If you've been following me on Twitter, you'll know that I spent this afternoon on the phone with folks in California, looking into the recent SNCF-CHSRA bombshell. To summarize: SNCF, the highly experienced French national high-speed rail operator, apparently had a plan for California's HSR … [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...]
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 … [Read more...]
Links
1. A shameless story of rent control in NYC. Glad to see that the city is forcing developers to subsidize wealthy Manhattanites' Eat, Pray, Love-like dreams of moving to Paris. 2. The travails of getting a bus lane on a busy LA street where "[m]ore people already travel by bus than by car along … [Read more...]
Links
1. Systemic Failure calls out the Bay Area for giving an award to a textbook example of greenwashing in urbanism: Ironically, this project was recently promoted on the SF-Streetsblog website by “New Urbanist” developer Peter Calthrope for its “highest level” of green technology. What does it say … [Read more...]
Shoupistas take Los Angeles
by Stephen Smith Donald Shoup and his arguments about free and underpriced parking have been getting quite a bit of press recently, and it looks like Shoup's hometown of Los Angeles has surpassed San Francisco (with its SFpark initiative) as the largest city in America to adopt some of his … [Read more...]
LA’s partial parking privatization
by Stephen Smith The LA Times reports that Los Angeles is considering "privatizing" ten public parking garages to fill a budget shortfall. The story is, unfortunately, a reminder of how infrastructure "privatization" is often little better than the status quo, and how media reporting of the … [Read more...]
LA’s New Housing Rules Band-aid the Symptoms, Exacerbate the Problem
LA Times: Los Angeles limits 'mansionization,' downtown hotel conversions Reason: In Soviet Los Angeles, Housing Affordables You! LA's City Council voted unanimously to treat the symptoms of the City's gentrification problem by restricting property owner's right to improve their … [Read more...]