gildone

Horror stories like this on Amtrak's long distance network are piling up this summer. Amtrak's management is thoroughly incompetent. This is a crisis entirely of their own doing. During the pandemic they refused to use their covid relief money to keep people employed and get the long distance fleet up to a state of good repair so they would be ready when things opened back up. It's almost like they are defying Congress and deliberately trying to tank the LD trains. The press needs to pay attention. Reports like this are all over social media. To be fair, some people are reporting good trips, but stuff like this should NOT be happening.

Nice to see the American Conservative magazine on the side of walkability: Small Retail Can Make Neighborhoods Walkable Allowing ACUs to operate in neighborhoods can spur walkability and small-business formation. https://www.theamericanconservative.com/urbs/accessory-commercial-units-create-walkable-communities/?utm_content=buffer4ecb1&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Regarding the municipal accounting issue: In local government accounting, the information necessary for honest evaluation of the true financial health of our local governments is buried or excluded. This hurts us all... ...Most state and local governments in the U.S. are required to pass a balanced budget. However, a budget that fits the statutory definition of a “balanced budget” (following GASB guidelines) may not, in fact, be financially sustainable. A more appropriate goal, according to the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) should be a structurally balanced budget, defined as a budget where recurring revenues are sufficient to cover recurring expenses. Yet the data needed to determine recurring and future revenue and expenses is not clearly presented in most government financial reports... ...In the coming months, Strong Towns will provide data, resources, and tools to help you make sense of your local budgets, and empower you with the information to help you ask the right questions, evaluate options, and make better decisions about how to build prosperity in your town... https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/6/8/mds2022-your-citys-accounting-is-unnecessarily-obscure-its-time-to-pull-back-the-veil?utm_content=buffer122dc&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

I would add that air pollution and noise affect health too. We all know that asthma rates, for example, are worse in urban and traffic-heavy areas. As for noise, there is more and more research coming out about the effect of noise on health. It creates stress, higher cortisol levels, etc.

Exactly. Amsterdam is consistently rated as one of the best cities for drivers. It's because of its excellent transit and cycling infrastructure, so local streets and roads rarely clog with cars. It's a relatively equal choice between the three modes. As for walking, architecture and design make a difference. People walk where it is both comfortable and interesting. In Akron, the few blocks that make up the downtown core attract pedestrians, but you don't have to venture very far from there for the walking environment to become boring and oppressive. Other examples: It's no surprise that the #1 tourist destination in Texas is the San Antonio Riverwalk. It's also no surprise that (so I'm told), during the good weather months it's difficult to impossible to find parking within a half-mile of downtown Kent on a Friday or Saturday evening. Create a space that is comfortable to be in, and people just go, because they like it.

I think this is Strong Towns' point. And whether we argue about the semantics of liability vs. depreciating asset doesn't matter, because it doesn't change the end result: infrastructure maintenance liabilities due to our car-centric development patterns is bankrupting most American cities. Tampa, as an example, pays more each year for debt service on its water system infrastructure than it does on maintaining it. That's not a healthy financial picture. If changing municipal accounting laws to take into account the huge infrastructure maintenance liabilities cities have on their books that are currently being ignored would push cities to do things differently, it may not be a bad thing. I would also add that that while there are social benefits to roads as you've described, the development pattern we've chosen to provide them is, as I've already said, bankrupting most cities and making them dependent upon state and federal handouts. We have a huge problem. The Infrastructure Bill is only going to address 12% of our infrastructure backlog for roads and less than 25% for bridges--over 10 years. During that time we will also build more lane-miles and our net maintenance backlog will grow.

Something to check out... Strong Towns has about a dozen case studies that looked at what various neighborhoods of cities generate in terms of tax revenue relative to infrastructure expenses. As it turns out, a lot of older, pre-WWII, poor areas are subsidizing car-centric sprawling areas. It's interesting reading. Note: I'm trying to find the studies on Strong Towns website, but they seem to have disappeared. The studies were done in cooperation with a organization called Urban3. Strong Towns has posted some lectures on You Tube that incorporate some of the case studies, if you feel like searching for them.

