A few things to know this week: January 24, 2020
Happy Friday!
Every week, we round up some of the things we read, listened to, or watched that really caught our attention. Here are just a few things we think you should know this week:
This week's things to know:
U.S. Mayors Say Infrastructure Is a Priority. But What Kind? (CityLab)
Every city says it wants to be financially responsible, environmentally resilient and socially inclusive, but the daily decisions made in our cities often don't reflect these desired outcomes. This latest survey of mayors across the country shows that while more are talking a good game about wanting to improve pedestrian safety and access to public transit, they're still lacking political will to follow with policy and investment decisions to back up the talk. And while elected officials continue straddling the fence, we see more and more cities struggling to pay for basic services and infrastructure, congestion and air quality getting worse, access to jobs and affordable housing decreasing for more citizens, and pedestrian deaths from crashes on the rise.
My friends sometimes accuse me of being "anti-car.” I assure them (and those of you reading this) I am not. What am is for are safe public spaces for kids, seniors, and everyone walking or biking somewhere to move around—without worrying they'll get tagged by a 10-foot-tall truck driven by a distracted teenage driver. I’m for financially viable development that enables cities to maintain streets and provide basic services consistently over time. And I’m for pleasant places designed for humans to experience and enjoy with each other. None of these are possible when we prioritize parking, wide streets, and drive time as we've been doing for the past 7 decades. Cities are made on decisions. And decisions reflect values and priorities. If we truly want safer and more vibrant communities, then we need to elect people who are willing to get off the fence and commit to making tough decisions to get cities back on a healthy and sustainable course. – Kevin
We're not going to build more Main Street towns. Here's one way to move on. (Granola Shotgun)
I like reading Johnny Sanphillippo’s writing; I find that he’s willing to go places that a lot of self-styled urbanists won’t. In this post, he faces the (as he sees it) probable reality that his belle reve (or beautiful dream) of “Main Street urbanism” is not going to come rolling back just like that. “For every wee tad success at building a new barber shop with an apartment above it on a narrow tree lined street there are seven hundred century old existing versions bulldozed to make way for a road widening project, a parking lot, and a storm water retention pond.” So how to adapt to the landscape we’ve been left with? Johnny has a few thoughts worth considering. – Jordan
Do Two-Way Streets Help a City's Economy? (CityLab)
If you've been around the urban transportation scene for very long, you've probably heard the claim that converting one-way streets to two-way streets can boost the economy, as well as improve safety along conversion corridors. But in this article, Richard Florida unpacks a study by the University of San Francisco that questions this claim. The study documents six conversions across the country and their effects including jobs created/lost along those streets. The results are fascinating and may change the way you think about this common claim about one-way and two-way streets. – Tim
Dangerous By Design (Report from Smart Growth America)
Between 2008 and 2017, drivers struck and killed an average of 13 people per day who were walking (and the number has been trending up). Why? Well, it’s not because those are all just America’s worst drivers, or because people have forgotten to look both ways. People tend to drive at speeds encouraged by the design of the street or road. When roadways are designed to prioritize vehicle speed at all costs, the (completely unnecessary) costs end up being human lives. The Dangerous by Design report details some of the most dangerous places in the US and suggest steps can be taken to reverse this reality. – Ryan
Bloomberg’s Infrastructure Plan: Save Lives, Boost Transit, Stop Building Roads (Streetsblog)
Former NYC mayor and current presidential candidate (in some states anyway) Michael Bloomberg announced updated details on his infrastructure platform earlier this week. Gersch Kuntzman of Streetsblog reached out to get my initial thoughts for this article. It's encouraging to see maintenance, transit, and bike infrastructure taking a higher priority than other proposals out there, but I still think too much is going toward expanding highways and bridges. – Kevin
Questioning conventional wisdom (Shreveport Times)
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I always encourage elected officials in growing communities to talk with those who served in the past at communities that are now older. In almost every case, the ex-elected official will reflect on the pro-growth decisions and say that they have regrets, or that they wish they had known what they know now. This op-ed was written by a former Shreveport councilmember, who offered this: "One lesson we should learn is that additional infrastructure requires extensive future maintenance that the original projections rarely account for. We must act like we are on the tight budgets we face."
Shreveport and another city I liken it to, Memphis, are examples of places that grew too much, too fast, and are now having to figure out how to address the damage caused by the relentless growth decisions of 50 years ago. There are many lessons to be learned from their stories, but a couple big ones are that not all growth is good growth, and that there are significant financial costs tied to development that must be better accounted for. – Kevin
Houston Is Now Less Affordable Than New York City (Texas Monthly)
We shared an article by Kea Wilson last week that talked about what we spend on transportation and how that impacts cost of living. I wanted to follow that up with a localized version for our fellow Texans. A new study shows that when you factor in transportation costs, the median Houston-area household spends more on basic needs than do residents of the NYC metro. So yeah, our housing prices and taxes are still lower, but all that commuting and driving around to attend to daily needs has a cost. – Kevin
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Hey, friends in local government:
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