Links

1. Private companies are offering to build Hamburg a 3.2-mile cable car line connecting the red light district of St. Pauli with two other tourist destinations.

2. Alex Block links to a video about NJ Transit’s new commuter rail trainsets. Apparently the trains are so heavy because of uniquely American passenger rail safety regulations that German rails won’t even support them and they have to be shipped by truck, even though they’re the same gauge.

3. The LA Times reviews Robert Fogelson’s 1993 book about Los Angeles from 1850 to 1930, which apparently includes a great section on streetcars.

4. Lydia DePillis on DC developer fiefdoms. She says they’re a good thing because they allow local groups to “leverage concessions” from developers. Local groups in cities like NYC and Vancouver are also quite good at “leveraging concessions,” though, and as far as I know they manage to avoid the developer monopolies that DC has, or am I wrong about that? But if it is true, then Matt Yglesias thinks it’s a bad thing.