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A New Year
A new year begins, grand 2009. With many light rail lines opening, transit systems in flux, budgets completely skewed and out of whack, I have a few personal blogging goals for the new year.
First Goal: I want to avoid the heavy handed political headache entries that drive me nuts. The politics in this particular industry make me sick through and through. Kind of like after a heavy night of drinking and a solid Taco Bell dinner, the next day is just raring for bad news. That is exactly what politics in the transportation industry make me feel like. It is a sick, sick space in society.
Second Goal: I want to try, to write more entries on interesting tidbits focused solely around use and stories on and around transit. Stories like the recent "Craigslist Transit Tales", positive things like "I love Portland, but some cities are improving…", and my photo entries like transit photo "#001", "#002", and "#003".
Third Goal: At some point, around March or April I intend to get a video camera and start shooting some video blog material. I haven't figured out exactly how I want to frame it, but at some point I'll get that figured out. One thing I do intend to do at some point is to possibly film more interviews and discussions I have with transit staff, and especially transit users.
Fourth Goal: Travel. I've been slacking lately but really want to get out, get photos, and get some material on the various transit systems from my personal experience. Some of those that I want to connect with (pun intended, sort of) are; Rail Runner running between Santa Fe to Albequrque, Sound Transit's new light rail operations when they open around June, I still would like to check out Sacramento's Transit System, and I'd like to get back to New Orleans and ride a streetcar or two, Charlotte for the CATs and especially to see how light rail is going in the deep south, and a dozen others.
Cheers to all and good riding.
Stripped Malls
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
Retail analysts predict a “sea change” in the retail landscape in 2009, with a record number of bankruptcies, closures and vacancies.
A Place For Sustainable Food in Obama Administration?
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
This column looks at President-elect Barack Obama’s food politics and wonders just how sustainable his administration’s food policies will be.
Bell Tolls for California Cities and Their Creative Borrowing Schemes
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
Cities in California have been finding creative ways to generate funding and financing in recent years. Now, it seems lenders are coming to cities to collect on loans and many are left scrambling to pay up.
SUVs And Light Trucks Make Comeback
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
Cheap gas, great deals, and winter weather resulted in SUV and light trucks resuming their dominance in vehicle sales in December, climbing to 51% of all sales, as Prius sales dipped 48% in November.
Corrupt Officials in Chicago Allowed to Trump Zoning and Planning
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
In a continuing investigation, the Chicago Tribune reports on the bribes and corruption that have resulted from the Chicago policy of allowing local aldermen final say — over local zoning and planning — on what gets built.
Russian output takes a dip
ASPO International | The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas -
Russian oil production fell by around 1% last year, official data showed, the country’s first annual decline in a decade after large increases in previous years and a sign of things to come.
The Energy Ministry data showed that December crude and gas condensate production fell 1.6 percent, month-on-month, to 9.66 million barrels per day, bringing the annual average output to 488.105 million tonnes or 9.78 million bpd.
The data also showed that Russian oil exports via pipeline monopoly Transneft fell by more than 5% to 4.19 million bpd (209.152 million tonnes) last year from 4.43 million bpd (220.597 million tonnes) in 2007.
Read more: Upstream Online
Top 10 Trends in Green Transportation
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
Inhabitat selects their top 10, ranging from DIY bicycles to the fall of the S.U.V. Notably, transit is barely mentioned.
Is Climate Change an Energy Problem?
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
Alex Steffen at WorldChanging turns the climate change problem inside out to reconsider whether the form of energy is the true issue, rather than how much is wasted and how we use it.
NYT Editorial And Column Push Gas Tax
Planetizen - Urban Planning, Design and Development Network
A NYT editorial and NYT columnist Thomas Friedman both arrive at the same conclusion - some type of gas tax is essential for both the auto bailout and Obama’s goal of greening the U.S. economy.