Thanks for the clarification. I think we understand each other better here. I'm ok agreeing to disagree on some points. Like I said in a post awhile back, we're all allowed to have differing opinions.

Mistake post. Mods please delete

The world may be careening toward a 1970s-style energy crisis -- or worse https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/02/business/energy-crisis-inflation/index.html Excerpt: Current and former energy officials tell CNN they worry that Russia's invasion of Ukraine in the wake of years of underinvestment [sic] in the energy sector have sent the world careening into a crisis that will rival or even exceed the oil crises of the 1970s and early 1980s. The above excerpt links to this article about under-investment: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/21/perspectives/oil-2021-vaccines/index.html This is a perfect example of the media leaving out an important part of the story. During the roughly the first decade of this century, the exploration budgets of energy companies tripled over previous levels, yet new discoveries only increased known reserves by 12%. The fact that there is a difference between known reserves and recoverable reserves aside, that's not much of a return on investment. That's why they cut back on exploration. Another way to put it, they know there are no more significant reserves to be found. The embargo on Russian oil and gas has caused a sudden drop in supplies. Had this happened in the 1990s, it would have been less noticeable because the world was awash in oil then. Oil supplies have been tight for years now, so the world can no longer handle something like this without significant price spikes. Cross posted from a comment of mine in the Car Dependency thread on May 30: Electric cars may not save us. Sure, they help people who can afford them but replacing 287 million of them in the US (and over a billion of them in the world) is not only a huge task, it may not even be achievable: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-22/mr-lithiumalr-warns-there-s-not-enough-battery-metal-to-go-around Also, lithium prices are up 500%: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-25/lithium-the-hunt-for-the-wonder-metal-fueling-evs And there are other considerations besides supply: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01735-z Electric cars are here to stay, are a net positive for carbon emissions, and we'll see a lot more of them. Whether or not they will fully break fossil fuel dependency remains to be seen.

You missed the point. Public roads are a collectivized transportation system, especially with the system we have set up in the U.S.: Build roads and little else, then subsidize the heck out of them. I would say most Americans aren't willing to pay for it. Congress won't raise the gas tax because of the political fallout that would ensue. The result is that Congress has been bailing out the Highway Trust Fund for a decade or so now. Regarding "moving around at whim": that's something everyone throughout the developed world can do, and many countries do a better job of it than the U.S. Our approach limits the mobility of people who can't drive because they are too old, too young, or have physical limitations, to say nothing of those who want to drive less. And the reason it's only a small part of new development is because it's illegal to build in the vast majority of the country. Zoning laws are preventing the market from responding. I disagree. I think it is a fair question. There are other countries where kids can and do bike (and walk) safely at that age, and it's considered quite normal: https://youtu.be/ul_xzyCDT98?t=89 (Jason Slaughter re-did the above video recently and made it better, but that one is on Nebula, which requires a paid subscription). Yes, there was demand for suburban living; however, there was more than one way to deliver it, and the U.S. embarked on an entirely car-centric model. I agree with James Howard Kunstler on this who said we went with the car-centric model "because it seemed like a good idea at the time". But we ended up mandating it in zoning codes and the whole thing wound up on auto-pilot. We didn't realize back then that building in this sprawled-out manner would ultimately make cities functionally bankrupt-- a reality which is covered up by state and federal aid to cities for maintaining their infrastructure. While, politically speaking, I'm all over the map, it seems to me that anyone who is a pro-market, smaller government conservative should embrace zoning changes and other law changes that would result in giving the market more power to respond to demand and make cities more self-sufficient and thus less dependent upon state and federal handouts. One example of "other law changes" would be to require cities to list their roads, streets, sidewalks, and other infrastructure as liabilities their balance sheets. They are currently listed as assets. The private sector already knows these things aren't assets because with very few exceptions, whenever they build a new development, they make an agreement to turn over the maintenance to the municipality-- privatize gains, socialize losses.

