Last week commenter Alon Levy criticized the Manhattan Institute's position on transit unions, and Nicole Gelinas in particular, as being too focused on overall pay levels while neglecting overstaffing. Nicole wrote to me soon after to defend her record on the transit issue, and it does indeed look … [Read more...]
Long-form link list
1. Another empirical paper claiming that anti-density zoning increases racial segregation: Previous research on segregation stresses things like urban form and racial preferences as primary causes. The author finds that an institutional force is more important: local land regulation. Using two … [Read more...]
How Important Are Skyscrapers, Really?
Mary Newsom, in a review of Ed Glaeser's new book Triumph of The City, makes some arguments about skyscrapers that I've never heard before: In his eyes, skyscrapers are the height of green living. But as architect Michael Mehaffy and others have pointed out, tall buildings can be less … [Read more...]
From the comments: Public transit’s problem is overstaffing, not wages
Alon Levy writes in the comments in response to an item in yesterday's links about a Republican legislator in Texas looking to cut bus drivers' salaries: Repeating my comment on the Austin Contrarian, and similar comments I've made on Second Avenue Sagas: the problem is more staffing than … [Read more...]
Links: Transit worker wages, farmers markets, parking, and beyond!
1. Austin Contrarian comes out in favor of a Republican proposal to lower bus drivers' wages. I wish more liberal urbanists (i.e., urbanists) would comment on issues like these. I don't see (m)any of them vociferously defending transit labor unions, but I also don't see them criticizing them for … [Read more...]
Another historic preservation district fail
The other day I got some pushback from my weird (non-)historical preservation example, with some people saying that it wasn't a great example of what's wrong with preservation districts – the thing got built, after all! And of course I was being coy – that building was obviously going to pass the … [Read more...]
The effects of the Bloomberg rezonings
Here's a chapter in a book (you can read a lot of it for free) by the same authors of the NYC parking minimum study, but this time on the practical effects of the Bloomberg rezonings. Here's an excerpt from the conclusion: This study helps to shed light on the land use consequences of this tension … [Read more...]
From the comments: “Architects always ask, with a haggard look in their eyes…”
In response to yesterday's post about landmark districts, one commenter said that it wasn't a good example of landmarking gone awry, since the project was approved, apparently without controversy. Of course, he's right – even the Landmarks Preservation Commission isn't going to turn down an … [Read more...]
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