A USA Today story last week uses data from RealtyTrac to show that more than half of the nation’s foreclosures last year took place in just 35 counties, in about a dozen states. Outside those foreclosure hot spots, the article says, “the foreclosure wave was barely a ripple — at least until it started swamping major banks that had invested heavily in mortgages.” Wachovia, it points out, was hammered by foreclosures in California and Florida. And we all know the rest.
Month: March 2009
Do gates really keep out crime?
Campbell said at a recent City Council meeting that the city doesn’t currently have a policy about gated developments, although its street connectivity policies would discourage them. Planners generally think gated subdivisions work against such things as a sense of community, social capital and mixed-income neighborhoods, in addition to bollixing up general traffic flow.
It’s a welcome attempt. Gated developments derive much of their popularity from the general belief that they’re safer. Maybe they are, maybe they aren’t. I know we have often vacationed at a gated beach community, in which there are gated developments inside the gated development. So, um, if you need those extra gates, does that mean the first set of gates doesn’t work? Who, exactly, are you trying to keep out? If it’s that journalistic riffraff, well, the gates aren’t working.
Commuter rail: Finally?
A couple of rail-related news bits:
Item No. 1: Why hasn’t much commuter rail been built in the country in recent years? The Bush administration’s Federal Transit Administration had written some requirements for how to calculate such things as projected ridership when submitting requests for federal transit money. It’s complicated, but the upshot was that the rules made it impossible for commuter rail — which goes faster and has fewer stops than in-town light rail — to compete for the limited federal transit dollars.
That’s why the North Corridor transit line that the Charlotte Area Transit System wants to build had that “gap” in its funding plan — it’s the gap where federal funds might have gone, but weren’t available. The Triangle Transit Authority in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill was stuck for the same reason.
Now comes word the FTA has rescinded those old parameters, CATS chief Keith Parker said late last week. He didn’t know yet what the new parameters would be or whether new money would be available for commuter rail projects. But it’s got to be good news for CATS and the many people who’ve been hoping to see a rail line from uptown Charlotte to Davidson and even beyond, if Iredell County would cough up some money (not to mention good news for the TTA and our fellow North Carolinians in the Triangle.)
Item No. 2: A new Elon University poll finds 77 percent of North Carolinians would like to see commuter rail developed in urban areas, and 69 percent support regional rail systems.
While 51 percent of North Carolinians oppose collecting tolls to fund
statewide transportation projects, 77 percent would like to see commuter
railways developed in urban areas and 69 percent of citizens support regional
rail systems. Sixty-seven percent of respondents support a state-wide bond
referendum to raise money for transportation projects, while 57 percent of
residents support giving local governments the option of using a half-cent sales
tax to finance local projects. Residents oppose a fee based on the number of
miles they drive annually (74%) and increasing the cost of the driver’s license
renewal fee (55%).
Poll: New roads don’t top preference list
Interesting poll out from the National Association of Realtors and the advocacy group, Transportation for America, finds a majority of Americans believe upgrading and repairing existing roads and bridges and expanding transportation options (i.e. transit, bicycling and pedestrian options) should take precedence over building new roads.
A press release from the Realtors’ association says: “When asked about approaches to addressing traffic, 47 percent preferred improving public transportation, 25 percent chose building communities that encourage people not to drive, and 20 percent preferred building new roads. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed believe the federal government is not devoting enough attention to trains and light rail systems, and three out of four favor improving intercity rail and transit.”
Frank Gehry at 80
Big-name architect Frank Gehry turned 80 on Saturday, and the L.A. Times ran a profile and assessment of his work, from architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. (Gehry’s Disney Hall in Los Angeles is at left, courtesy of the L.A. Times.)
The recession has hit his practice hard: Two major projects, Grand Avenue in Los Angeles and Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, have been put on hold, and Gehry has half the staff he did a year ago. Interestingly, the piece points out that the reputation of the once-hailed Gehry is shifting.
” … The virtuosic approach to design that Gehry has embodied since his Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, opened to rapturous acclaim in 1997 faces an increasingly pointed critique within his profession.”
And it has this interesting rumination about younger architects’ view of Gehry’ work and that of other celebrity architects:
“They are less interested in the bravura, photogenic icons that Gehry has lately produced – so-called signature buildings by a so-called starchitect – and more compelled by eco-friendly designs or anti-poverty efforts such as those aimed at providing affordable housing in rural areas. Other young architects are looking beyond the star model of architectural practice and toward communal, even anonymous, design initiatives.”