Mass transit use rises as gas prices soar

By Steve Hargreaves @CNNMoney March 12, 2012: 9:39 AM ET

 

Ridership on mass transit reaches second highest level since 1957 as gas prices soar.

 

 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Ridership on the nation's trains and buses hit one of the highest levels in decades, with officials crediting high gas prices, a stronger economy and new technology that makes riding public transit easier.

 

In 2011, Americans took 10.4 billion trips on mass transit -- which includes buses, trains, street cars and ferries, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/12/news/economy/mass-transit/index.htm?iid=Lead

 

 

^btw, I've heard it on good authority that Sam McNulty does, in fact, live near convenient mass transit (which includes a nearby Rapid station).

Employers Take Note: Commuting by Public Transit on the Rise

Date Posted: March 13, 2012 

 

Employers should take note: more of their employees are coming to and going from the office via public transportation. That’s more than an interesting statistic -- it has implications for employers. Employees who take public transportation to work may benefit from a tax break, but only if their employer sponsors a qualified transportation fringe benefit (QTFB) plan under Code Section 132.

 

According to a study by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), an organization whose members include local and regional transportation systems nationwide, commuting via public transportation is on the upswing in the United States. According to APTA, 2011 saw the second highest annual ridership since 1957. “Only ridership in 2008, when gas rose to more than $4 a gallon, surpassed last year’s ridership,” an APTA press release said.

 

“Two top reasons for the increased ridership are higher gas prices and in certain areas, a recovering economy with more people returning to work,” said APTA president and CEO Michael Melaniphy, through the release. “Since nearly 60 percent of trips taken on public transportation are for work commutes, it’s not surprising to see ridership increase in areas where the economy has improved.”

 

Read more at: http://www.thompson.com/public/newsbrief.jsp?cat=BENEFITS&id=3812

Access to transportation an issue for some in Muskingum County

Written by

Brian Gadd

Staff Writer

 

ZANESVILLE -- For some people, getting where you need to go isn't as easy as hopping in your car.

 

Just ask Beverly Gonzalez.

 

The mother of three young children has a van, but without a license, she fears losing the vehicle -- or her children -- if she takes a chance and drives it.

 

That leaves her with few options for getting to the grocery, Laundromat, Help Me Grow and medical appointments, she said.

 

"My (step)father, he took me to a child support hearing. He stops in to check on me and the kids every now and then," she said. "It's hard to pay for a cab when you are on a fixed income. It's hard to take two kids in a stroller and one on your hip onto a bus. What else am I supposed to do? It's a struggle every day."

 

Read more at: http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20120610/NEWS01/206100301

Access to transportation an issue for some in Muskingum County

Written by

Brian Gadd

Staff Writer

 

ZANESVILLE -- For some people, getting where you need to go isn't as easy as hopping in your car.

 

Just ask Beverly Gonzalez.

 

The mother of three young children has a van, but without a license, she fears losing the vehicle -- or her children -- if she takes a chance and drives it.

 

That leaves her with few options for getting to the grocery, Laundromat, Help Me Grow and medical appointments, she said.

 

"My (step)father, he took me to a child support hearing. He stops in to check on me and the kids every now and then," she said. "It's hard to pay for a cab when you are on a fixed income. It's hard to take two kids in a stroller and one on your hip onto a bus. What else am I supposed to do? It's a struggle every day."

 

Read more at: http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20120610/NEWS01/206100301

 

Now, now. Stop complaining. Get a job. Buy a car. It's so simple....is it? These people are casualties of a state transportation policy that discriminates against those who can't or don't drive.

Transit and Transit-Oriented Development: The Sweet Spot for Jobs

Posted: 09/05/2012 3:22 pm

Greg LeRoy.Director, Good Jobs First

 

I have seen the future of robust job creation in America. It gets to work on public transit.

 

There is now a raft of evidence that transit, transit-oriented development (TOD), and smart growth policies that give people more choice about how to get around are also proven winners for creating the most new jobs.

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-leroy/transit-and-transitorient_b_1858703.html?utm_hp_ref=business&ir=Business

A rather interesting and illustrative piece....

