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Monthly archive for March, 2011
Problems With Obama’s New Energy Plan
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Yesterday President Obama outlined a plan designed to ensure America’s “energy security” in the coming years. He pledged to cut one-third of oil imports by 2025. He promised to develop alternatives to oil like biofuels and natural gas, and wants Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Obama Focuses on Reducing Oil Imports
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
• President Obama made the case for fighting global warming by promoting alternative energy at a Georgetown speech. (NYT) (AP) • Many New Yorkers are surprised by the news that their city’s population only grew 2.3% in the last ten Read more ›
New Report: 9 of Top 10 Cities With Greatest Economic Growth by 2025 Will Be in China
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
While there has been some recent debate about the precise growth rate of cities, the belief in global urbanization remains widely held. The McKinsey Institute is certainly among the believers. In a new report published this month (pdf), McKinsey examines Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Population Around Ground Zero Doubles
Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
• New census data reveal that the population living around Ground Zero in lower Manhattan has doubled since 2000. (AP) • This week, the Metrorail system in Washington, D.C. marked thirty-five years in service. The board members managing Metro are Read more ›
Get Your Ugly Solar Panel Off My Pristine Utility Pole!
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
The general public is all for renewable energy — in theory, anyway. But recent renewable projects have raised hackles because of their alleged conflicts with wildlife, damage to Indian spiritual sites, and elevated earthquake risk. And now, objections to green Read more ›
Assessing Japan’s Infrastructure Damage Will Take Time
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Within a few days of the devastating earthquake in Japan I received an email with this pair of pictures, depicting a road-repair effort nothing short of astonishing: In nearly as short a time, a crowd of interested online minds had Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Brazil’s Massive Infrastructure Push
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
• An article examines the work Brazil is doing to improve its infrastructure prior to hosting the World Cup and Olympics. (Reuters) • Toxic plutonium has been observed leaking out of the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan. (AP) • The Read more ›
New Smart Phone App Will Block Distracted Driving — But Is It Practical?
Monday, March 28th, 2011
Last week Sprint announced that later this year it will offer a smart-phone app, called Drive First, designed to minimize distracted driving. When activated, Drive First will lock the cell phone screen, redirect incoming calls to voice mail, block text-message Read more ›
The Morning Dig: America’s Complicated Relationship with Nuclear Power
Monday, March 28th, 2011
• Americans seem to be of two minds about nuclear power: while they don’t hate it as much as Europeans, it still bothers a lot of people. (AP) • People who rely on Long Island bus lines are not happy Read more ›
Dead Roads Driving: 2 Urban Freeways to Demolish (And What Might Replace Them)
Friday, March 25th, 2011
Yesterday we described the potential benefits of tearing down a major urban highway. In the process of researching that subject we came across a 2008 list of “Freeways Without Futures” compiled by the Congress for the New Urbanism. The Congress Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Stephen Colbert’s Take on Incandescent Light Bulbs
Friday, March 25th, 2011
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Light Bulb Ban www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive • Recently, Colbert had a funny segment on how many incandescent light bulbs are being phased Read more ›
Rush Hour Read: Do China’s Skyscrapers Indicate a Bubble?
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
China is home to half of the ten tallest towers being constructed around the world today. That prodigious effort may belie an economic bubble, according to Vikram Mansharamani, author of BoomBustology: Spotting Financial Bubbles Before they Burst: If you look Read more ›
Is Removing a Major Road Really a Good Idea?
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
A timeless topic of conversation in the planning world is whether tearing down a major road improves traffic flow and/or quality of life. Earlier this week NPR looked at a couple such cases and concluded that this approach does indeed Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Revisiting the New York City of the 1970s
Thursday, March 24th, 2011
The Daily Show – T.J. EnglishTags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook • Jon Stewart had a good interview this week with T.J. English, author of “The Savage City: Race, Murder and a Generation Read more ›
Pop Quiz: What’s The Speed Limit for Central Park Cyclists?
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
In a sidenote to the rancorous debate over New York City bike lanes (Satan’s Lanes or Way of The Angels? You decide.) police officers have gone to the homes of ten cyclists ticketed in Central Park to apologize and void Read more ›
New York City’s Free Parking Problem
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
Recently a Brooklyn City Councilman lobbied to allow New York City drivers to park for free in front of broken fire hydrants. The effort seems well intentioned (though not as well intentioned as, say, proposing to actually fix the hydrants), Read more ›
The Morning Dig: Comparing the Risks of Coal vs. Nuclear Power
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
• A good blog post makes the point that for every one person who dies because of nuclear power generation, 4,000 die because of coal production. (Seth Godin) • Because of the nuclear crisis and radiation, there are concerns about Read more ›
Rush Hour Read: Japanese Cars May Get More Expensive
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
If you were thinking of buying a Toyota Prius anytime soon, you might want to hurry. The earthquake in Japan has caused production shutdowns that will likely raise the cost of imports and, as a result, the sticker price of Read more ›
Build America Bonds: Back by Popular Demand?
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
The Build America Bonds program enjoyed a brief, wondrous life. BAB was created by the stimulus package to give state and local agencies an attractive means of financing infrastructure projects: Agencies that issued Build America Bonds to investors could rely Read more ›
The Morning Dig: The Woes of Camden, New Jersey
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
• A good feature article examines the problems faced by Camden, New Jersey, and how people in the city are trying to solve them. (AP) • An editorial makes the case for rebuilding America’s infrastructure with the use of a Read more ›