A trenchant critique of traffic engineering: https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/05/26/trenchant-critique-traffic-engineering

This topic is discussed in the latest "Upzoned" podast (one of the Strong Towns podcasts): https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/6/1/ubers-bull-run-is-over-says-ceo?utm_content=buffer1a2c0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

710 Freeway expansion dropped after decades of planning, marking a milestone for L.A. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-05-26/710-freeway-expansion-los-angeles-plan-killed Highway Expansions in Denver and Portland are Facing New Hurdles https://usa.streetsblog.org/2022/05/25/awful-highway-expansions-in-denver-and-portland-are-halted/ Eight completed highway removals tell the story of a movement* https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/05/31/eight-completed-highway-removals-tell-story-movement *This article goes back pretty far, but it's probably safe to say that some of these older removal projects inspired the growing number of removals and proposed removals today. Bold campaign for highway removal Re-Envision Albany is a compelling vision to transform an unnecessary freeway into a boulevard with green space and equitable development. Albany Riverfront Collaborative won a Merit Award in the Emerging Project category of CNU's 2022 Charter Awards. For more than 50 years, residents of Albany, New York, have endured the effects of I-787, an elevated freeway that divides the city from its waterfront and neighborhood from neighborhood with a massive access road and imposing on-ramps. Past initiatives to remove the highway have gotten nowhere, because formidable forces—such as state DOT workers that use I-787—are aligned to protect the status quo. But now, the recently formed Albany Riverfront Collaborative has emerged with a compelling, bold plan called Re-Envision Albany that is gaining momentum. Since the grassroots group launched in November, more than 6,000 people have signed an online petition in support of the plan. The vision of a green waterfront, with human-scale development reuniting neighborhoods, is gaining widespread attention.... https://www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2022/03/07/bold-campaign-highway-removal

Headwinds for electric cars? https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-22/mr-lithiumalr-warns-there-s-not-enough-battery-metal-to-go-around Also, lithium prices are up 500%: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-25/lithium-the-hunt-for-the-wonder-metal-fueling-evs And there are other considerations besides supply: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01735-z

A lot of people default to them because that's the vast majority of what has been built, and in most of the country, it's illegal to build anything else.

Electric cars may not save us. Sure, they help people who can afford them but replacing 287 million of them in the US (and over a billion of them in the world) is not only a huge task, it may not even be achievable: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-22/mr-lithiumalr-warns-there-s-not-enough-battery-metal-to-go-around Also, lithium prices are up 500%: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-05-25/lithium-the-hunt-for-the-wonder-metal-fueling-evs And there are other considerations besides supply: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01735-z Electric cars are here to stay, are a net positive for carbon emissions, and we'll see a lot more of them. Whether or not they will fully break fossil fuel dependency remains to be seen. That said, @Gramarye, you can insist all you want on maintaining an intellectual distinction between the two. I respect your opinion, but no one's insistence makes anything a reality, and others are allowed to think differently. If you want to merge the thread, that's your prerogative, and I won't lose any sleep over it if you do, but I didn't think a single post, including the first one in a new topic, had to define and confine everything that a thread is supposed to cover. As to walkable, transit-friendly neighborhoods and the understanding and approval of suburbanites, that may not be as much of an issue as you think. The idea is selling itself already. Such neighborhoods have been expensive places to live for years because demand outstrips supply. But like we're seeing more electric cars, we are also seeing more and more cities invest in their downtowns, and their efforts are attracting residents who want that lifestyle For the past couple years, Strong Towns has been seeing their message gain a lot of steam across the country too. There is a long way to go, but things are already in motion regardless of whether suburbanites understand it.

@GramaryeAn electric car is still a car and does nothing to solve auto-dependency and the finacially ruinous public expense of maintaining the infrastructure to support it. As to the point about gas prices, it's impacting people's lives and the economy right now. Few people can afford to run out and buy an electric vehicle this summer as gas prices spike-- especially low-wage service workers who keep restaurants and stores running and goods moving through warehouses, etc. You are essentially saying it's no big deal because "someday" everyone will have an electric car. Car dependency is the real problem. Gas prices are exacerbating the problem at the present time. That's the context here.

