1. Private companies are offering to build Hamburg a 3.2-mile cable car line connecting the red light district of St. Pauli with two other tourist destinations.2. Alex Block links to a video about NJ Transit's new commuter rail trainsets. Apparently the trains are so heavy because of uniquely … [Read more...]
NYC’s horrible parking privatization plan
In the past, Market Urbanism has not been very pleased with municipal parking privatization schemes. While we are pro-privatization in theory, in practice, many of the schemes turn out to be seriously deficient in market credentials. For one, true privatization would mean giving the "owners" full … [Read more...]
A reader comment on census data
Sorry for the light (/lack of) posting. Hopefully that'll change soon. In the meantime, here's a reader comment from a post a few weeks ago on whether or not dense areas are gaining population: I worked for the US Census Bureau in Central Los Angeles last year. Census Bureau management hired about … [Read more...]
If we’re in an urban renaissance, why are cities still losing population?
Despite the general feeling among urbanists that the city is making a comeback after half a century of neglect, I still read from a lot of suburbanists (a catch-all term I'm using to describe Joel Kotkin, Wendell Cox [see comments], etc.)—and even the mainstream media—that cities are still losing … [Read more...]
Alon Levy on Downtown Brooklyn
In my last post about the geometry of cities and the importance of downtowns, it looks like I understated the extent to which Downtown Brooklyn was built up during New York's market-driven boom during the turn-of-the-century. Quoteth commenter Alon Levy: I think you are essentially correct, but … [Read more...]
Downtown and the geometry of cities
Matt Yglesias and Lydia DePillis have been having an interesting discussion about the DC commercial real estate market that I have some thoughts on, so I thought I'd weigh in. I apologize for the length of this post, but I think it's a really important point that shouldn't be underestimated.Matt … [Read more...]
Even a HUD project in a high-density Bronx neighborhood can’t escape the parking minimum
This should come as no surprise to anyone who's taken a look at America's absurdly restrictive minimum parking requirements, but Streetsblog has come up with a really great example of really bad parking policy in action: The HUD-sponsored project, located on Bathgate Avenue between 183rd and 184th … [Read more...]
Links
1. An excellent Wikipedia article about the old DC streetcars. I wish there were more economics, and I'd also like to know about the state-mandated consolidation that they talk about in the mid-1890s. Also note that streetcar use reached its peak in the mid 1910s – when people talk about interstate … [Read more...]