Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Things Going On

Check out this really cool/not cool video of the swaying Manhattan Bridge. Kind of freaky when you think about how many full bends it took to break that really hard chewing gum in an old pack of baseball cards or a paperclip.
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Tom Toles is a great cartoonist.

Via GGW
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Matt Johnson has a map of ridership on the Washington Metro. Pretty informative and good lookin.
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Saying yes to the ballot measure that would outlaw streetcars in Cincinnati also outlaws any type of rail. What were they thinking?
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2/3rds in California is really annoying for tax increases. Over 62% of citizens in Marin voted for the train yet they are fighting about whether the Sonoma+Marin = 2/3rds rule applies. When do we get rid of prop 13 again?
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Shanghai Subway to be longest etc etc etc. The Chinese are moving fast.

Via Metro Librarian
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Houston one step closer to sprawl inducing road.
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A New York woman who owns a house near Columbia Pike doesn't like what will happen (italics mine):
A streetcar line would encourage further development along the Pike, generating windfall increases in property values to adjacent homeowners. I am one of those homeowners and lived in Arlington from 1991 until 2007. As much as I like to see my home value go up, I do not consider this an adequate justification for the proposed system.
Of course it's not the only consideration. But what happens when all that further development is walkable and lessens the need to drive everywhere for everything.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

you may trash 13 as soon as you explain how I am supposed to afford real estate taxes on a home which has risen from 25k which I was able to pay off to 500k in the current market. hint, my earning power has not risen by a factor of 20

Pantograph Trolleypole said...

I don't think many people can afford that. But there will be a way to phase it back in in which people who have been somewhere for a long time will be ok.

Alon Levy said...

how I am supposed to afford real estate taxes on a home which has risen from 25k which I was able to pay off to 500k in the current market.

Well, you chose to speculate on real estate. If you'd instead speculated on the stock market, and made 20 times your initial investment, you'd still have had to pay capital gains tax.

If you think this is unfair, then ask yourself whether it's fair for a person who buys a new $200k house next to you to pay several times the property taxes you're paying on your $500k house.