City Desk: All Solutions are Local

Political Turnover in Detroit

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:14:00 +0000

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.

A Tale of Two (Twin) Cities

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:10:00 +0000

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.

The Presidency and Urban Life

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 18:52:00 +0000

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.

Want to blow up a stadium?

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:22:00 +0000

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.

Now bike storage is hip, too!

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:15:00 +0000

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.

Race to replace Bloomberg heats up

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:52:00 +0000

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.

Bloomberg introduces record number of Charter Schools

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:56:00 +0000

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.”

Taking the Waste out of Wastewater

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 05:27:00 +0000

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.

Two Takes on Parking

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:27:00 +0000

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.

Bikes enjoy popularity, banned from convention

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:27:00 +0000

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.

Bloomberg counts down

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:07:00 +0000

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).

Something Old, Something New and Something Blue

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:49:00 +0000

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.

Living (and Dying) Green

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:42:00 +0000

By now we've all heard of the importance of living "green," but what about after we head up into the big green soybean field in the sky?

The City of Colorado Springs, in an attempt to increase cemetery revenue, is working towards offering green burials.

The $1 House

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:34:00 +0000

Everybody knows the housing market is bad, but so bad that it took nineteen days to sell a house for $1?

Boise jumps on the Streetcar Express

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:05:00 +0000

Taking a lesson from Portland, Boise moves a step closer to implementing streetcars. The Boise Weekly article on the subject emphasizes how such a move can help continue Downtown Revitalization and promote mixed-use development.

Boise has been working hard to create a traditional city core, but they've had to fight a state legislature every step of the way that considers itself conservative and consistently complains about the Federal Government butting into Idaho's affairs, but has little interest in actually following through on giving local control to Idaho's cities.

Think what a community like Boise, which clearly has its share of visionaries, might be able to do if it actually had the kind of power most major cities do - but that's a different post.

Chicago may be hip, but it ain't perfect

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:35:00 +0000

I've been reading a lot lately about how great Chicago is. It's hip. It's Green. And it's potentially a location for the 2016 Olympics.

Of course, visionary leadership doesn't always mean having fun. Sometimes it is dealing with truly tough decisions - like considering cuts to your Fire and Police Department.

Public safety funding is a difficult issue. An extra officer or firefighter can often mean an extra life saved. How do you weight that against something like public transit, a parks system or sidewalks?

The truth is that these public amenities can save lives too. They just do so, so much more indirectly that it becomes a difficult argument to make.

A Village within a City

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 04:40:00 +0000

The idea of small groups of cottages is becoming increasingly popular in Seattle, as reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I think it's a great way to preserve the feeling of a single-family neighborhood while creating housing that begins to look affordable.

One irritated commenter expressed displeasure:

That phrase, "American Dream," is an irritant these days. Politicians like to patronize us with it all the time.

By the way, visit the Spokane MLS and see what $300,000 will buy there. There are hundreds of far-more-than-decent homes in Spokane in this price range.

Of course Spokane doesn't have all of Seattle's amenities, such as 20 cent grocery bags and a small courtyard at your small home, across which your neighbors can discern your every move and thought.

So your only obstacle to success, should you buy one of these little homes, is making sure that your four or five neighbors are decent, civilized people who won't be irritating.

Of course if they are, then you can work more hours away from home, to make that $1,400 a month mortgage payment...

Right, because Spokane is such a wonderful place to live. Give me a break. The City to our (Sandpoint's) west is an example of exactly how suburban sprawl can destroy a community, slowly turning it into a cesspool for crime.

Spokane is a City that has been built for cars, not people. It's not unusual to hear about a pedestrian being hit by a car on the evening news.

The current Mayor and Council are working admirably to fix the place. But they're going to need to take much bolder action in the next few years (and get the support of their citizenry) if this City is going to ever become the exciting College Town and former World Fair site it has the potential to be.

Taking a few of Seattle's innovative ideas might be just the thing Spokane needs.