Wrote this as a letter to the editor, but I never heard back: We've seen the news. Experts have warned of the possibility of $6/gallon gasoline by August. Americans, especially low-wage workers, are understandably upset, and the news prompted a predictable and shallow partisan blame game. What everyone seems to forget is that the country has received and ignored multiple warnings over the past 50 years about the vulnerability of the economy and our personal lives to high gas prices: the 1973 Oil Embargo when OPEC cut oil production, the 1979 Oil Shock after the Iranian revolution, and the gradual rise in oil prices from 2000 to 2008 when oil ultimately reached $150/barrel, contributing to the 2008 financial crash. As the anger rises again, we need a good, honest look in the mirror, because each and every time this has happened, we've gotten mad, taken no effective action, and returned to business as usual. We never talk about the real problem: since the 1950s, the country has willfully and blindly created and maintained a transportation system that has effectively hand-cuffed Americans to the gas pump—to no one's advantage except the profits of oil companies. Cars are our only choice to get around, except in a few of our largest cities. We can't get to work, see a doctor, or even feed ourselves unless we drive. Americans love to talk about the freedom of the automobile, but is it really freedom when we can only reach for the car keys and pay $6/gallon or stay home? It's long past time to demand better from our elected officials. To all of them I say: Stop your cynical quest for political advantage in this latest crisis. Put partisanship aside, roll up your sleeves and put this country on the only effective path we have to address this problem once and for all: re-design our transportation system for maximum freedom. If we want to leave the car keys at home and to not have to pay for gas on any given day, we should be able to do so.

How did the rest of Ohio benefit from the half-billion dollars spent on the Nelsonville bypass? Regarding yor second comment: Had your logic prevailed 100 years ago, we would have never built highways.

Make no mistake. This is about making sure Biden (whether anyone likes him or not) doesn't get any wins and listening to the road lobby and the gas station and convenience store lobby and whomever else is donating to their campaigns. Passenger trains don't have a wealthy constituency doling out campaign donations.

Mine too, and I've only been at it for 27 years!

Business Parks Suck--but They Don't Have to:

It is good to see Youngstown investing so much in its downtown. A lot of other medium-sized cities are too. Once this trend goes far enough, I hope walkable neighborhoods will become affordable to everyone. The significant lack of supply is why the few walkable places that do exist in the US are only affordable to the wealthy.

The latest entity to jump on the bandwagon about expanding train services in Ohio is The Columbus Partnership, which is a non-profit made up of CEOs of the leading corporations and institutions in Columbus. A public announcement was made last week: https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/morpc-columbus-partnership-throw-weight-160742801.html Here are just a few of the organization's corporate members https://columbuspartnership.com/members: at&t JP Morgan Chase PNC Bank Honda American Electric Power Nationwide Insurance IBM Huntington Bank 5/3 Bank Cardinal Health Scott's Miracle-Gro White Castle Deloitte Worthington Industries Intel, which is building a huge new microchip plant near Columbus, is also on board. The corporate push will do more to advance things than anything advocates could do. As was posted here recently, NOACA has applied for grants for multiple corridors through Cleveland. I guarantee you that they wouldn't have done it so fast without a corporate push in Cleveland too. I don't know all of the corporate support in Cleveland, but here is some: Haslams/Cleveland Browns Sam McNulty, restaurateur and developer Frank Sinito, CEO Millennia Companies Joe Shafran, CEO Paran Management Group Ari Maron, Principal, MRN Ltd. Dan Whalen, VP Development, Harbor Bay Realty Advisors Nathan Kelly, President & Managing Director, CRESCO Brent Zimmerman, CEO Saucy Brew Works, Owner Brent Zimmerman Development As many of you may recall, NOACA reluctantly jumped on the hyperloop bandwagon a few years ago because of a local corporate push. Fortunately, hyperloop is dead, at least as far as passenger movement goes (and the freight side of things may not last either. We'll see). Great news. But the moral of the story is: Nothing really happens until the moneyed interests get behind something. Rail advocates have pretty much been beating their heads against the wall, especially in Ohio, for 50 years.