Across the Great Divide

Infrastructure, Design and Use Make Safe Streets.

The Pioneer Press reports that the Twin Cities had the safest streets for pedestrians among the nation’s 52 largest metropolitan areas, according to a report by Transportation for America.

The study [...] concluded the Twin Cities’ investment in trails, sidewalks, dedicated bike-pedestrian bridges and other infrastructure makes the region a safer and more inviting place to walk.

The report also showed the Twin Cities spent a higher percentage of federal transportation funding on bicycle and pedestrian projects than most other regions studied, although it was less than 5 percent. [We ranked sixth.]

The report also notes that pedestrian deaths occur disproportionately among children, the elderly, and ethnic minorities.

These deaths typically are labeled “accidents,” and attributed to error on the part of motorist or pedestrian. In fact, however, an overwhelming proportion share a similar factor: They occurred along roadways that were dangerous by design, streets that were engineered for speeding cars and made little or no provision for people on foot, in wheelchairs or on a bicycle.

Going against stereotypes of rage and rudeness, Boston had the second safest streets and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, with the highest proportion of people who walk to work, was third.

This suggests that having more people walking — as with cycling — may contribute to greater safety on the street.

Here's the full list.

 

Every Cyclist's Dream.

 
The daughter of a friend recently had her bike stolen. It was a utilitarian beater that had gotten her around campus, and to and from jobs throughout college. 

And then it was gone. Not a great pecuniary loss, and with winter and graduation approaching, probably not even worth replacing right now. But on principle, a pisser.

There is a natural period of fantasy that follows the loss of any article, in which the former owner imagines seeing it again, accosts the thief and administers all kids of retribution — sanctioned and otherwise.

This seems especially true of stolen bicycles — in part because bike owners are often like the young woman or identify still with that time of life when the rider was relatively poor and relatively innocent. There's also at least an imagined cycling community in which the members all look out for each other; we think we have more in common and watch out for each other more than the general class of wallet, BMW and jewelry owners, for example.

So bicycle theft can seem like a moral offense rather than a simple crime. It feels personal.

Not long afterward, the woman spotted her bike!

This almost never happens, no matter how devoutly it may be wished.

Excitedly, she texted friends who suggested clamping her own lock on the bike — which she did, along with a note that said: This is my bike. It was stolen and I want it back. Take off your lock or I'll have it cut off.

She came back later and the offending lock was gone.

[Missing poster source]

Is This Why Bachmann's Top Communicator Left?

Michelle Marston, a top aide to Rep. Michelle Bachmann, said she was leaving the job the day before Bachmann's latest and greatest media stunt — a "house call" on Congress to protest the health care bill.

Marston declined to state a reason for leaving, but it's possible the stress of keeping Bachmann before the microphones and cameras had caused a slip-up in the office that left her boss furious.

An email blast from Bachmann sent yesterday afternoon may provide a clue. Apparently an earlier draft had to be heavily edited. We don't know whether this was because an inexperienced underling was assigned the job or someone on the way out the door decided to speak the truth for a change.

Here's the draft, with cuts and rewrites highlighted.

Dear Campaign Fund Supporter Patriot,

As I write this note, thousands of everyday Americans who can drop everything to come to Washington on the spur of the moment have come to Washington to speak their mind about the misguided health care bill that Speaker Pelosi and President Obama are pushing through Congress.

What an awe-inspiring sight! These people paid high last-minute airline fares came by plane, jumped on the Metro from K Street by train, drove all the way from Bethesda  by car and took 40 buses chartered by Americans for Prosperity by bus .

A couple of them They drove overnight and they left their jigsaw puzzles unfinished gave up their precious free time to share one message with the mainstream media this Congress: I am not a kook! Keep your hands off my health care!

Less than one week from when Americans for Prosperity and the insurance companies pitched this idea to me I put out the call to the American people to come to Washington and pay this emergency house call on Congress, they're here and they're ready to wander the halls disrupting work stand up for their freedoms.