Personally, given the choice between a "decent" home in an awful neighborhood (i.e. most of Spokane) and a modest home in a great neighborhood, I think I'd make my decision based on the neighbors every time. Otherwise, why live in a city at all?

Streetcars Desired

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:57:00 +0000

There was a time, even in tiny North Idaho towns like Sandpoint, when nearly every City had a streetcar. They were objects of civic pride and in the few places where they were preserved (like San Francisco and Nelson, British Columbia) they continue to be celebrated.

Portland has had tremendous success with the streetcar system they introduced in 2001 and public transit is increasingly in vogue.

So why not bring them back?

Well, the $132 million price tag connected to Cincinnati's return to the streetcar is one concern. In fact, really cost (as always) is the only major difficulty.

To me, living in a town where a $100 million byway is a bygone conclusion to help a County of only 40,000 get around, a few extra million for a much larger population seems like a fairly reasonable proposition.

As for the guy at the Cato Institute complaining of subsidies, I wonder where he is on all the subsidies (in bridges, roads, extra lanes, free parking, etc) we give to cars? Perhaps he's against those as well, but I doubt it.

Why is it that subsidies are fine when they fund a transportation option that keeps all of us in our own separate, but "equal" compartments, but somehow it's never okay to put money into a system where all of us would truly have an equal opportunity to benefit?

The anti-streetcar position only baffles me further when you consider the fact that it's not some sort of new fangled, new wave idea. After all, once upon time we all had streetcars. Frankly, that's a fairy tale we'd be lucky to return to.

Should Fast Food be Illegal?

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:01:00 +0000

Mayor Michael Bloomberg began the civic war on fast food with his declaration against trans fats earlier this year and now L.A. is picking up where he left off with an outright ban on fast food in one of the City's poorest neighborhoods.

Although I appreciate the sentiment, it seems a bit heavy handed.

Olympic Dreams... in 2016

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is dreaming of bringing the Olympics home to the United States and specifically the Windy City.

Beijing has obviously been transformed in preparation for the games, but that largely has to do with China's one-party government's determination to show their best face rather than a boost from the games.

Daley suggests that the games could help build permanent sports and housing for the City - all without spending a single taxpayer dollar. It's a reasonable (if not somewhat lofty) argument, although I have to wonder: why can't cities find the private dollars to undertake huge projects like this without the Olympics? Or, in other words, whatever happened to Robert Moses?

New York vs. London

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:40:00 +0000

Guest host on WNYC's Brian Lehrer show leads a discussion comparing London and New York. For now, the Big Apple is on top - at least statistically.

Dinner Parties on the Street

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:53:00 +0000

Okay, so this article is a bit stale, but bare in mind that I'm a slow reader.

In the July 31st issue of The New York Times, Penelope Green wrote about New Yorkers using public spaces to hold private dinner parties. The subtitle of the piece, "Expanding the idea of home to include the city itself," is what caught my attention.

This is precisely the transformation in understanding that needs to take place if sidewalks, streets and even bridges are going to be seen as more than just transportation networks. Just like increased business activity can increase the value of a commercial neighborhood, public spaces should be understood as being more valuable the more activity they contain.

Public spaces too often have their uses defined by a special group of people - whether that's a bunch of buerocrats or some "citizens'" committee. Here's a radical idea: how about allowing the public to define what their public spaces are used for.

Of course, in many cases that means stripping away regulations that stop people from using particular spaces in ways that might seem to have the most obvious benefit to them. I can just imagine in a different City (or maybe in certain New York neighborhoods) these dinner parties being broken up to stop people from loitering.

Zero-Impact Government

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 20:36:00 +0000

I'm in the middle of reading William McDonough's and Michael Braungart's "Cradle to Cradle," a brilliant and unusual criticism of both the environmental movement and the Industrial Revolution. More on that later - perhaps after I've actually finished the book.

What it got me thinking about is the role Government, particularly Local Government, often play in polluting the environment.

