The regional planning and transit bureaucrats who created the latest Triangle transit plan weren't really trying to fashion transportation policy. They were trying to remake the region's economy and land-use patterns according to "Smart Growth" principles that are, in truth, reactionary. They envision urban employment cores, dense residential neighborhoods and rigid commuting patterns based around a 19th century technology, the train, that bear little relationship to reality.Haha didn't anyone tell these guys about Karl Benz in 1885 and his four stroke gas engine. You know, 3 years before Frank Sprague and the electric streetcar. I wonder how many times we have to go over this. But that last paragraph is telling. No citations of real studies or polls (like this one) and all preferences of his own. How come its so expensive to live in Walkable cities? I would venture to guess it is because there is so much demand that prices are being driven up by folks who have money that want this type of lifestyle, making it harder for those who don't to leave the the suburbs. Again, why should we subsidize his suburbia?
While some individuals desire such a lifestyle, the vast majority of citizens, 82 percent by one recent estimate, prefer to live the American dream in a single-family home and travel when and where they want using their personal vehicles. Any transportation plan hostile to clear public preferences is doomed to fail, and to cost taxpayers a great deal in the attempt.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Do We Have to Even Read It?
Three Projects is Waaay Too Many
Mayor Pat McCrory cautions against too many competing transit projects muddying the lobbying waters at a state and federal level. The Metropolitan Transit Commission steers most elements of the 2030 plan, including an ongoing assessment of whether to push forward with an extension of a northeast light-rail line and a northbound commuter-rail route.We never worked on three highway projects at the same time, or road projects. It makes absolutely no sense to work on three transit projects at the same time. And there is no other funding source outside of the state and federal level. Money always grows on those trees alone.
But in all seriousness, there is plenty of money out there to fund transit. It's all about regional priority. Not that expect places to start switching over money tomorrow, but the interstate highway system is done. Widening freeways should be over. It's time to start thinking about more mobility for the tax base that has paid for everyone else's. Cities are the economic generators of this country. It's about time we treated them as such.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sunday Backlog Links
Another interesting thing that I missed is the end of the Stimulus craziness. Instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I missed it all, which when I got back was oddly comforting. It can be quite crazy in Washington DC dealing with movement efforts because of the thousands of changes every day. Some find this exciting but with my background in distance running, I don't quite understand it. The franticness of it all goes against everything I learned from running, including patience and putting in your daily miles over a long term period to reap rewards. It's not quite as opportunistic which is satisfying, at least to me personally. Guess thats just my personality.
In any event, here are my favorite bits from the catch up process.
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A history of the Subway in Los Angeles. After being there Friday and riding the Subway and the 704 Rapid, I see absolutely no reason why people are opposed to more rail extensions. The ride was bumpy and crowded and needed a lot of work in the wayfinding department. There was no map so I knew where I was going and no announcements of transfer points. Transit TV is worthless as well.
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It's amazing when you hear stories of Japanese soldiers that were found on Islands many years after the Second World War was over still thinking they were in the war. Similarly, it's amazing when a fight is lost over rail people still continue to fight it, even after the voters strongly affirmed their will.
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Why are we still propping up the auto industry? And why do we consider transit expansion an "extra thing", something that is a novelty when its more of a necessity than tax breaks for automobiles.
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Gavin has officially lost my vote for Gov. His smarmyness probably had lost it anyway. Perhaps Jerry Brown or Antonio are better. Maybe, maybe not.
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If you have to vote for transit improvements, shouldn't we have to vote for roads as well?
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The Green Line in Dallas has created 2,200 jobs. It's really too bad we couldn't fund more of these lines.
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No such thing as Green Personal Transportation?
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Developers say eliminating a station on the Corridor Cities Transitway would hurt their large development scheme.
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At least we'll be able to get around Spain. They are planning a huge HSR network. Seems like they are the leaders in the next major infrastructure movement. Perhaps when President Eisenhower goes to Spain he can see how it worked and promote it here. Then another group will co-opt it and turn the autobahn into a mover within cities instead of between them. Did I just get my time periods mixed up?
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Copying an idea that I believe came from Columbus, the Charlotte Bobcats are selling transit tickets with thier event tickets. I think this could be a very real way to raise capital for transit projects and allow people to use thier event tickets as proof of purchase (POP)
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This is what the Stimulus was supposed to fix, but won't. We'll have to depend on the transportation bill for this. In the meantime, work should be done to get land along the lines ready for the future.
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Who knew that streets built before the suburban sprawl craze were actually safer than the roads built for cars. Well data backs that up as well.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Ogden, Utah Photos
Anyway, Ogden is a really neat little city and they have a spectacular downtown with some great old buildings and the nearby streetcar suburbs . It was the center of much of the railroad's east west movements. Much to my surprise, this wasn't Salt Lake City's role. I got to see the Front Runner Commuter line from a far and took some pictures of the old downtown. I'll have some more cool stuff up tomorrow or Sunday.
And if you wonder why we should keep moving towards better land use and transit that lowers emissions...take a look at what Temperature inversions do to Salt Lake City. They just became a non-attainment area.
This is 25th Street, really cool main street which used to be a really seedy part of town. Tons of cities would kill for buildings like these.
Front Runner Commuter Rail
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
When Do We Get to Win?
Then you have people who are supposed to be allies voting against the bill. Landrieu of all people should know better after Katrina knocked out the New Orleans Streetcar system for months on end and put an abrupt stop to expansion of the Desire Line, for which funding had almost materialized before the storm.