But, even as I stand here with these thousands of American people - moms, dads, grandparents and my countless foster children all united by an irrational fear of anything that might benefit anyone but themselves a love of what makes America great - the Democrats are attempting to expand health care coverage to people who don't have it setting their sights on me.

In fact, it is because I stand with you and these other camera-hungry misfits great Americans that the liberals are doing all they can to demean all my appearances on Glenn Beck, etc. my work in Congress.

And, that's why I need your help. They'll come at me with both guns, putting facts millions of dollars into public information campaigns spreading lies about me and ridiculing my quest for more radio and TV time my work here in Congress. Can you help me with your most generous contribution today?

Here's what the Democratic National Committee (DNC) had to say about the ludicrous spectacle awesome power of the American people as they harassed the police providing security at gathered on the West lawn of the U.S. Capitol today:

"If the Republican party wants to make Michele Bachmann the voice of the party, that's more than fine with us. We'll help circulate the petition. ... It's their extreme right-wing, rigid ideological agenda that has Americans leaving the Republican Party in droves - and so, if displays like today are what they think is a smart political strategy, all we can say is: go for it."

Bingo! They still don't get it. Today wasn't about me — but you can bet I will be talking about it on Fox News for the next week. And, it wasn't about any extreme agenda because an agenda would be too much like actual work. It was about the people Fox News has whipped into a frenzy American people and what the extreme right wing mainstream America believes and supports and wants from their Congress. I need your help to raise my national profile stay in Congress fighting for you.

Back When I was a Word Man.

This is a test of Typepad's audio player, which in my browser doesn't display as a player in my preview mode. It appears to require a right-click on the box to open the link in a new tab/window. But now that it's posted, a play arrow does seem to appear if you hover over the bar with your mouse.

Word Man

New Berlin Wall Gives New Meaning to "Free."

I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

The Associated Press reports  that a massive barrier will block Berliners' view of U2's concert celebrating 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Only 10,000 ticket holders will be allowed by MTV organizers to see today's concert in front of the Brandenburg Gate. Those tickets were made available online — for free.

Apparently, MTV will not force the non-free-ticket-holding freeloaders on the other side of the barrier to stick their fingers in their ears and hum.

Bailing Out Sprawl: When Helping Hurts.

The Strib asks today,"Was cash for clunkers a clunker?" Apparently the pickup crowd was a major beneficiary of the trade-in program designed to help out car companies and put more fuel efficient vehicles on the road. Ford F-150 drivers in particular tended by a wide margin to buy another F-150.

This reminded me of another questioned posed by Streetsblog San Francisco — "Has the government been bailing out sprawl?" (h/t Jon Commers)

Unintended consequences from good intentions abound in the bailout biz, but once things start to go south, there are also perils in failing to act.

Smart growth advocates have long pointed out the costs of continuing to encourage and even subsidize urban sprawl. The post cogently presents some of the other bad consequences of the housing bubble that only became apparent after it burst. And it has suggestions for smarter policy.

I found myself copying too many sections of the piece to include here, so this is just a taste:

[R]ising housing demand led to construction on the urban fringe. It also led to higher prices in center cities, which pushed many low- and middle-income families to move to places with cheaper housing markets, which increased demand for homes on the fringe and led to even more construction. Rising demand for exurban living led to construction of exurban housing, and rising demand for urban living led to construction of exurban housing.

Another way to say this is that center-city housing markets experienced a correction, while exurban housing markets entered a vicious cycle leading to wrenching housing price declines that will likely push prices below replacement costs in some areas.

This is a dangerous place for neighborhoods to be. Vacant homes will begin to deteriorate, and occupied homes unlikely to sell for more than replacement costs (or more than the value of the owner's mortgage) will suffer from disinvestment. The housing stock will become second-rate.

