Political Turnover in Detroit

Okay, so I never got around to writing about the Twin Cities (although I still swear that I will!).

But before that the news of a new Mayor (and an old one in jail) was too good (or bad) to delay posting.

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A Tale of Two (Twin) Cities

This week, in part to jump start my blogging efforts again and in part to get away from writing just about Bloomberg (and his attempt to gain a third term), I will be focusing on the relationship between St. Paul and Minneapolis as they host the Republican Convention.

I will also be taking a look back in time (although not too far) to Denver's role during the Democratic Convention, as well as examining the speeches delivered by Mayors there.

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The Presidency and Urban Life

Miami Mayor and U.S. Conference of Mayors President Manny Diaz has been making the case for greater federal attention and funding to cities.

Above is the talk he gave to the National Press Conference. You might also want to check out this follow-up interview with NPR.

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Want to blow up a stadium?

Normally wanting to blow up a sports stadium would get you labeled as a terrorist, but now eccentric millionaire pyrotechnics (or perhaps movie producers) have an opportunity to do so and be called good Samaritans.

The Dallas Cowboys are moving to their new stadium and they want someone to blow up the old one.

This is, like, so waaaaay cooler than hip bike racks.

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Now bike storage is hip, too!

Yesterday I wrote about how bicycles are the hippest thing since sliced bread. Now, bike storage is becoming equally hip!

I like the dog best.

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Race to replace Bloomberg heats up

The race to be the Mayor of the most important city in the world is starting to get rolling. Here's a round-up of the news as reported by the most important newspaper in the world:

Marty Markowitz, the Brooklyn borough president, has got 774 Facebook friends. That's significantly more friends than anyone else has. This, he believes, makes him the front runner. I am not convinced.

Could Police Commissioner Ray Kelly be considering a run? Personally, I've never been a big fan of the Police Chief to Mayor or General to President transition. I don't think the skills are necessarily comparable. This is perhaps best seen in President Grant (great General, lousy President).

The best article focused on Council Speaker Christine Quinn's dad. I've always like Quinn and now I'm definitely convinced about who should be the next Mayor of New York: Quinn, that is Mr. Lawrence Quinn.

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Bloomberg introduces record number of Charter Schools

For any other Mayor it'd be a major initiative, but for New York's Mike Bloomberg it's just business as usual. Bloomberg has announced plans to launch 18 new charter schools this year, the most ever to be introduced in the city in a single year.

To describe it as "business as usual" is to get at precisely the type of thinking Bloomberg has applied throughout his reign. In this case, his thinking is that by introducing additional schools it will create the competition necessary to spark fundamental education change throughout New York. More below:

“It is the charter schools that will get the public to demand that the rest of them come up,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “It’s the charter schools that let parents vote with their feet and tell us what the parents think about the quality of the education, of the schools. And I can tell you, one of the reasons that the public schools in the city have gotten better is because the charter schools exist and give parents an alternative and let parents see that you can do something better.”

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Taking the Waste out of Wastewater

A recent study shows that in cities across the globe wastewater is being used in urban agriculture.

This is hardly surprising. The bigger question is why do we so often let wastewater simply go to waste? It seems we ought to be able to find ways to safely utilize it without having to simply separate out the "waste" and send it to landfills.

Excerpt from article about the report below:

The practice was being used on 20 million hectares (almost 50 million acres) of land, especially in Asian countries like China, India and Vietnam, but also "nearly every city of sub-Saharan Africa and in many Latin American cities as well," the statement said.

In Ghana's capital Accra, for example, which has almost two million inhabitants, some 200,000 city residents purchase vegetables each day produced on just 100 hectares of urban agricultural land irrigated with wastewater, the report said.

The report did not call for a ban on the use of wastewater, saying such a move could "adversely affect urban consumers, farmers and others who depend on urban agriculture."

Instead, it urged local authorities to develop policies for safer wastewater use, and advocated low-cost measures such as the use of drip irrigation, correct washing of produce, and wastewater storage ponds to allow suspended solids to settle out.