 

U.S. cities are getting denser

By Susie Cagle

 

The U.S. EPA released a report this week on how our cities are growing. So there’s the first good news: They’re growing! But you knew that already. Other good news: Nearly 75 percent of major metro areas saw a higher proportion of housing being built in already-developed areas (“infill” in planning jargon) from 2005 to 2009 compared to 2000 to 2004. The bad? From sea to shining sea, we still really love to sprawl. Almost all major metro areas continued to grow outward faster than they grew inward.

 

READ/SEE MORE AT:

http://grist.org/news/u-s-cities-are-getting-denser/

Mixed-use development projects near regional rail stations among SEPTA’s plans

By MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG

[email protected] Posted: Friday, 02/01/13 08:30 pm

 

New mixed-use shopping and housing development near all of its transportation hubs and regional rail stations. Better access to local food sources. Greater linkage between bicycle and transit infrastructure.

 

All of that is in a future SEPTA envisions as part of its social sustainability efforts, outlined in the agency’s recently released 54-page “Septainable” report, which also looked at economic and environmental issues as part of SEPTA’s “triple bottom line” approach to sustainability.

 

To achieve its stated goal of integrating with livable communities, SEPTA says it’s committed to partnerships with developers, municipalities and various community organizations to invest in at least one Transit-Oriented Development project per year. According to the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, a TOD is “a type of community development that includes a mixture of housing, office, retail and/or other commercial development and amenities integrated into a walkable neighborhood and located within a half-mile of quality public transportation.”

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.thereporteronline.com/article/20130201/NEWS03/130209935/mixed-use-development-projects-near-regional-rail-stations-among-septa-s-plans

Why trains & transit matter more now to Ohio than at any time since the early 20th century http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2013/Jan/FloridaSuburbs#.URA8kW3stCk.twitter

 

It's part of The Great Reset

PA: Light Rail Hopes are Building in Castle Shannon

MICHAEL AUBELE AND JODI WEIGAND

SOURCE: THE VALLEY NEWS-DISPATCH

CREATED: FEBRUARY 5, 2013

 

Castle Shannon Mayor Don Baumgarten has his fingers crossed.

 

He's "cautiously optimistic" construction of apartments and shops at the Port Authority light rail station in the borough will begin in the spring.

 

The $35 million development, which could be the first of its kind in Southwestern Pennsylvania, initially was proposed more than 10 years ago.

 

JRA Development Group Inc. in Lawrenceville plans to build 128 apartments and 14,000 square feet of retail space on a deck above the park-and-ride at the station.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.masstransitmag.com/news/10873815/pa-light-rail-hopes-are-building-in-castle-shannon?utm_source=related_content_box&utm_medium=related_content&utm_campaign=10873816

Mixed-use development projects near regional rail stations among SEPTAs plans

By MICHAEL ALAN GOLDBERG

[email protected] Posted: Friday, 02/01/13 08:30 pm

 

New mixed-use shopping and housing development near all of its transportation hubs and regional rail stations. Better access to local food sources. Greater linkage between bicycle and transit infrastructure.

 

All of that is in a future SEPTA envisions as part of its social sustainability efforts, outlined in the agencys recently released 54-page Septainable report, which also looked at economic and environmental issues as part of SEPTAs triple bottom line approach to sustainability.

 

To achieve its stated goal of integrating with livable communities, SEPTA says its committed to partnerships with developers, municipalities and various community organizations to invest in at least one Transit-Oriented Development project per year. According to the Center for Transit-Oriented Development, a TOD is a type of community development that includes a mixture of housing, office, retail and/or other commercial development and amenities integrated into a walkable neighborhood and located within a half-mile of quality public transportation.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.thereporteronline.com/article/20130201/NEWS03/130209935/mixed-use-development-projects-near-regional-rail-stations-among-septa-s-plans

 