As neighborhoods fall apart, wealthier and more mobile homeowners will move away, while excess inventory and rock bottom prices will attract low-income households. The tax base will fall and so services will decline, and the general desirability of such areas will drop. Some, and perhaps many, of these neighborhoods will become slums.

[...]

In short, the government isn't just subsidizing sprawl. It's subsidizing the deterioration of sprawling areas.

Once government acts, it's impossible to measure the price of inaction. We can't know if the economy would've gone into a death spiral if lawmakers had stood on the sidelines rooting for the free market to perform the rescue operation.

Critics of government intervention won't have to directly face the question: "what if we'd done nothing?" Instead, they can gather political ammunition without ever having stood in the line of fire.

Meanwhile, those who believe intervention averted disaster should consider the sort of consequences now manifest in the housing market.

Revenge Conservatives and de Facto Americans.

Over the weekend, I spoke with a former diplomat and World Bank type who had lived in Toronto for 20 years. He was lamenting how American ignorance of other cultures and countries made us so susceptible to anecdote-based lies — in this case, about the Canadian national health care system.

I didn't take notes on that conversation, but this post (h/t Hal Davis) from a Canadian centrist built very nicely on the theme (emphasis mine).

It pains me to see my American cousins being denied affordable and effective health care. It pains me even more the reasons it is being denied is a series of grand deceits.

Many conservatives proudly introduce themselves as "fiscal conservatives" as if to imply they have a monopoly on money matters. If they are politically inclined their "expertise" extends to public expenditures. It is mainly conservatives who are telling Americans they cannot afford universal single payer Medicare when the reverse is true America cannot afford to not implement such a program. Many governments learned long ago that the only cost effective way to deliver certain services, specifically Medicare, to the public was through universal programs where the cost was spread over the entire population; in other words a collectivity-or that dreaded word that strikes fear in to the heart of every American-socialism.

This writer has the benefit of our national Medicare plan, a group benefit plan through my employer, and government run universal car insurance. These services become affordable or much more affordable only because a very large number of people make it so by pooling resources. A so-called fiscal conservative who denies the cost benefits and efficiencies of this sort of collectivity denies an immutable truth and one that is ageless.

The idea the private sector provides goods and services more efficiently than government is only one of the big lies of our times- and another of the sins of the revenge conservatives has been to denigrate the role of government to facilitate their greed.

Petters: How to Know When He's Cheating.

Apparently some of Tom Petters' business associates never read those popular features on "How to tell your guy is cheating." Or asked a psychic. Or read a book on how to recognize the signs.

In yesterday's fraud trial testimony, one of Petters' dupes described how he "planned to go to California to inspect the inventory [he was asked to invest in], but Petters said no because it was in a locked facility available only to the insurers of the merchandise."

Right. Available to insurers but not investors.

That excuse sounded to me remarkably like what the married guy says to his girlfriend when she wonders why they never spend any time at his place. 

Some of the other behavior sounded familiar, too. For example:

Tells stories that don't make sense. Paul Feehan, GE Capital's manager of corporate lending at the time, testified that he called Petters directly to discuss his company's mounting financial troubles. "I got a series of promises. There was always a new excuse and the excuses kept piling up," he said.

Accuses you of infidelity. Feehan said he and Marrone wrote Costco to check on the inventory of electronics goods that Petters claimed to have bought with the money he borrowed. Petters immediately called back and "read me the riot act," Feehan said. "He was very adamant that I stay away from Costco."

Takes offense when you make normal and natural inquiries and may demand to know why you are checking up. When Colburn told Petters he intended to call the companies that were supposed to sell the TVs, Petters was adamantly opposed. He said Petters left a voice mail message saying, "You won't get the satisfaction that you're looking for."

Lives a changed or more extravagant life style. The dapper Petters funded his philanthropy, gambling and world travel with money from investors.

Signs of unexplainable exhaustion or restlessness. Petters was notoriously fidgety and had a short attention span, so any change there would be in matter of degree.

Hides or “loses” bills. A classic symptom. Instead of hiding paperwork about his transactions, Petters forged it.

