Both my laptop and desktop have decided to break within the past week, so a planned post on the new TTI traffic report has been postponed. I know you, dear reader, are extremely excited, and are waiting with bated breath. So here is a short placeholder:
I already promised someone that I would not write a meditation on downtown parking policy, but that was before the City of Austin extended the hours on all its parking meters downtown. I can't find the best article I read about it, but the Statesman is good, Community Impact has a Podcast, and the Chronicle, though it does not have a story on it yet, has a good archive of people complaining.
Four Observations:
1. This sucks for a lot of people, though it seems unlikely people will stop going downtown. But not me; I live downtown and walk everywhere anyway.
2. If indeed people stop going downtown, parking will be easier to find. Moreover, the article I read and can't find argues that other lots and garages that are closed at night will be able to open since they won't be competing with free on-street parking.
3. Fine-tuning will probably happen as the city responds to complaints from downtown employees who work after 5 and people who say the 3 hour limit makes going to long shows impossible. It seems to me there are easy fixes (negotiate some sort of permit for the workers - I think some businesses already do this; and get rid of the time limit on nights and weekends.) So hopefully those will happen, though ideally they would have already been included.
4. The city estimates this will yield an extra 4 million dollars annually; that's pretty good money.
I'm going to a Sierra Club meeting tonight, and some sort of housing tour tomorrow. Thursday's post might concern these. - JPL
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
"Most Toxic American Cities"
A Yahoo! front page link: http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/americas-most-toxic-cities-2011.html
This is pretty cool. It ranks the US cities based on air quality, TRI emissions, superfund sites, and water quality issues. The exact methodology is confusing: Salt Lake City is ranked below St. Louis despite having significantly more ozone action days and TRI emissions. And the full rankings, as well as any kind of numerical index are missing. But its still cobbles together several different measures of environmental quality - air, water, and land - which is not something I had seen before
The top ten, if you don't want to read the story:
1. Philadelphia
2. Bakersfield
3. Fresno
4. New York
5. Baton Rouge
6. LA
7. Houston
8. St. Louis
9. Salt Lake City
10. Riverside
Note that the California cities are there for air quality; Houston, St. Louis, and Baton Rouge are there for the oil industry; Salt Lake is there because of the mining industry, (and also salty water); and NY and Philadelphia are there because the East Coast is a dirty, polluted place.
This is pretty cool. It ranks the US cities based on air quality, TRI emissions, superfund sites, and water quality issues. The exact methodology is confusing: Salt Lake City is ranked below St. Louis despite having significantly more ozone action days and TRI emissions. And the full rankings, as well as any kind of numerical index are missing. But its still cobbles together several different measures of environmental quality - air, water, and land - which is not something I had seen before
The top ten, if you don't want to read the story:
1. Philadelphia
2. Bakersfield
3. Fresno
4. New York
5. Baton Rouge
6. LA
7. Houston
8. St. Louis
9. Salt Lake City
10. Riverside
Note that the California cities are there for air quality; Houston, St. Louis, and Baton Rouge are there for the oil industry; Salt Lake is there because of the mining industry, (and also salty water); and NY and Philadelphia are there because the East Coast is a dirty, polluted place.
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