This is a start.  Philly, like Cleveland, has to change it's mindset on where it's growth ought to be.  But of course, in Philly it's even more extreme.  They've got this metropolitan jewel in SEPTA's urban and regional rail networks, but since around World War II, all the area's growth has been along roads and away from it's gigantic rail network: ie King of Prussia Mall and Cherry Hill Mall and the mushrooming office and residential growth around them... It's true that most of what are today SEPTA's regional rail routes were up and running by the time Lincoln reached the White House (and some rail bridges from that area are still in use!!), so that TOD's go by such names as Bryn Mawr, Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy, so a lot of railroad adjacent land is built out, in many cases for well over a century/century and a half.  But that doesn't mean there isn't TOD spots for this near 300 mile rail network, as the article notes... one such TOD area that has seen a ton of growth over the last decade has been around the Conshohocken area stations along the R-6, er 'scuse me, the Norristown RR line.

Public Transit Is Worth Way More to a City Than You Think

ERIC JAFFE9:52 AM \

 

Planning scholar Daniel Chatman of the University of California at Berkeley has been thinking a lot lately about "agglomeration." Don't let the technical word throw you. All it really means is more people in the same place. As more people collect in a city center, more jobs cluster there too, boosting both wages and economic productivity over time. And the key to it all, he believes, may be public transportation.

 

"To me it's fascinating," says Chatman. "It's all about how people interact with each other. This is what could be happening by virtue of this densification near transit stops, which could happen from investments that draw people to use transit."

 

In a new paper set for publication in Urban Studies, Chatman and fellow planner Robert Noland of Rutgers University use concrete numbers to make the case that transit produces agglomeration. They report that this hidden economic value of transit could be worth anywhere from $1.5 million to $1.8 billion a year, depending on the size of the city. And the bigger the city, they find, the bigger the agglomeration benefit of expanding transit.

 

The hidden economic value of transit could be worth anywhere from $1.5 million to $1.8 billion a year  Simply put, city officials now have a much stronger argument for using taxpayer money to improve their public transportation service.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/08/public-transit-worth-way-more-city-you-think/6532/

"@RAILMag: Living Near Good Transit (Like @MetroTransitMN's Blue Line) May Make You Happier | @AtlanticCities – http://t.co/9NtIxLiIh3 #Minneapolis"

 

Forget ‘Build it and they will come.’ It is now ‘Get them there and they will live, work and play.’

 

Wikipedia online offers clues: “A transit-oriented development (TOD) is a mixed-use residential and commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership. A TOD neighborhood typically has a center with a transit station or stop (train station, metro station, tram stop or bus stop), surrounded by relatively high-density development with progressively lower-density development spreading outward from the center.”

 

These words, taken from a sign next to a budding parcel of land, offer reality: “Orlando’s Premier Transit-Oriented Master Planned Development. Direct Connection to SunRail, Lynx and Lymmo. Urban Style Hotel. Retail/Restaurant. Residential Rental Units. Class A Office.”

 

Sure, transit-oriented development, or TOD, isn’t a new approach. And the concept is evident to at least some extent across the region. For proof, just take a look at the TECO Line Streetcar System, where passengers can swiftly move around downtown Tampa’s restaurants, hotels and retail shops. Yet, the future of TOD is coming fast—faster than you can say commuter rail.

 

“Transit-oriented development comes down to compact walkable communities around transit stations,” describes Michael Carragher, Southeast regional manager of Vanasse Hangen Brustlin Inc. in Orlando, which provides planning, design and engineering services while specializing in transportation, land development and environmental protection. “A hub, a center of activity around a community. It creates an area that not only generates activity at the pedestrian and bike level, but it also starts to allow businesses an opportunity to have more people walking by their places of business.

 

Read more at: http://www.forwardflorida.com/2013/10/transit-oriented-development-super-region/

Businesses are moving to where the public transportation is http://t.co/mEvyTBDzdB #CoreValues @MobilityLabTeam http://t.co/FyEhN0uhIf

State Farm is moving its offices in AZ, TX and Atlanta to be closer to transit and attract younger talent  http://t.co/3ztFmdLkLa

Transport. 4 America ‏@T4America  9m9 minutes ago

Miami's planning board is considering allowing developers building near transit to forgo parking requirements http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article29244247.html …

Port Authority's plan for car-free communities slow to bear fruit

By Melissa Daniels Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015, 10:40 p.m.