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Two Takes on Parking

Personally, I don't understand the need for requiring developers to build parking. They're going to build what they need to sell or rent the place. You don't need to regulate business to protect business.

I have mixed feelings about limiting the construction of new spaces, so I'll sit on the sidelines of that discussion for now and just pass on these two recent articles:

1. Tacoma just finished a comprehensive look at their Downtown parking.

The preliminary recommendation, said committee chairman Marty Campbell, is likely to call for installation of the 21st-century version of the parking meter – electronic kiosks that spit out parking receipts that are attached to the inside of curbside windows for parking checkers to see. The system would be similar to one used in much of downtown Seattle and Portland.

The parking recommendations are the first baby steps in what could become a much larger and more ambitious plan to radically change the pattern of downtown commuting from one dominated by single-occupancy vehicle trips – 76 percent now – to one that relies more on transit, car pools, walking and biking to bring downtown workers to their offices.

2. The New York Sun reported that efforts to limit parking may slow development.

One proposed policy to reduce the increase in vehicles is to do away with zoning regulations that require new developments to contain a minimum number of built-in parking spots, ranging from 0.4 to one car a housing unit. Instead, the city would replace the requirements with a maximum limit on the number of parking spots based on how close the building is to bus and subway stops.

While proponents of the move say it would encourage tenants to ditch their vehicles, some are arguing that a cap on parking spots would be a drag on the city's housing market and tax base.

The CEO of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde, said enacting a limit on parking would make it more difficult to attract tenants to developments in the boroughs other than Manhattan, where mass transit is sometimes scarce. Manhattan already has parking limits in place in most areas.

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Bikes enjoy popularity, banned from convention

Bikes (non-motorized and otherwise) are the hottest thing since sliced bread this week. They're popular with bankers, Indians and tween superstars.

And, even though they didn't need it, bikes received an extra boost with Washington, D.C. launching their bike-sharing program. So now that bicycles are becoming mainstream, who do you think is jumping on board the trend? You guessed it: national politicians.

1000 bikes will be provided for free at each of the conventions. However, the bikes will be of limited use at least at the Democratic Convention.

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Bloomberg counts down

Billionaire New York Mayor (and, I'm still keeping my fingers crossed against all odds, possible Vice-Presidential candidate) Mike Bloomberg is known for his obsession with data. Heck, that's how he made his billions.

These days he is closely keeping track of a simple number and making sure that his staff does as well: how much time left they have to make a difference.

500 days might not matter much in most lame duck administrations, but Bloomberg has shown his ability to create huge impacts in short periods of time. Impacts that often spread outside of his municipality.

For the sake of all our cities, we can only hope that Mayor Bloomberg has a few major innovations left in him.

On a side note, for awhile now I've been thinking that America needs a figure to focus us on the power of local (rather than federal) government. I think Bloomberg could be that figure after he leaves office (heck, he's already doing it now). He has the money obviously to create a significant City-focused think tank and the experience to back up his bold ideas for urban transformation.

He also has the relationships with other Mayors to create a powerful political force that may well be able to get Washington to listen (if not actually respond).

If Bloomberg doesn't create this role for himself, whoever ends up the next President would be wise to stick him in a cabinet position and essentially give him this role - an ambassador from the Federal Government to our nation's Cities (and, of course, the reverse would apply as well).

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Something Old, Something New and Something Blue

Something Old: In 1969 City Visionary Jane Jacobs was apparently a regular commentator on the CBC evening news. Check out this great clip of her explaining what she thought Toronto was doing right and wrong.

Something New: Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Downtown Seattle managed to cut energy use by 3 megawatts after a minor mishap caused the power supply to be reduced. Of course, that's nothing compared to the major mishap that caused Juneau to drastically reduce energy use. Seattle, I suspect, also isn't likely to preserve those more minor energy savings like Juneau has to a phenomenal degree.

Something Blue: Jonathan Mitchell's "City X" is a perfectly depressing (i.e. blue) audio piece on the destruction malls can wreck on a traditional city, Downtown and community. The sound of the piece is as haunting as the effects of sprawl on our landscapes.

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