In the Idaho Republican Platform (a party I'm proudly a member of, by-the-bye) we added the following statement at our State Convention earlier this year:

We recognize that it is ultimately the individual’s responsibility to act as a steward of their environment and that government involvement should be limited at best. We discourage international regulations on industry which attempt to halt the production of certain industrial byproducts. Instead we encourage citizens to adopt buying habits that promote a clean earth.

I generally agree with the above statement and certainly agree with its intent. Industry will change as it realizes the economic advantages of change - and if we want to have a healthy economy as well as a healthy planet it's important that profit remain at least one of industry's core motives.

However, in the case of Government, profit (clearly) isn't a motivating factor, nor should it be. But it seems reasonable to me that as citizens we ought to expect that in serving us Government would at the very least not put more toxic substances out into the environment.

This seems like a particularly reasonable goal for, say, a Parks Department - and yet most Parks Departments aren't even reaching for the goal of zero-impact or (ideally) having a positive impact on the environment.

Likewise, a City's City Hall (the very symbol of City Government) should not have a negative impact on the environment. This seems to me to be a reasonable standard to hold our Government to, if not our Industry.

A Hipster Committee?

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:32:00 +0000

In last Sunday's issue of the Dallas Morning News (Aug. 3, 2008), Garden Columnist and Home Section Editor Mariana Greene suggested that Downtown Dallas needs to become the hip place to be (or, in her words, more like Chicago).

Among her more typical Downtown Revitalization suggestions (with albeit a bit of a gardening slant) was the idea of having a "hipster committee" appointed to "find ways to move downtown's image from corporate to cool."

Certainly being "cool" can be great for an area's economic future (and as Greene points out, "If the stylish and hip hang out downtown, the rest of us will, too"), but is this really something that can be governmentally implemented? And is committee work hip enough for most hipsters?

It seems to me hipness generally appears where living is (relatively) affordable and opportunities to create abound. Rather than asking for hispters' opinions, I'd suggest creating venues for them. That means places you're allowed to play music on the street, cheap warehouse-style spaces that can be converted to various temporary uses and plenty of bulletin board space to post free listings (whether it's an opening in a band or a new art exhibit).

(I should note, to Greene's credit, affordable housing makes her list.)

Here's Greene's full list (check out her article for some additional interesting ideas she suggests stealing from Chicago, maybe your city ought to steal them, too):

Subsidize rents, instead of grocery stores, in a limited downtown core. If there are residents, retailers and service providers will follow.
Close Main Street to vehicular traffic between Field and Harwood from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Encourage independent boutique-style retailers on Main's walking-street blocks.
Change ordinances to ease prohibitions for sidewalk cafes.
Plant hardy but lush flower boxes, maintained by organic practices.
Bring back Hop-A-Bus to connect the City Hall side of downtown with the Arts District.
Appoint a green czar to visualize large and small ways to green the city.
Appoint a hipster committee to find ways to move downtown's image from corporate to cool. If the stylish and hip hang out downtown, the rest of us will, too.

All Solutions are Local

noreply@blogger.com (John T. Reuter) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:25:00 +0000

Tip O'Neill famously declared that all politics is local. I believe it's not just the politics, but also the solutions that are local. Particularly this blog is based on the belief (my belief) that Cities are uniquely suited to solving the greatest challenges of modern life because it is in Cities where issues (like affordable housing, economic development, environmental sustainability, good jobs, education, crime, poverty, community, etc.) appear in ways where their interconnectedness is most easily identified and addressed.

I will be writing about Cities that are unimaginably huge metropolises and those that are just tiny villages. I believe that Cities share common problems and develop solutions that are often transferable (with some alterations) regardless of their size. For example, the Mayor-Council system of governance has shown to work well in a wide variety of Cities.

How exactly I will approach this subject matter is still somewhat unclear to me. For now, my plan is to let this blog grow and change organically, like, you know, a City.