American Dream

The Portland Development Commission director says he wants to put certain retailers, such as Home Depot, on a "no" list. That's smart growth -- giving the people "choice" by giving them no choice!

www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/8826033.htm?1c
San Jose, MERCURY NEWS (requires sign-in)

Proposed fare increase makes VTA average fare per rider rise from one of lowest in country, 62 cents several years ago, to one of highest, 92 cents.

Sales tax receipts inched up in December, the first increase since early 2001. And $80 million in emergency funds that were earmarked to keep buses and trains running have not been spent because the VTA has saved $65 million by making deep budget cuts.

Still, problems remain. VTA fare box returns are among the lowest in the nation, meaning that it is one of the urban transit systems that relies most on public taxes to subsidize its operations. Transit ridership has plummeted -- in part because highway traffic has eased as the valley's economy cooled, but also because of fare increases and budget cuts.

And the VTA's ambitious plan to build more light-rail lines and bring BART to San Jose is facing renewed controversy.

But the change in the VTA's philosophy is noteworthy. For nearly 30 years, transit officials and political leaders in Santa Clara County purposely kept fares low, wanting to entice those riders least able to afford transit fees and draw vehicles off clogged freeways. Critics said these officials thought of VTA as a social services agency, not a transit agency.

Former Sears Site Set for Redevelopment

This article in Minneapolis's left-wing alternative newspaper "The Pulse" highlights the huge public subsidies going into the redevelopment of the historic Sears building on Lake Street located in a blighted city neighborhood. The public is contributing $70 million in everything from historic tax credits to empowerment zone grants while the private construction company which will take ownership of the building is contributing $9 million. The building will be worth an estimated $170 million when all the renovations are complete...

Urban trees/Toward a greener downtown

This editorial in today's Star Tribune envisions a future for Minneapolis in which light rail and urban greenery will transform downtown into a "walkable streetcar city" where "the car will assume a smaller role in the daily lives of city people, and the surface parking lot will recede from the urban landscape."

Who Foots the Bill for Development Along Rail Line? (Part 1)

Ex-officials Seek Key Roles in Projects Along Rail Line (Part 2)

Great 2-part series from the Star Tribune (from earlier this year) on the large public subsidies being doled out for transit-oriented development along Minneapolis's Hiawatha light rail line. Former city and Met Council officials are among the big winners in this.

Big Media’s Role In Covering And Promoting the Obesity Debate

Link to the Executive Summary for a Special Report released today from the MRC's Free Market Project. The study carries the bylines of MRC Director of Research Richard Noyes and Free Market
Director Paul F. Stifflemire, Jr.

The release of the MRC's study coincides with a week-long series this week on ABC News: "America's Obesity Crisis."

"So how successful have these radical activists been at getting their agenda taken seriously by the major media? To find out, researchers with the MRC’s Free Market Project analyzed all 205 news stories about obesity published in The New York Times, USA Today, or aired on the three broadcast network evening newscasts and nighttime magazine shows between May 1, 2003 and April 30, 2004."

Taken from: ***Media Research Center CyberAlert Special***
4:50pm EDT, Wednesday June 2, 2004

Big Media’s Role In Covering And Promoting the Obesity Debate

Link to the Executive Summary for a Special Report released today from the MRC's Free Market Project. The study carries the bylines of MRC Director of Research Richard Noyes and Free Market
Director Paul F. Stifflemire, Jr.

The release of the MRC's study coincides with a week-long series this week on ABC News: "America's Obesity Crisis."

"So how successful have these radical activists been at getting their agenda taken seriously by the major media? To find out, researchers with the MRC’s Free Market Project analyzed all 205 news stories about obesity published in The New York Times, USA Today, or aired on the three broadcast network evening newscasts and nighttime magazine shows between May 1, 2003 and April 30, 2004."

Taken from: ***Media Research Center CyberAlert Special***
4:50pm EDT, Wednesday June 2, 2004

The Hillsboro Elks Club are selling their golf course in Orenco to a housing developer. While this is good news for homebuyers, it means the loss of more open space inside Portland's urban-growth boundary, all for the dubious purpose of protecting open space -- which is usually not put to such valuable uses -- outside the urban-growth boundary.

The discovery that former Oregon Governor and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Neil Goldschmidt had an illegal sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl when he was mayor of Portland is leading to all sorts of revelations about insder relations in Northwest transportation programs. As a consultant for the last 15 years, Goldschmidt helped Bechtel Corporation and other transportation contractors get sweetheart contracts with no bidding.

Bechtel, for example, built Portland's airport light-rail line on a no-bid contract, meaning no other company had a chance to compete. Similar no-bid contracts were initially approved by the Washington Department of Transportation, but later rejected when opponents argued that this process was ripe for abuse.

Various Goldschmidt cronies -- sometimes known as the "light-rail mafia" -- are mentioned in this story. So-far untainted by the Goldschmidt scandal is Portland's current mayor, Vera Katz. Katz, who grew up in Brooklyn, seems intent on recreating her home town on the West Coast, complete with a major league baseball team (recall the original name for the Brooklyn Dodgers was the "Trolley Dodgers"), trolleys for them to dodge, and four- and five-story walk-up apartments.

What a great deal, Really unbelievable. 2.5 hours at 220 miles an hour from SF to LA at a ticket cost of $24. The 700 mile system will cost 25 billion to build and produce a 30% profit. BART to San Jose 15 miles to cost 5 billion and priced at $100.30 per ride.

As if the planned Seattle monorail wasn't in enough trouble, the existing monorail (built for the 1962 World's Fair) caught fire yesterday. Nine people were injured, including a fireman who had to climb to the monorail to rescue people, and the train was heavily damaged. According to a video that you can watch from this site, it took 30 minutes to evacuate the train. Not exactly a good advertisement for elevated trains. Monorail service has been suspended "indefinitely."

Searches take bite of rights

The News & Observer
Published: Jun 1, 2004
Modified: Jun 1, 2004 6:00 AM


By BARRY SAUNDERS, Staff Writer

Here's a tip: If you cherish your dental fillings or your rights, you may want to seek another mode of transportation besides Durham city buses.
Anyone riding a Durham Area Transit Authority bus knows that can be a teeth-rattling experience. For at least one rider on the Durham No. 9 bus last week, it can also rattle your belief in the U.S. Constitution.

Rental Car Tour: St. Louis

This document is now receiving attention on the Congress of New Urbanism mailing list. Usually I try not to make major revisions to these reports, but because it is likely that there will be many new downloads, decided to make some additional points that were to have been included in a subsequent report. (May 31)

Not since the Romans sacked Carthage has a city has lost more of its population than St. Louis …. But prospects could be improving for this urban area.

Rental Car Tour: South Bronx Resurrection

What had been a strong, middle-income residential area of the Bronx had become a virtual wasteland in barely 10 years. From Charlotte Street and Boston Road the view was like Berlin at Hitler’s demise. But there had been no war.

All that has changed now….

Porto: Portugal's Picturesque Second City

Porto is losing population at about the same annual rate that has occurred in Milan, Copenhagen and Cleveland. Few cities have experienced a materially larger loss rate. But, overall the loss is not nearly so great as in other cities, such as St. Louis and Antwerp where earlier affluence rendered core densities as unsustainable much earlier.

Rental Car Tour of Seville: Planner's Europe (Almost)


Calling all North American urban planners. The Promised Land is in Spain. Eureka! Well, almost. Probably more than any other urban area, Seville appears to fit the image of Europe that drives all too much urban planning and even policy in the United States.