Author Archives: payton

Sprawl for all along 355

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Any hope that the 355 extension would result in anything other than typical suburban sprawl (accompanied by the usual economic-development backstabbing) swallowing up huge swaths of Will County farmland are already disappearing under an advancing slab of cement. Okay, so the proposal sounds more like a “lifestyle center” than an enclosed mall (that dying breed, even here in the frigid north), but it’s sprawl nonetheless. Stanley Ziemba reports in the Tribune:

A regional outdoor shopping mall larger than the one in Oak Brook is being planned for land now used for agriculture near U.S Highway 6 and Cedar Road in New Lenox.

Village officials said Thursday they are negotiating with a major commercial real estate developer for the development near a planned interchange along the Interstate Highway 355 extension under construction…

The development — which could include a half-dozen or more major retailers and dozens of smaller retailers, restaurants, theaters and other amenities and attractions found in upscale malls — could be larger than Oakbrook Center, the west suburban mall that opened in 1962, which is about 2 million square feet…

Earlier this week during the village annual breakfast meeting at Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox, Smith said the developer already has a contract to buy 280 acres near the proposed Interstate 355 interchange. Because the site is not near homes, no major outcries from local residents are anticipated, he said.

The construction of the center could be completed by the time the U.S. 6-Cedar Road interchange is finished in 2007, Lowman said.

The 12.5 mile Interstate 355 extension, linking Interstate Highway 55 near Bolingbrook with Interstate Highway 80 in New Lenox, long has been viewed as a potential catalyst for economic development within and near the communities of Lockport, Lemont, Homer Glen, Bolingbrook and New Lenox.

Rail ridership figures

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To settle a disagreement from tonight (over Metro vs. CTA), I found these from APTA:

Fiscal year 2002 unlinked trips:
MTA New York City Transit 1,697,645,000(1)
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority 242,794,100
Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority 235,045,300(2)
Chicago Transit Authority 180,399,600
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority 107,457,700(3)
San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District 97,146,100
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority 82,339,500

1. Includes NYCT Staten Island Railroad, but not PATH or Newark LRT.
2. Includes Green Line light rail.
3. Includes SEPTA subway-surface LRT, but not PATCO.

So, CTA’s rail system is fourth in the USA after both Washington and Boston. CTA buses and Metra trains surely carry plenty of riders, but the main heavy-rail systems are typically any transit system’s flagship.

iPod Femme

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The new iPod Mini promo copy seems awfully, er, femme, in a Cosmo-girl kind of way. Here’s the head graf:

This season�s must-have accessory? Your music. Listen in style with iPod mini, from just $199. Like any classic fashion icon, iPod mini goes with everything: Macs, PCs, sequins and tees. And with up to 18 hours of battery life, it�ll outlast the latest trend. Choose from 4GB or 6GB (super)models in kicked-up colors and show off your music collection.

Population comparisons

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Two useful comparisons of population density: Chicago has the same population as the Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming combined (2.8 million); the former covers 228 square miles, the latter group about 393,000 square miles.

A five-mile radius around my house (78.5 square miles) has 1.2 million residents, about the same as the population of Idaho, with 83,574 square miles.

VA proves single-payer is smarter

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Philip Longman, in the cover story for the current the Washington Monthly, outlines how the VA hospital system can offer better quality care, at lower costs, than any private health care provider: largely through active management of chronic illnesses, aided by extensive investments in information technology. The dramatic gains made by VA in improving care show just how deficient the rest of the US health care system is in basic, good management: think of the entire system, provide life-cycle services rather than products, etc.

The problem with this approach, he points out well into the piece, is that it isn’t replicable within the current privately funded US healthcare regime: high-capital-cost investments with long-term outcomes only make sense for single-payer, usually government, schemes like VA. (The only other US health services provider to employ so much IT is non-profit Kaiser, which is run strikingly like a government health service.)

