Why didn’t I catch onto this whole linking thing earlier? Are these link lists boring for you guys?
1. Human Transit has a great post on “density” and all the different ways to measure it, with a cool picture of sprawling apartment buildings that illustrates why transit use in the Las Vegas metro area is so low, despite the fact that it’s actually slightly denser than the Vancouver metro area (?!).
2. Rich old white Manhattanites against BRT lanes.
3. Privately-paid rent-a-cops gaining traction in Oakland.
4. Longtime Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov has been fired, which some hope will make things easier on property developers in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets (“[Current] city policy practically rules out private land ownership and forces developers to lease plots under “investment contracts” that often give a share to the city”). Most, however, are girded for a multi-year transition while new palms are greased.
5. Damon Root at Reason magazine explains why Columbia’s Manhattanville eminent domain takings are illegal even post-Kelo.
There are non-NIMBY reasons to oppose the BRT lane. I’m against it because 34th is a second-tier bus corridor, as well as because the city’s implementation of BRT is so poor that buses have to stand still during fare inspections.
It’s rich white interests that have led the city to propose BRT on 34th and not on more important routes, which tend to serve ungentrified neighborhoods. The corridor that could use dedicated bus lanes the most, 125th, doesn’t serve the people who transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan knows or cares about.
This is the reason progress in our city is so slow. We need to increase production and live closer to eachother. Mid density houses are great. Skyscrapers are amazing.