Monday Night Can't Watch the DNC Because I Don't Have Cable Linkage

Augusta is looking at streetcars. One of the points that Streetcar Salesman Charlie Hales talks about in this article that I don't see in too many of them is the difference in pedestrian traffic before and after the streetcar. This is one of the things I think Jan Gehl talks about that I just love, prove things with data. Data data data. Jan is all about doing ped counts to tell shop keepers that their shop isn't suffering because they don't have parking if they have 1,000 people walking by per hour.

The Albany Times Union has an article stressing something that should be adopted as one of our memes. Public transit is an investment, not an expense. Ed Tennyson says this all the time and it certainly makes a lot of sense. Since it is an investment, we need to amortize over the life of the transit to get its true benefits and operational costs.

Finally, Dave Reid at Urban Milwaukee has an awesome post on drinking and not driving.

As a society we say “don’t drink and drive” but in this case actions speak louder than words. Zoning and land use policies have an impact on the built environment that often promotes driving and limits other transportation options. These regulations to some extent mandate how we get home from work and unfortunately how we get from the tavern, home. Many regulations are involved in this problem but with adjustments to the three below a real reduction in drunk driving can be promoted.