 

Cars fill the parking lot in front of the Castle Shannon light-rail stop on weekdays, giving more than 500 suburban commuters access to Pittsburgh without the hassle of driving and parking Downtown.

 

Port Authority of Allegheny County officials hope that, in a few years, some commuters will be able to board the train steps from their front doors.

 

The Castle Shannon T stop is one of three sites for proposed transit-oriented development, or TOD, where apartments and retail shops are built around stations.

 

Port Authority is progressing on lease agreements at Castle Shannon, South Hills Village and Dormont Junction, all of which have been in the works for years.

 

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8859937-74/lease-authority-port#ixzz3knqbcKVS

Transport. 4 America ‏@T4America  12m12 minutes ago

Detroit, PHX & Seattle are just three of the 21 cities receiving grant $ to build housing & jobs around transit lines http://t4america.org/2015/09/15/pilot-program-to-support-smart-planning-around-new-transit-lines-will-benefit-21-different-cities/

Port Authority's plan for car-free communities slow to bear fruit

By Melissa Daniels Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015, 10:40 p.m.

 

Cars fill the parking lot in front of the Castle Shannon light-rail stop on weekdays, giving more than 500 suburban commuters access to Pittsburgh without the hassle of driving and parking Downtown.

 

Port Authority of Allegheny County officials hope that, in a few years, some commuters will be able to board the train steps from their front doors.

 

The Castle Shannon T stop is one of three sites for proposed transit-oriented development, or TOD, where apartments and retail shops are built around stations.

 

Port Authority is progressing on lease agreements at Castle Shannon, South Hills Village and Dormont Junction, all of which have been in the works for years.

 

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/8859937-74/lease-authority-port#ixzz3knqbcKVS

 

It's tougher to cobble financing for TOD in Rust Belt cities.  Pittsburgh mirrors Cleveland in terms of its industrial base, character and transit facilities.  Cleveland obviously is having a considerable degree of TOD success. Glad to see the Burgh get moving with TOD next to T stations.

It's tougher to cobble financing for TOD in Rust Belt cities.  Pittsburgh mirrors Cleveland in terms of its industrial base, character and transit facilities.  Cleveland obviously is having a considerable degree of TOD success. Glad to see the Burgh get moving with TOD next to T stations.

 

And BRT. Do some Google Streetviews around their MLK Busway through East Liberty which was similar to East Cleveland about 20-30 years ago. But while East Cleveland sank further, East Liberty has seen a remarkable comeback.

^Yes, you're probably speaking of that huge mixed use development going in at East Liberty (or Shadyside?) right next to an MLK East Busway stop (I love that area of Pittsburgh; very dense and walkable).  To me, the MLK is more of a true bus RAPID transit than the Health Line because of it's much faster speed, although I could never understand why Pittsburgh just didn't extend the LRT over this ROW especially since the (now defunct) T rail line branch at Penn Station ends right where the MLK route begins... Pittsburgh's transit decisions often mystify me as much as Cleveland's... oh well.

When it comes to transit use, destination density matters more than where you live

By Daniel Hertz  30.9.2015

 

At City Observatory, we’ve written quite a bit about the phenomenon of city center job growth. We did a whole CityReport about the phenomenon, showing that since the Great Recession, urban cores have been outperforming the rest of their metropolitan areas on employment, reversing earlier trends. And just this week, we covered new job numbers showing that larger metropolitan areas—those with at least a million inhabitants—are growing more quickly than smaller ones, and that those regions’ center cities are growing more quickly than their suburbs.

 

MORE:

http://cityobservatory.org/when-it-comes-to-transit-use-destination-density-matters-more-than-where-you-live/

The Midwest High-Speed Rail Association says this amendment was pushed by Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, among others, possibly to allow more "All Aboard Florida-type projects" in which real estate developments around stations help financially support the addition of passenger rail service that made those developments more accessible and valuable. I don't know what or if Forest City or any others have any specific projects in mind as their reasons for asking for this amendment, but I would be very surprised if they did not....