Indeed, there are huge disincentives to change within the current pay-to-play system: since surgeons and thus doctors get paid per operation, there’s no incentive for hospitals to steer patients towards less invasive, preventive care, even when such care would cost less and result in better outcomes. Investing now in subsidizing preventive care makes little sense when the patients jump ship every few years; the investment will save money for the next guy, not for your firm.

And thus, the profit motive once again foils socially strategic investments. The market doesn’t always win.

Federated’s mall killing move

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Andrew Ross Sorkin and Tracy Rozhon in the NY Times report that buyout talks between Federated and May are continuing:

Analysts suggest that Federated would still benefit by the cost savings it could create by shutting down overlapping stores and eliminating back-office functions. According to Wayne Hood, an analyst at Prudential Equity Group, Federated would probably save $200 million in the first year of a deal.

A lot of underperforming or duplicative locations will have to close in order to wring $200M out of this deal — especially since Federated only has two business models (upscale Bloomingdale’s and midscale Macy’s) whereas May’s dozen nameplates operate in a far wider range of market conditions. A consolidation by the industry’s two largest players could leave dozens of malls with dark anchor spaces, and the inevitable sales declines that follow could push even the remaining anchors out — putting dozens of B-grade malls out of existence unless their owners prepare to reposition now.

live from National Airport

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In DC this weekend, someone left a “New Homes Guide” in my hotel room. The map of sprawl shows commuter suburbs springing up not one, but two counties past the West Virginia line, in Spotsylvania County, five counties from DC, and across from Annapolis on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

The beauty and functionality of Metrorail and the new National Airport leave me feeling jealous: I haven’t seen infrastructure this well-designed and well-kept since Paris. Train headways have been 2-3 minutes at rush hour, 10 minutes even on Sunday afternoons.

Costly auto dependence

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Bob Rackleff, a county commissioner in Leon County (Tallahasee), Florida, has put together an interesting paper on how auto dependence is draining Florida’s economy. (Full text is after the jump.) The Wall Street Journal earlier had an article on the Tampa region, which has the highest per-capita expenditures on transportation (an astonishing 23.2%!). That money leaks out of the state, as Florida neither makes cars nor drills nor refines oil. If even one-third of those transportation expenditures were invested in housing instead — an investment which tends, unlike cars, to grow in value — the resulting price rise would build lots of wealth within the state, and bring tax benefits due to the mortgage interest deduction.
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Opera without cars

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Maybe it’s only in LA, though. “Enhanced reading” to be staged on 5 March.

THE TREE, a new opera by PETER WING HEALEY

Synopsis: The spirit of a centuries-old oak tree on a ridge outside a small town falls in love with a poetic young man from the town.� She comes out of her tree and marries him when his first marriage falls apart.� They move to the big city where he will pursue his dream of becoming an architect.� His ex-wife, taking custody of their son, marries again, this time to a local developer.� When, years later, the developer decides to build a mall outside the now growing town it becomes clear that he plans to cut down the old tree.� The town is instantly polarized and the son joins with a band of tree-sitters to protest the construction.� The architect and the tree spirit watch helplessly as the situation deteriorates.� When the tree is finally felled she dies but in the process he receives the gift of a vision that will enable him to transform the world.

An exciting, contemporary re-telling of an ancient Shinto myth combined with the story of today�s struggle to save our old-growth forests and stop the sprawl.�� Tying together themes being addressed by a broad world movement chrystalising around such organizations as Smart Growth and Congress for a New Urbanism, The Tree attempts to sing about the unthinkable � can there be life without cars?

sighted

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I’m surprised I’ve never seen these before, but in the past three days I’ve been treated to (a) a truck stuck under a bridge (in this case, a crane under the UP-N bridge over North Avenue) and (b) a bank shut after a robbery. The latter was the LaSalle Bank at State & Adams; I was getting cash and noticed a preprinted sign (done up in the standard graphic design scheme) on the bank door saying “this branch is closed due to an emergency situation.” Inside, the bank employees were milling about while cops took photographs. It’s odd that they would have those preprinted signs at the ready.

These are the kinds of things I’d photoblog about if only I was carrying a cameraphone — maybe soon.