And when President Obama "pledged to launch the biggest public works program since the construction of the interstate highway system in the 1950s" we didn't think you meant a whole new highway system. People want Infrastructure and not just roads. Republican pollsters even say they do. Rails, energy facilities, water treatment etc etc.
How about investing in operating transit? It has been conspicuously left out and as Brad Plummer mentions over at the Vine, Obama's team when asked why the infrastructure funding is so paltry, responds that they don't think we can spend it fast enough. I think its more something along the lines of this...
You can go ahead and tell yourself that this is just theory - just a single example. But that's willful ignorance, as the Hindrey scalping is only one chapter in what has been one long narrative arc whereby economic progressives have been deliberately shut out of top administration jobs. Just step back and think about it for a minute: Amid a stable of eminently qualified and well-respected progressives like James Galbraith, Joseph Stiglitz, Dean Baker, Robert Reich, Paul Krugman and Larry Mishel, Obama has chosen Rubin sycophants like Larry Summers and Tim Geithner to run the economy - the same Larry Summers who pushed the repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act, the same Geithner who masterminded the kleptocratic bank bailout, the same duo whose claim to fame is their personal connections to Rubin, a disgraced Citigroup executive at the center of the current meltdown. And the list of Rubin sycophants keeps getting longer, from Peter Orszag to Jason Furman.You can only have a circus when the clowns are in the building. And that includes the bearded ladies that think that the census is pork. But the bigger story here is that Obama's people only believe in pushing paper around instead of dirt.
But this all got me thinking, what would get people to pay attention? What would get people to start thinking about how important transit is in the major metropolitan areas and how a stimulus would work? How about we just pull an Ottawa and shut it all down. Imagine the signal that would send. Just stop running the buses and trains for one random unannounced day and see what happens. When all those Senate aids can't get to work or when bicycles start piling up outside the capital office buildings, perhaps some will take notice. When Denver shut down its system, the region was brought 30 minute delays and hellish parking scenarios downtown. When LA did it, traffic speeds declined 20%. Those are big numbers. Imagine them everywhere. Do you think people would finally notice?
I know i'm getting a bit more militant about this, but if we don't start seeing signs that things are actually going to change this year, it might be time to start trying something different than just voting for change. It's not like we're asking a lot more than is needed in this country. That comes during reauthorization. We're gonna have to change things ourselves. Anyone else getting tired of being not the permanent minority or majority, but permanently screwed?
Monday, February 2, 2009
Two Thirds Green, One Third Black
Much different than the 80/20 highways to transit we promote here. 4/5ths Black. Does that mean 4/5ths home ownership?Last Thursday, the Danish government agreed to invest 94 billion kroner ($16 billion) to improve the nation’s roads, railways and bike lanes by 2020.
Traffic Minister Lars Barfoed was quoted by The Copenhagen Post as saying, “The shape of the agreement is clear: two-thirds green, one-third black,” meaning that most of the budget will go towards public transit infrastructure and the rest will be spent on asphalt road projects.
Texas Ridership Down
I think we'll see more of this in the coming months.And the reasons are not always readily apparent.
In one instance, DART officials were puzzled when ridership suddenly dried up in a Dallas neighborhood that had provided consistent business for years. It was determined that apartment closures were to blame.
Tell Boxer to Hit Back Hard
Inhofe sent a letter to current Committee Chair Barbara Boxer last week expressing outrage that highways were only getting $27 billion in the Senate version of the Economic Recovery Act, and said "given the large number of ready to go highway projects and the economic benefits of highway investment, we believe the level of highway investment should be at least 10 percent of the total stimulus package," or more than $80 billion.The worst part? She's considering doing it!!! The Chair of the Environment and Public Works committee even thinking about caving to the biggest opposition to the environment in the Senate? No way BB. T4 has the action alert.
Senator Boxer is considering an amendment to increase highway funding in the economic recovery legislation. Let her know we don't want another blank check for highways. We need to ensure that the amendment language would achieve important safety, system repair, and climate goals.
Ask Senator Boxer to support an amendment that would:1. Give preference to projects that reduce vehicle miles traveled, like transit, bike or pedestrian projects.2. Fast Track Highway Safety projects that improve efficiency and reduce congestion, like bridge maintenance and improved signalization.If we don't prioritize our spending we cannot achieve our environmental, energy, and safety goals, and we run the risk of harming our state and the nation. Thank you for speaking out against another blank check for highways.
Please call Senator Boxer's office today at (202) 224-3553
On Locking Grids
It's not only FasTracks that is short of funding, after all. Revenue for the upkeep, improvement and expansion of metro roads and highways is also far below what would be needed to preserve today's travel speeds over the next 20 years. Unless lawmakers and civic leaders think FasTracks alone can prevent future gridlock - a naive hope for reasons we'll explain - they should make sure that any future ballot issue includes more than a FasTracks bailout.I think there should be money for maintenance and repair, but beyond that, Fastracks is just a regional commuter system. There needs to be funding for local circulation and greater frequency that will help spur denser walkable neighborhoods. Don't get all scared at density either Denver. Maybe it means a few granny flats or maybe it means high rises. Depends on the neighborhood.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Is Obama's DOT Team Just Setting Up for Wall Street?
H/T Anonymous poster that I can't credit because they posted anonymously.