- This is a little old, I know. Back in March the Chicago Tribune reported that development had nearly stopped in the second city. I point this out for two reasons. Our own City Hall used the halt in development as one of their justifications for moving review of development projects from City Hall to the EDC. They blamed the finance department not the economy for the halt in development. Do they not read the news? Do they not read history? About a year ago I read that at the start of the great depression housing starts dropped 95% in Kansas City Missouri.
- A professor in Utah "hopes Americans will return to the urban core, swapping a love affair with the car and the cul-de-sac for mass transit and mixed-use developments". I share that hope. It's one of the points of this blog.
- Here's yet another story reporting record transit ridership somewhere in the United States. This time it's in East Valley, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona.
- Sandpoint, Idaho is considering an ordinance that would ban new drive-through lanes.
- An editorial in the Detroit Daily News suggests a course of action for Detroit's economic health that' similar to the opinion expressed by that professor in Utah. The first line sums it up: "Michigan needs great, walkable, urban places if it is to mount a serious economic recovery." Furthermore, "If we build places where the best and brightest want to live, our economy will reap the benefits in job creation, skilled workers and entrepreneurial activity." I couldn't agree more.
- The Arizona Daily Star has reported that the board that governs light rail has voted to allow advertising on and in trains and on boarding platforms. This is being done to make up for budget shortfalls. That last has a familiar ring to it. Our own transit system is suffering from budget shortfalls necessitating service cuts. Why do we not have advertisements on our bus kiosks?
- The Los Altos city council is responding to declining tax revenues, by encouraging city residents to shop local. Anyone who doesn't understand why that's a good course of action should google the term "economic multiplier".
April 20, 2009
Around the Nation
I've gotten a bit behind in checking municipal headlines around the country. I'll keep my focus on recent items, though there is one older headlines that caught my eye.
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3 comments:
Re: Advertising at bus stops
As a city we are just awful about coming up with alternative revenue channels. When the buget gets tight - -our only inclination is to cut services. When any talk of increasing revenue takes place, it seems to involve higher taxes. There are a wealth of ways to improve revenue for cities well beyond taxation...and for some reason, we never think in those terms.
Brent,
I hope you'll take tame to elaborate on revenue generation on your blog.
It's also worth mentioning that KCATA does a lousy job of selling ad space inside the bus. I don't know who they sell to, but I've always thought that one obvious customer base is mom and pop shops on the routes. The adds would tell customers what routes to take. ("Take the 31, 53, 54, or 55 to 31st and Gillham. Walk two blocks North.")
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