Withholds affection and/or sex. When one lender questioned Petters too closely, he terminated the relationship, saying they were too hard to do business with.

Concocts alibis calculated to elicit empathy instead of scrutiny. At one point in August 2008, Petters told one of his investors that he had a family emergency and would repay the investor "within days," the government said, noting that Petters then sent an e-mail to Coleman that said, "Dancing...my sh[o]es have holes i[n] them."

Petters is still dancing. His defense claims he was victimized by others while he was distraught over the death of his son.

Central Corridor Disruption: How Hard Will It Really Be?

One of the main complaints about the Central Corridor light rail project comes from businesses along University Avenue that fear it will disrupt parking — and therefore harm their businesses.

I have huge sympathy for struggling small businesses. Much less for Americans who can't get their butts out of a car and walk half a block to patronize a local business.

Are fears overblown or are American consumers totally pathetic?

Here's a typical quote from a business owner:

"I know it will be a good thing," Mary Milton told KARE Thursday as she pondered the train that will pass right past her Transformation Hair salon on University Avenue. But she concedes she's worried about the loss of on-street parking to make room for the new line.

"We need our customers," Milton remarked, "It will be hard. We don't have a lot of parking now, and if the[y] take what we've got it's going to really have the business down a lot."

I don't know what day of the week or time of day Google Street View took this shot of the block where the hair salon does business, but from the shadows, it's in the afternoon. You can run up and down the street and see cross streets, where there's abundant parking. 

Now ask yourself: how many customers does the business handle at one time? And how many people change their hair stylist because they can't park right in front of the door?

Maybe customers who drive will have a hard time reaching this business for their hair styling during construction and after the train is running. But I'm not seeing the problem.

[Disclosure: I have done some consulting with the Central Corridor Funders Collaborative.]

Play or Pray?

Warning: This post is half-baked, but I think the topic is an interesting one.

News Cut asked:

Why does football and religion seem to be linked more than say, the band and religion in schools? You don't usually see the band kids gather in prayer before the first song. Why not? Why doesn't the glee club put up posters that say, "Make a joyful noise."?

I have an opinion, based on my experience playing high school football and being the team member who said the team prayer before each game — a role not often played by agnostics, even if they also play defensive back, outside man on punts and kickoffs and hold for the placekicker.

Football is based on obedience and performing prescribed and regimented roles. The same thing could be said for musicians, except that the band and glee club follow notated music and reproduce the same determined  outcome each time. There's no need for or benefit from a moral or other system imposed from above to help moderate a tendency toward chaos.

In football, there's greater tension between executing the play as designed and reacting to what the opponent is doing to disrupt proper execution. In a perfect world, the offense always scores and the defense always stops the offense cold. The game occurs somewhere in between.

Religion is a system for executing written instructions (scripture) in a world where the players rarely can follow the plays to the letter. Athletes accustomed to operating in such a system are also more likely to succeed —or be able to apply their mindset — in football than in a more improvisational sport like basketball.

I'm not going to try to develop this too far, because it may be utter b.s.

The other issue Bob Collins raises is whether institutions should support or suppress explicit displays of religiosity in the game they sponsor.

Based on my own experience, I think team prayers are idiotic in terms of influencing causality, and they have the potential to offend or exclude individual players, but overall they are harmless and may have some positive team benefit by elevating a team's dedication to its common purpose — which is, after all, just a game.

Individual player displays, on the other hand, I find mildly offensive. They turn the benediction aspect of the team payer and into an individual declaration of godliness and obvious moral superiority — the heavenward finger after getting to first base or making a free throw, for example. It strikes me as arrogant, not humble, but hey, I'm a pagan, and it's a free country.

Where I would draw the line is public institutions allowing its players or cheerleaders to strike poses with signs and symbols of a particular religion.

Put another way, how long would a school put up with players thanking Satan for granting victory or directing the final shot into the basket?