Stay tuned to this space, and tomorrow or the next day I’ll explain why, contrary to what most drivers think, it really isn’t rude when — seeing a merge coming up — you drive all the way to the front of the empty lane instead of hanging in the long, long line in the other lane.
Not that I would do this, mind you. I don’t want to get shot by some road raging nut. I’ll explain more later. Today column-writing for Saturday Viewpoint page comes first. In the meantime, some interesting reading to keep you busy:
The end of suburbia? Joel Kotkin says (in the L.A. Times) “not yet.” Link.
Kotkin’s responding, in part, to an article in the March Atlantic magazine, that created a lot of buzz, from Christopher Leinberger, positing that McMansion suburbs will become the next slums. Link.
Now, here’s a critique of Kotkin’s piece, by Bill Fulton of the California Planning & Development Report. Link.
This month’s Atlantic has an interesting and provocative piece on crime in Memphis, with a mention of Charlotte, pegging the rise in crime in suburban areas to the rise in Section 8 housing vouchers and the demolition of old-line housing projects. Link.
Interesting developments in Sacramento, chronicled by the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ tells how the six-county Sacramento region agreed on a plan for growth — including that some areas simply wouldn’t allow development — and is making it happen. Link.
Here’s Witold Rybczynski on the legacy of Buckminster Fuller. Link.
Also, a piece from former Maryland governor Parris Glendenning saying Americans are tired of feeling like victims. Link.
And finally, here’s something you’re unlikely to see out of Charlotte-Mecklenburg: “The county board of supervisors in Loudoun County, Va., has voted to ban itself from accepting any campaign contributions from developers or builders.” Link.