only human you might see outside all day is a letter carrier or a gardener, where the residents scurry fearfully from their garages to their back doors each night to meet their televisions...!

LA is coming back to life.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.13.04 @ 07:24PST

Monday, July 12th

Buy A Home, Help A City
I have come to believe one of the best ways we can have an impact on urban development and contribute to healthy cities is to invest in them. Neighborhoods with owner-occupied units are neighborhoods of people with not only an interest in living in a safe and clean environment, but neighborhoods made up of people with an interest in protecting their investment.

Helping renters become owners is of course a great way for cities to empower their citizens. This practice can also help stimulate economic development. Home ownership is perhaps the leading way small businesses get financing for a start-up.

Interested in being a homeowner but don't know where to start? Here's a good place. ACORN Housing Corporation As a community-based, non-profit housing counseling agency ACORN can help you get started. ACORN Housing's loan counseling program is HUD certified and our services are free of charge.

I'd also like to throw a plug in here for Pittsburgh and give you an idea of just what $10,000-$20,000 can buy.

Property #1 Property #2
Don't forget to visit our real estate page to find a house or learn more about how to buy.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.12.04 @ 07:35PST

Thursday, July 8th

Save The Century!
Saint Louis needs your help. In an attempt to increase parking, one of Saint Louis' crumbling, but significant landmarks is slated for demolition. Preservationists know that while the current times may not have a great need for the Century building, future generations will surely come to appreciate it just as we today often yearn for our lost monuments.

To lose a great building like the Century is one thing if it would be replaced with something of greater architectural and civic importance, but for a parking garage? Surely you can do better Saint Louis. Your city is losing people fast, Saint Louis. Buildings like the Century are your windows of opportunity to lure new residents and revive your beautiful downtown. Where is the creative spirit? It would seem to me the decisions are being made by economic planners, smart folks, but not the entrepreneur, dreamer types who start the economies in the first place.

Help save the Century and Saint Louis.
Sign the Petition

We were alerted of the "Save the Century" campaign by Rachelle L'Ecuyer.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.08.04 @ 07:26PST

Wednesday, July 7th

Check Out Our Real Estate Page

The New Colonist Real Estate page showcases unique urban properties in central city locations. Some of these may be historic, some may be brand new, and some may be speculative. Some may be ready to live in and others may be just a shell waiting for your handy work and dreams. They may be residential or commercial properties, and of course they could be a creative mix of the two.

You'll also find:

Cost-of-living Calculator
Tips on Choosing a Property
100 Questions About Buying a New Home
Government-Owned Housing for Sale
Top 10 Home Buying Mistakes
Learn About Sprawl
Why City Life Is Important

Visit now and post a free REAL ESTATE ad!

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.07.04 @ 14:37PST

Half of Commuters Support Mass Transit Spending
Even though almost all working Americans drive alone or with others to work—and few take mass transit or walk—Americans overall are pretty evenly divided on whether government transportation spending should favor road-building or mass transit, The Associated Press/Ipsos Public Affairs poll on traffic and transportation shows.

In fact, half (51%) think the higher priority should be on expanding public transportation. Only 46% prefer a priority be placed on building more roads and highways, even though 91% of working Americans drive to work, including 87% who drive alone.

Urban residents (60%), people in the Northeast (59%), and college-educated women (62%) all prefer spending on public transportation. Republicans (58%), especially Republican men (63%) prefer road building, as do people in the Oil Patch states (60%) and rural areas in general (57%).

While a majority of Americans say they would pay more in tax to improve roads and public transport, fully two-thirds in the Pacific region (65%) would be willing to pay up. This view is shared not only by Democratic voters (64%), but also half of Republicans (49%) and Independents (47%).

Almost everyone who works outside the home drives to work, and almost all those drivers drive alone. Public transportation is most often used by people living in the Northeastern U.S. (13%), city dwellers (9%) and minorities (12%). Just 4% overall say they carpool, hardly more than the 3% who walk to work each day.

On average, Americans who drive themselves or ride with someone else to work spend about 22 minutes on the road each way. A third (32%) get to work in ten minutes or less, and only 2% say they drive more than an hour each way. Men (25 minutes on average) tend to have a longer commute than women (18 minutes), and men who are over age 45 (30 minutes), living in the suburbs (29 minutes) and married (28 minutes on average) have the longest commutes of all.

Six-in-ten Americans say that traffic in their area is an inconvenience, although more say it is a minor (39%) than a major one (21%). Four-in-ten say it is not an inconvenience. Traffic is most often reported to be a major inconvenience by people in the Pacific region (32%). Urban and suburban residents alike see traffic as a bother.

Signs indicate that traffic is only getting worse. Half (55%) say traffic in their area has gotten worse over the past five years, a third (33%) say it is about the same. Only 6% say traffic has improved in their area.