________

 

—Amendment No. 18 - Dan Lipinski (D-IL), Mike Mike Quigley (D-IL), Bob Dold (R-IL): Expresses the Sense of Congress that Transit Oriented Development (TOD) is an eligible activity under the RRIF program.

 

NARP Position: Support

 

Our reason: The Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Fund (RRIF) has $35 billion in largely untapped rail development funds. By explicitly including Transit Oriented Development as an eligible activity, this amendment would look to utilize the unique power of stations to serve as focal points for real estate development to finally free the RRIF program to power economic and community growth.

This is what folks in the newspaper biz call an AdverTorial -- a "news" article generated by an advertiser. In this case it's a major real estate company, Cushman & Wakefield/Cresco Real Estate, who is pushing real estate development near public transportation....

 

Rooting Near Transit Lines Good For Businesses, Workers Alike

By Northeast Ohio Media Group Marketing Staff

on November 09, 2015 at 10:11 AM, updated November 09, 2015 at 10:30 AM

 

With a healthy public transit system and a robust stock of buildings suitable for a variety of offices, Cleveland is an ideal city for businesses to put down roots and attract employees. The trend toward businesses locating near public transit illustrates a goal of many companies: to hire and retain the best possible talent, while playing up the value of being a part of the city.

 

More residential spaces continue to open in Downtown Cleveland, as professionals discover the benefits of living and working in the city. This pattern is extending to MidTown, University Circle and Uptown. Employers have followed the trend, opening or relocating to these locales. "Employers want to have a better chance of attracting the young employees and empty-nesters moving to the city," explains Alexander Russo, senior vice president of Cushman & Wakefield/Cresco Real Estate.

 

Walkability, along with the amenities that come with urban living, are huge draws for businesses and potential employees. Walkability is defined as being located within a half-mile from a bus or rail stop, according to Nanci Ferrante, senior vice president of Cushman & Wakefield/Cresco Real Estate. In Cleveland, businesses are especially attracted to sites with walkability to RTA's Waterfront Line and Healthline.

 

In the Warehouse District, 959 W. St. Clair stands as a solid example of a commercial space with easy access to transit. Proximity to the Waterfront Line means that commuters will find getting to and from work hassle-free, while city residents will enjoy easy walking or Rapid access to the Flats, the Muni Lot and Public Square. "The building is available to all types of tenants," Ferrante says, allowing for an eclectic mix of employers.

 

MORE:

http://blog.cleveland.com/cresco_commercial_real_estate/2015/11/savvy_businesses_opt_for_trans.html

Tremendous read with awesome graphics...

http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/26/connected-city-urban-transport-trends-world

I've been living in Tokyo for the past three months, and in addition to the better food here, my health has generally improved because I walk at least twice as much each day compared to my place of residence in Ohio -- Bowling Green. I am very much not looking forward to returning to that lifestyle in Ohio. Even though I live in a very walkable neighborhood, there are zero public transportation options besides my bicycle and my legs. It will be up to me, I suppose, to maintain the approach I've had to live with here in Japan, and rely on my car only when I need to leave BG.

I was just in NYC visiting my best friend for the holidays. She lives a few blocks south of Columbia. I have a pedometer on my phone and the days I was there I walked 5 times as much as I do in Cincinnati. A lot of this was because we were wandering around aimlessly at times just exploring but a ton of it was just walking to the subway, within the subway, or to lunch/dinner/etc. Things that would be happening on a daily basis.

 

It's such an enticing lifestyle to be able to live somewhere where transit is so readily available and the majority of people walk. I love walking and find that I'm just not able to do it as much as I want to while living in Cincy.

It's something that's routinely overlooked when people wonder "why I everyone in [culture] so thin and healthy even though their diets are so [high fat]/[high carb]/[high salt]/etc."  It doesn't take a lot of walking around day to day to burn the extra few hundred calories required to go from gaining weight to losing weight. 

