Monthly Archives: June 2007

Politics for the next generation

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A recent Washington Monthly featured a piece by Zachary Roth on how U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan — a Democrat from the moribund parts of northeast Ohio surrounding Akron and Youngstown, and elected to Congress at the tender age of 28 — is attempting to forge a new politics that will speak to the interests of Gen X-ers and Millennials.

Ryan’s one of the “fighting Dems,” another former football star with fiery anti-Bush rhetoric, is reaching for a pro-trade message that acknowledges the fact of globalization, countering it with a renewed focus on education — and selling the message with attention-grabbing political theater.

“In our part of the country, we have a very strong cultural tie to steel,” Ryan told me later. “And whether we like it or not, the world has changed.” The speech, he said, “was a challenge to change your way of thinking.”

Yield

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This fascinating video from NYC Streets Renaissance demonstrates what must be among the most satisfying jobs I’ve ever seen: a city staffer in Portland whose job is to be a decoy, nabbing drivers who roll through crosswalks. The sometimes maddeningly deferential Northwestern driving culture didn’t just arise out of thin air; it owes at least something to strong enforcement of the existing laws.

NYCSR/Transalt also has this amusing flowchart of the positive feedback loops one can expect with congestion pricing:

Your transit authority cares

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WMATA, DC’s regional transit agency, uses a rather impressive array of community outreach tools that increase transparency about the system’s workings and governance. Among them:
– LunchTalk live online chats with system officials
– a Riders Advisory Council that meets monthly
– webcast meetings, not only of the board but also of upper level staff
– a separate Elderly & Disabled advisory committee that meets monthly about paratransit and accessibility

MBTA not only has an independent governing board, but that board sponsors TransitWorks, an independent group (funded by TMAs, it appears) which administers surveys and a “mystery shopper” program.

Out in LA, Global Inheritance — which has carved a niche for itself by supporting environmental initiatives like recycling and ridesharing at youth-oriented music and sports events, recently held a Public Display Of Affection concert and exhibit at Union Station, “to show public transportation in Los Angeles a little love.” Admission? One inbound MTA ticket.

Worms!

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My pal Maureen made a bunch of worm composting bins for us city-dwelling environmentalists. I recently expanded mine into full-fledged Worm Flats, adding a second layer for super-simple worm management. (The worms migrate up to the second “floor,” leaving behind the now-easily emptied lower “floor.”) It’s worked flawlessly so far. Just watch the short video to join in the fun:

Congestion pricing pilots

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…move forward without Chicago, of course. Over $1B in federal funding will be allocated to five cities nationwide to launch or expand congestion pricing projects under the Urban Partnerships Program. One of those five will probably be NYC; Ray Rivera in the Times writes that “Ms. Peters heaped lavish praise on the mayor’s [cordon toll] plan, calling it brave, bold and long overdue.” (The NY Academy of Sciences has a terrific briefing on the London congestion charge and Bloomberg’s proposal.) So yes, the feds are heaping money on cities so that they can access a new/expanded revenue stream of tolls. This is absolutely a no-brainer.

Denver’s proposal would extend I-25’s existing HOT lanes up US36/Boulder Pike and use the revenue to expedite BRT improvements to RTD’s existing B route; this expands on a concept introduced to local commuters with HOT express lanes on I-25.

Of course, the Kennedy Expressway has a nearly identical situation to I-25; simply adding a few I-PASS transponders and cameras would reduce congestion and generate millions of dollars in revenue for Blue Line repairs. (CMAP’s ultimate proposal included $100M in Blue Line repairs [“upgraded to eliminate slow zones caused by deteriorating infrastructure… {it} has experienced a degradation in service in recent years”], but only increases tolls on the ISTHA and Skyway portions of I-90 without adding new tolls on the Kennedy or Dan Ryan despite the existence of significant congestion and barrier separated facilities. Similarly, it references raising Chicago’s existing paid off-street parking tax, but not anything about street parking prices. Buried on the last page is a reference to a $1.6M bike rental station, too; I’ll have to find out more about that.)

“We’re asking cities to try something different, innovative and daring when it comes to fighting traffic,” said Secretary Peters.

“Different, innovative and daring” — nope, not Chicago.

FWIW, other cities’ proposal documents:
The Twin Cities would expand an existing network of HOT lanes using shoulder lanes, significantly accelerate implementation of proposed suburban BRT corridors, and explore parking pricing.

In the Bay Area, several existing HOT pilot schemes, the 511 system, and parking re-pricing in San Francisco and Berkeley.

Megalopolis

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Someone on FlyerTalk asked about “megalopolis.” An edited reply:

Actually, it was a Frenchman, Jean Gottmann, whose book “Megalopolis” was published in 1961. He originally was referring, of course, to the Eastern Seaboard, but continued metropolitan growth has led to dozens of similar situations worldwide. Gottmann said as much in “Megalopolis Revisited” in 1987.

Personally, I’ve never liked the extra syllable in there; for that matter, maybe neither did Gottman, since he used “megapolitan” instead of “megalopolitan” as the adjective form.

The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy offers a better definition, perhaps, than Wikipedia’s.

In any case, some of these regions strike me more as convenient geographic constructs than as genuine supra-metropolitan units that shape human activities. Chicago is about 400 miles from Pittsburgh, Omaha, and Kansas City; Chicago arguably has similar economic and social ties to the western cities as to Pittsburgh — so why, besides the fact that Ohio is more populous than Iowa, draw the megapolitan boundary east from Chicago? (Maybe one useful and easily obtained measure might be intercity passenger and freight flows.)