Residents of the Pacific region are among the most likely to say traffic has gotten worse (69%; 50% “a lot”), along with suburbanites (62%). Women who are married (65%), over age 45 (62%), have some college (63%) or a degree (61%), have household incomes over $50,000 per year (63%), and are Democratic voters (65%) are relatively more critical of traffic today than others.

Over three-quarters (78%) say they have made at least one change to their daily routine because of increased traffic. Half or more say they have allowed more time for travel (63%), avoided certain roads (57%) or driving during certain hours (51%). People living in the Northeast (72%) and Pacific (73%) regions are most likely to say they have changed their routine to accommodate increased traffic. However, only one in ten (11%) say they have taken mass transit instead of driving. This option is most common among people living in cities (20%) and the Northeast (20%; 14% in the Pacific region), non-whites (23%) and those with low household income (19%).

Between June 18-20, 2004, Ipsos Public Affairs conducted a poll of 1,000 adults nationwide for The Associated Press. The margin of error is +3.1 percentage points.

Eric Miller (editor@newcolonist.com), on 07.07.04 @ 14:27PST

Tuesday, July 6th

When Trickle-Down Becomes Vacuum-Up
New York Times economist Paul Krugman makes note of what happens when trickle-down becomes vacuum-up economics:

...Economic growth is passing working Americans by. The average weekly earnings of nonsupervisory workers rose only 1.7 percent over the past year, lagging behind inflation. The president of Aetna, one of the biggest health insurers, recently told investors, "It's fair to say that a lot of the jobs being created may not be the jobs that come with benefits." Where is the growth going? No mystery: after-tax corporate profits as a share of G.D.P. have reached a level not seen since 1929.

The entire article is short and worth reading; you will find it at:

www.nytimes.com/2004/07/06/opinion/06KRUG.html?hp
And from Reuters:

While American companies are enjoying their best profits in decades, workers have seen scant gains in wages and if that doesn't change soon, economists worry consumer spending could falter, hurting the economy.

Lagging US Wage Growth a Worry for the Economy
Without real work for real pay, there is no economy. Without reasonable protection from economic or health calamities, there is no security in the home.

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.06.04 @ 12:40PST

Sunday, July 4th

Our Neighborhood Mom & Pop Donut Shop
We've recently discovered the quiet unremarkable looking donut shop across from the big chain supermarket in our neighborhood. There are no glitzy logos. The furniture is simple, old, and worn. The local daily rests on a couple of the tables. The scene is the complete opposite of corporate slick.

And the donuts are fantastic; some of the best I've ever tasted!

The shop is owned by a Korean couple. They are open mornings only 7 days a week.

And while their donuts are a little more expensive than the assembly line donuts at the chain supermarket across the street, the quality is clearly superior. I don't begrudge the higher price in the least.

I see the business cards on their counter for the carpet cleaning company the husband and his sons run as well. As a carpet cleaning company owner/operator myself for the past 11 years, such details stick in the brain.

Mom & pop businesses are an important part of what makes communities livable and interesting.

Perhaps most family businesses never make their owners financially wealthy. But when combined with the autonomy, the wide circle of aquaintances and friends, and the inner satisfaction that comes from providing needed services to the community, their "wealth" can be considerable.

At least that has been my experience.

I noticed today while completing my carpet cleaning income statements for the first six months that my projected income for 2004 will be no more than 2003. We have enough to meet our expenses and a little extra for fun. We do the budget thing. But on another level, finances aside, we feel blessed in many ways.

Sure, economies of scale, and the high degree of technological sophistication in the industrialized world dictate the need for large corporations. Mom & pops can't manufacture computer parts, automobiles, airplanes, gas furnaces, or carpeting for that matter.

Yet in so many instances on a daily basis I can choose to patronize the mom & pops in our neighborhood. I know when I have done that it's just one more string connecting me to my neigbhorhood community--not to mention one less reason for needing motorized transport.

Makes a lot of sense.

John Andersen (editor@unconventionalideas.com), on 07.04.04 @ 18:43PST

Friday, July 2nd

An Outsider's Eye
I was at the Rapid stop by the Wilshire/Vermont Metro stop last night on my way home, when a young tourist from Capetown approached me to ask if he was waiting for the right bus. After I'd assured him he was, he went on to comment, in wide-eyed bewilderment, that he'd never seen so many cars before in his life!

I looked out over the clutter of humped roofs crowded together like giant irritable cobblestones, a turmoil of steel stretching to the horizon in four directions, emanating the grunts of engines, bray of horns, and strained cries of drivers, and suddenly felt it in my guts as the madness it was, and as it must seem to any sensible or sensitive stranger.

I got on the bus and sat back, glad to be able listen to the amicable chatter of my fellow passengers rather than imprecations of the solo drivers outside. In a sense, I was already home, and glad to be able to take it easy....

Richard Risemberg (rrisemberg@newcolonist.com), on 07.02.04 @ 10:35PST