I rarely use my car for day-to-day needs as I live in Lakewood and work either at home or at my office in downtown Cleveland. I have 24-hour bus service, a new BRT-lite to downtown past my condo building's front door and to within a block of my office, plus crosstown rail service including to the airport -- all within a 15-minute walk. I have multiple stores and restaurants (many of them are open 24 hours) within a five minute walk of my home. Thus my 2010 car has only 40,000 miles on it, and most of those are from trips I take to other cities in Ohio and surrounding states for work or pleasure. If we had decent intercity rail service in Ohio, I'd probably have one-fourth of the mileage on my car.

It's something that's routinely overlooked when people wonder "why I everyone in [culture] so thin and healthy even though their diets are so [high fat]/[high carb]/[high salt]/etc."  It doesn't take a lot of walking around day to day to burn the extra few hundred calories required to go from gaining weight to losing weight. 

 

I weighed 235 pounds when I graduated high school. I moved to Cincy and lived car free for nearly 6 years and lost 75 pounds. I did cut out soda but other than that kept eating whatever I pleased. I walked back and forth to campus multiple times a day and doing so really added up. I could eat whatever I wanted and still kept losing weight.

 

Not that I have graduated and don't walk as much I'm realizing that if I stay in Cincy I'm going to have to make changes to my lifestyle that I don't really want to make. I gained 15 pounds post-graduation and have begun losing it again through exercise but it was so much nicer being able to stay skinny while eating whatever I pleased and never even having to think about it.

^Very true. You lose weight when you walk everywhere. I gained weight after moving to Oakland due to fewer amenities being within walking distance. I also rely a lot more on BART and my car. In San Francisco, I'd walk anything under two miles, and this usually included large hills. I walked up Nob Hill 2-7 times a week.

 

I can't get away with drinking as much or eating the same food, particularly because I also travel for work (now that really destroys your health). I loved being able to eat super burritos and drink beer until my heart's content without having to worry about it. It was the American dream! Dense urbanism promotes healthier lifestyles, and can even negate some of the effects of alcohol and junk food.

 

*I should note that we overall tend to eat healthier in California than in most of America. SF is a skinny city due to both walkable urbanism and an obsession with healthy eating (though people drink a lot and do a lot of drugs). LA also has this obsession with healthy eating. If you work out and lift, just a few months in SF can put you in top shape. The combination of walking, hills, and healthy food options can work wonders.

 

**I've long suspected the reason so many Americans struggle with weight is not because of laziness or lack of working out (I think Americans work out the most of any people on earth). It's due to car dependency and a lack of sizable pedestrian environments. Our suburban culture is literally killing us.

I rarely use my car for day-to-day needs as I live in Lakewood and work either at home or at my office in downtown Cleveland. I have 24-hour bus service, a new BRT-lite to downtown past my condo building's front door and to within a block of my office, plus crosstown rail service including to the airport -- all within a 15-minute walk. I have multiple stores and restaurants (many of them are open 24 hours) within a five minute walk of my home. Thus my 2010 car has only 40,000 miles on it, and most of those are from trips I take to other cities in Ohio and surrounding states for work or pleasure. If we had decent intercity rail service in Ohio, I'd probably have one-fourth of the mileage on my car.

 

Assuming you're up near the Lake because of your reference to the CSU line, are you closer to Bunts or to 117th? Which is better for access to these amenities? If closer to Bunts it seems like there are more businesses but 117th is better for the Rapid, unless I'm mistaken.

Assuming you're up near the Lake because of your reference to the CSU line, are you closer to Bunts or to 117th? Which is better for access to these amenities? If closer to Bunts it seems like there are more businesses but 117th is better for the Rapid, unless I'm mistaken.

 

Correct, I'm three blocks west of West 117th and three blocks off the lake on Clifton which is where the Cleveland State Line runs, although every third rush-hour trip of the CSU line runs on Edgewater, as does every trip of the #78 that goes down West 117th to serve the Red Line station, Target store, Staples and a 24-hour, 80,000 sq ft Giant Eagle. Plus there's a million ethnic grocers on West 117th, especially near Lorain Avenue (which has 24-hour bus service with the overnight trips going to the airport). The #78 runs 5am-12 midnight every day. There are two 24-hour restaurants near me (My Friends & Diana's) plus two 24-hour drug stores (CVS and Walgreen's). We're also getting a Lucky's organic grocery store at West 117th & Clifton.

