Regal Rants, Starbucks Closing, Sustainable Sewage, McMansion Imposion, more…
Hayley Richardson | Fri, Feb 1st, 2008 | Category: Commentary | Tags: commentary, hayley richardson, minneapolis, raleigh 49th largest city, peachtree streetcar project, starbucks closing, shanghai urban planning exhibition, prince charles
“To put the city’s dizzying growth in perspective, a visit to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition is far more interesting than its dry name suggests, even if it doesn’t address the stickier issues like, what will this frenzy of development mean for the the people who live within the Shanghai city limits now?”
Look:
Ranting Against Skyscrapers, British-Style
“Britain’s Prince Charles has warned skyscrapers are “disfiguring” London’s skyline and “vandalising” the city’s historic sites. The prince argued tall buildings are damaging the “timeless character” of the British capital and destroying views for future generations in his speech to a conference on city planning at London’s St. James’ Palace yesterday.”
Starbucks to Close Stores (Gasp!)
“Howard Schultz, the company’s CEO, announced that Starbucks would close 100 underperforming locations in the United States while scaling back the rate of store openings domestically. At the same time, Starbucks will move more aggressively to open stores overseas, where business remains robust. He did not identify the locations that will be closed.”
Finally, you’ll get your neighborhood back.
Sustainable Sewage
The New York City Council passed legislation today to tackle the sewage overflowproblem in the City’s overburdened sewer system. By adopting ‘green infrastructure’ solutions, such as green roofs, permeable pavement, wetland restoration, and smarter design of street tree plantings, stormwater can be captured where it falls and used to green the city.
Raleigh Now Bigger Than Minneapolis
“Weird. Raleigh has surpassed Minneapolis to become the 49th largest city in the U.S., according to unofficial figures from the city’s planning department.”
NY Commission Votes For Pricing
“A state traffic commission voted on Thursday to recommend that New York City charge drivers an $8 daily fee to bring their cars into Manhattan below 60th Street. But the proposal to institute what is known as congestion pricing has a tortuous political road ahead of it, and officials said the commission’s action merely begins a period of intense negotiations aimed at hammering out a version of the plan that could gain the support of the State Legislature, which has until March 31 to take up the issue.”
Atlanta’s Streetcar Debate
“Greg Gingras, one of several hundred people who attended a series of community forums on the Peachtree Streetcar project this month, says he’s not yet sold on the proposal.He wonders whether the city would be better served by improving the MARTA rail system, which he uses every day. And while streetcar planners say they want to turn Peachtree into a glittering urban thoroughfare like those in New York and Chicago, Gingras, 45, notes those cities don’t have streetcars.”
McMansion Meltdown
“Now there are websites that help you walk away from your mortgage, using the same stock photos that used to adorn the mortgage company websites. And where are they walking away from? Triple Pundit notes that the areas hardest hit by the subprime meltdown are subdivisions built on the edges of urban areas where once arable land is bulldozed to make way for over-sized, energy-intensive house located so that most residents are forced to drive miles and miles to get to work, for too often there is no public transportation available.” Phew.
