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quote of the week: the reappearing desert

Posted on May 2, 2012 in Philosophy, Urban Structure

How little has changed since the 1830s!  From Tocqueville's Democracy in America, published in 1835:

Sometimes the progress of man is so rapid that the desert reappears behind him. The woods stoop to give him a passage, and spring up again when he has passed. It is not uncommon in crossing the new States of the West to meet with deserted dwellings in the midst of the wilds; the traveller frequently discovers the vestiges of a log house in the most solitary retreats, which bear witness to the power, and no less to the inconstancy of man. In these abandoned fields, and over these ruins of a day, the primeval forest soon scatters a fresh vegetation, the beasts resume the haunts which were once their own, and Nature covers the traces of man's path with branches and with flowers, which obliterate his evanescent track. 

Extended passage here, all equally relevant to urban planning.  Hat tip: Ta-nehisi Coates, the Atlantic.  

Photo: Tyson Jerry, NevadaCounty.com

should voter-approved transit taxes be spent in transit?

Posted on May 1, 2012 in Funding, Houston

You'd think that once you ask your local voters to approve a tax specifically for transit, you owe it to the voters to spend the money on transit.  Apparently that's not how it works in Houston, as Houston Tomorrow president David Crossley explains.  

Metro receives local money from a 1-cent sales tax that was approved by voters when the agency was created in 1978. In 1987 then-Mayor Bob Lanier [of the City of Houston] began taking 25% of that money away from Metro annually to use as he saw fit. That included funding design work for the so-called “Grand Parkway,” which is now under intense construction in order to pull population away from the City of Houston and all the other towns and cities in the region.

I have some sympathy for these funding diversions.  Sometimes voters haven't approved levies for what is really needed at the moment, and the only way to keep things going is through.  Sometimes, too, these diversions really are "loans" that get paid back.

But when a diversion is used to fund a competing capital project, the obvious question is:  "Why not ask the voters if they want to fund that project?"  That, question, too, may have a valid answer, and I hope Houston readers will explain it in the comments.

UPDATE:  A Houston reader offers a competing narrative.

I'll be doing a public lecture and discussion in Houston on May 14.  See info under my photo –>

hello from flagstaff, and a factoid

Posted on April 23, 2012 in General

I'm at the Arizona Transit Association conference, which is also the annual conference of the Arizona DOT. Interesting factoid from an excellent presentation by CTAA's Scott Bogren:  In the US, when a local initiative or referendum to raise some tax to fund transit is put to the voters, they pass 75% of the time.

Scott is on Twitter as @CTMag1 … Follow for more of the same!

 

seattle media cover last night’s event

Posted on April 19, 2012 in Events, Journalism, Seattle

My fun faux-debate with Darrin Nordahl last night, sponsored by Town Hall and Transportation Choices, has been covered by both the Seattle Times and the online journal Publicola.  Both summarize the question as something like:  "Should transit be useful or fun?"  Put that way, it's easy to say yes to both, but there really are some choices to be made, because often we're asked to sacrifice the useful for the fun.  As I said in the debate, I support all of Darrin's recommendations for a more joyous transit experience, except where the abundance and usefulness of service must be sacrificed to achieve them. 

darrin nordahl’s new book

Posted on April 16, 2012 in Books, Seattle

9781610910446Darrin Nordahl has a new book out, e-book format only, called Making Transit Fun! You can download Chapter 1 here: Download PDF.

I will be appearing with Darrin Thursday Wednesday night in Seattle, to promote both of our books.  Details in the far-right column under my photo. 

For my review of Darrin's previous book, My Kind of Transit, see here.  Note that Darrin is such a classy guy that he links to my review on his website, even though my review raised major objections to that book.

Darrin is a great writer, a keen observer, and a committed urbanist.  While we have utterly different perspectives (compared by Treehugger's Lloyd Alter here and by Slate's Tom Vanderbilt here) we agree about almost everything that really matters.  I look forward to reading and reviewing his new book, and meeting him again in Seattle on Wednesday.

if you invite me to speak …

Posted on April 16, 2012 in Calgary

… be assured that I don't expect this!

IMAG0781

Still, a nice gesture from Calgary Transit.  I trust it flashed only briefly, so that nobody missed crucial info about when the next train is coming. 

walking in america

Posted on April 11, 2012 in Stop Spacing

Tom Vanderbilt at Slate is doing a series this week at Slate.com on the crisis of walking in America.  He ties it to a range of issues in public health.  It's also an essential part of providing more efficient (and therefore abundant) transit systems.  

The first installment is here, the second here.  

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