 

When I've been car-free, I found that most of my trips were for hyperlocal and usually involved walking to a nearby store for groceries or basic things like toiletries. So while I'm a big transit advocate, the amenities your neighborhood offers within a 20-minute walk (and especially a 5-minute walk) is even more important to car-free/car-light households than transit access unless of course your work requires you to leave the neighborhood.

 

If you're interested in living car-free/car-light in Lakewood, the northeast corner (Gold Coast area) is pretty good, as is the area along Madison several blocks west of West 117th, and so is anyplace that's a few minutes walk of Detroit Avenue from Bunts west to about Lakeland Avenue. I have a hunch that the corner of West 117th-Madison is going to see more development soon, in addition to the 55+/LGBT housing under construction there now. There's just so much wasted space around there now, especially along Madison on the Lakewood side or on West 117th just south of the RTA station, for it to remain so underdeveloped. A stand-alone Burger King?? A stand-alone Joe's Deli?? A stand-alone Fifth Third bank? A stand-alone Hertz? A ghetto retail strip? A U-Store-It self storage?? What were people thinking??

Thanks. I totally agree about the 5 minute walk thing. I'm right by the giant eagle/cvs plaza on Neil Ave in Columbus, and I walk over regularly. There is easy bus service into downtown or up to OSU if you work in either of those areas.

 

Anyways, I'm contemplating coming back to Cleveland (not sure), so it's good to hear about the best car light neighborhoods in town.

Thanks. I totally agree about the 5 minute walk thing. I'm right by the giant eagle/cvs plaza on Neil Ave in Columbus, and I walk over regularly. There is easy bus service into downtown or up to OSU if you work in either of those areas.

 

Anyways, I'm contemplating coming back to Cleveland (not sure), so it's good to hear about the best car light neighborhoods in town.

 

Come on back!

mu2010[/member] If you'd like discussion relocation options and locations, feel free to pm me or post at: http://www.urbanohio.com/forum2/index.php/topic,14228.0.html

 

I love to offer no-pressure informational assistance.

Heard Rush Limbaugh in his morning radio drop-in on the conservative station.  He cited an Atlantic article which cited University studies, including one from NYU, stating that the poor in the USA are suffering economically because of lack of adequate public transit in our cities that can get them to jobs and other needed destinations.  He also noted "liberal" complaints about infrastructure issues, but I wasn't sure of the context. 

 

Rush's response?  He see's these economic problems of the poor as stemming from a 2-headed monster which, of course, is other than a lack of adequate transit:

 

1. Obama's economic programs which are (allegedly) anti-business and have (allegedly) sent the country's economics into a tailspin, and

 

2. Poor people's lack of initiative and their belief that jobs are an entitlement which, according to Rush, "... [t]hey wear around their necks like a badge of honor."

 

... So the Rushter's got it all figured out.  Good to know.

The choices are to either bring transit to jobs, bring jobs next to transit, provide more aid to the poor, or kill poor people. Seems like the last answer is the only one that Rush et al prefer.

Thanks. I totally agree about the 5 minute walk thing. I'm right by the giant eagle/cvs plaza on Neil Ave in Columbus, and I walk over regularly. There is easy bus service into downtown or up to OSU if you work in either of those areas.

 

Anyways, I'm contemplating coming back to Cleveland (not sure), so it's good to hear about the best car light neighborhoods in town.

Haha yes! Let's reverse the CLE-COL migration. (Fixed for the pet peeves and confusion.)

Thanks. I totally agree about the 5 minute walk thing. I'm right by the giant eagle/cvs plaza on Neil Ave in Columbus, and I walk over regularly. There is easy bus service into downtown or up to OSU if you work in either of those areas.

 

Anyways, I'm contemplating coming back to Cleveland (not sure), so it's good to hear about the best car light neighborhoods in town.

Haha yes! Let's reverse the CLE-CMH migration.

 

Are there a lot of people moving from Cleveland's airport to Columbus's airport? ;-)

 

[using airport codes for cities is a pet peeve of mine, especially when they are like CMH and look nothing like Columbus.]

Same. I have no clue what CMH is because I've never used Columbus's airport. People throw around airport codes for places that have codes that have no relation to their city and it gets confusing for those of us who don't know them. With the exceptions of CLE, CVG, and LGA I couldn't tell you a single airport code despite flying quite often.

Heard Rush Limbaugh in his morning radio drop-in on the conservative station.  He cited an Atlantic article which cited University studies, including one from NYU, stating that the poor in the USA are suffering economically because of lack of adequate public transit in our cities that can get them to jobs and other needed destinations.  He also noted "liberal" complaints about infrastructure issues, but I wasn't sure of the context. 

 

Rush's response?  He see's these economic problems of the poor as stemming from a 2-headed monster which, of course, is other than a lack of adequate transit:

 

1. Obama's economic programs which are (allegedly) anti-business and have (allegedly) sent the country's economics into a tailspin, and

 

2. Poor people's lack of initiative and their belief that jobs are an entitlement which, according to Rush, "... [t]hey wear around their necks like a badge of honor."

 

... So the Rushter's got it all figured out.  Good to know.

 

I don't like Mr. Limbaugh's style and I agree with significantly less than half of the positions he takes.  However, both of these, while overstated and overgeneralized as is typical for him, are at least partly valid.  The economy is a mess, and Obama does deserve some of the blame although far from all, and there are plenty of folks on the left AND the right who feel themselves entitled to more than they would be able to produce and/or negotiate, even collectively, in a relatively free labor market. 

 

I think most of us here understand that transit if done right can significantly improve an urban economy, although there are impediments not directly related to transit that need to be removed for it to be successful.  For instance, both the reality and the perceptions of inner-city crime need to be addressed, which, IMO, would require things that piss off the left (scaling back or preferably ending "gun control") as well as those that would piss off the right (scaling back or preferably eliminating the "war on drugs," and probably also scaling back subsidies for roads and fuel). 

 

How does transit help with the problem of able-bodied people who refuse to work?  Well, in many cases, the preponderance of entry-level jobs really are difficult or impossible to reach via transit, and they don't typically have other options.  The person who can collect either a small dole by doing nothing, or a slightly larger paycheck (if that) by taking unreliable, slow and late buses for 5-6 hours a day (as I have in the past), is not entirely unreasonable to choose the former.  Better transit attracts jobs, which attract people, who attract more jobs, which attract more people and so forth.  This is essentially the process by which both urbanization and economic growth occur in modern societies.  But the lack of transportation options short-circuit the process for those most in need of it, and, ironically, the workers that small and medium-sized businesses need the most of as well.  The resulting suburban/exurban sprawl is completely unsustainable and is a drain on everyone, but, again, especially the poor, who find that most of the jobs end up in faraway places they cannot reach.

 

Transit done right is win-win-win for everyone involved, helping lift all tides, but especially those most in need.  That is why even as a libertarian I strongly advocate for it, albeit in a form a bit different than many other transit advocates (e.g., I believe it should be largely private, but then I believe roads and gas and many other things should be largely private as well, not subsidized, leaving both on a much more level playing field on which I believe that in cities transit would be a clear winner).

 

 

Now is not the time to buy in northern Brooklyn: http://gothamist.com/2016/01/13/l_train_tunnel_closure_years.php

Or maybe it's the PERFECT time to buy in northern Brooklyn. Get a deal on a property that will be inconvenient for a few years then be back to normal.

Now is not the time to buy in northern Brooklyn: http://gothamist.com/2016/01/13/l_train_tunnel_closure_years.php

 

I know it's not trendy because the wrong people live there for the Hipster generation but buying in the Bronx makes the most sense now.

 

I have a feeling those tunnels are going to have problems even after they are repaired.

Or maybe it's the PERFECT time to buy in northern Brooklyn. Get a deal on a property that will be inconvenient for a few years then be back to normal.

 

Fair point.