Filter by month » December 2008

• Columnists

  Cutting Crime Pays — But At What Cost?

  Diana Lind | Thu, Dec 4th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Los Angeles | Tags: philadelphia, los angeles, diana lind, budget cuts, 2009, homicide rate, auto theft, william bratton | 0

  A recent Wall Street Journal article suggests that cities should do anything they can to avoid cutting crime-reduction budgets during these lean times.

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• The Daily Report

  Ed Bacon: Iconic Urbanist Now Inspiring Farms

  Nick Lalla | Wed, Dec 3rd, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Philadelphia | Tags: philadelphia, university of pennsylvania, nick lalla, urban farming, ed bacon, kevin bacon, robert moses, student competition | 0

  The award ceremony for the 3rd Annual Ed Bacon Student Design Competition were handed out to teams of young urban planners last night, and focusing on food seemed to be the way to get the prize money. The winning entries after the jump.

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• The Daily Report

  A Third Look at California’s High-Speed Rail Project

  Ben Adler | Tue, Dec 2nd, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Los Angeles | Tags: los angeles, california, trains, congestion, ben adler, proposition 1a, high speed rail | 10

  Yesterday, Josh Leon gave his thoughts on California’s high-speed rail project. Holly Otterbein wrote about it before the election. Now Ben Adler, NAC fellow, gives his two cents. Was Proposition 1A the best use of money for transportation? 

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• The Daily Report

  Is Rail the Future of California?

  Josh Leon | Mon, Dec 1st, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Los Angeles | Tags: los angeles, infrastructure, traffic, josh leon, sacramento, tokyo, new deal, high speed rail, bond measure, golden state | 0

  In the second of three pieces, NAC will explore the recent approval of a $10 billion bond measure to construct a high-speed rail link between Sacramento and San Diego. Holly Otterbein already voiced her thoughts here. Stay tuned tomorrow for Ben Adler’s take on it. 

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• The Daily Report

  New York Times Covers NOLA Charity Hospital Months After NAC

  Diana Lind | Wed, Nov 26th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: New Orleans | Tags: new orleans, diana lind, next american city, new york times, brentin mock, charity hospital | 1

  Next American City’s Brentin Mock wrote about the controversy surrounding New Orleans Charity Hospital for our Summer 2008 issue (No. 19) months ago — now the story is making national news with a little help from the Times.

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• The Daily Report

  Transportation Policy in the Obama Administration?

  Ben Adler | Tue, Nov 25th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: New York | Tags: san francisco, barack obama, transportation, janette sadik-khan, new york, ben adler, rep. jim oberstar, rep. earl blumenauer | 1

  Smart growth activists are eager to see a visionary appointment in the federal Transportation Department to shake up our car culture. 

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• Columnists

  Can Philadelphia Reverse Racism?

  Josh Leon | Mon, Nov 24th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Philadelphia | Tags: philadelphia, barack obama, josh leon, rudy giuliani, budget cuts, frank rizzo, murals, public school, public libraries, geno's, racism | 1

  Most days if you walk around Philadelphia, you can sense the racial segregation — what kind of impact will Obama, local budget cuts and the memory of Frank Rizzo have on the city’s slow efforts to make the center city all-inclusive? 

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• The Daily Report

  “Big City” Bailout Request Looks Better than Reported, says Nutter’s Office

  Nick Lalla | Mon, Nov 24th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: New York | Tags: infrastructure, michael nutter, michael bloomberg, nick lalla, bailout, council of mayors, henry paulson, budget cuts, secretary of the treasury, office of environmental sustainability | 0

  Earlier this month Philadelphia’s Mayor Michael Nutter hand-delivered a letter to 1500 Pennsylvania Ave, addressed to Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and signed by himself and the mayors of Atlanta and Phoenix. In it he asked for cities to be included alongside banks, financial institutions and automobile manufacturers as recipients of the $700 billion TARP bailout package. That afternoon, the story got top billing on the Drudge Report. Days later it got nothing but ignored and, at best, derided. So what happened? 

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• The Daily Report

  24:Hrs Milwaukee

  Dave Steele | Wed, Nov 19th, 2008 | Category: 24Hrs | City: Milwaukee | Tags: dave steele, milwaukee, manpower, boat ride, hmong, harley davidson, vietnam war, wolski's | 1

  Our man in Milwaukee gives a fuller re-cap of the 24:Hrs Milwaukee tour. Highlights include:a walking tour, a boat ride, dancing, closing Wolski’s and waiting an extra hour for the sun to rise. 

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• The Daily Report

  The Digital Divide in Houston: Now What?

  Holly Otterbein | Tue, Nov 18th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Houston | Tags: philadelphia, john street, digital divide, wi-fi, houston, hot city, helen hwang, municipal wireless, houston digital inclusion initiative | 0

  First, Houston planned for a “cloud” of free wireless to blanket the entire city. When that didn’t work, it settled for small “bubbles” of wireless in certain neighborhoods. The Houston Chronicle recently reported that it, too, did not pan out. What’s next — a “nanopocket” accessible only to molecules? 

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• Columnists

  The New Orleans Biennial

  Ariella Cohen | Mon, Nov 17th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: New Orleans | Tags: new orleans, ariella cohen, ariella cohen, mel chin, kirsha kaechele, peter nadin, dan cameron, biennale, wangeshi mutu, prospect one | 1

  New Orleans is a hard city for good ideas.  It’s not that there is a lack of them, just the opposite. The city is full of good ideas — ideas that are never implemented. It’s a city full of displaced dreamers, talented people who come from all over to a place where success as it is defined elsewhere is overshadowed by indigenous social markers most often involving whiskey and parades.

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• The Daily Report

  Commercial Decline on Mount Pleasant Street

  Ben Adler | Mon, Nov 17th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Brooklyn | Tags: news, economy, brooklyn, gentrification, washington post, latino, ben adler, mount pleasant, washington, d.c. | 3

  The Washington Post reports that my neighborhood, Mount Pleasant is suffering from a plague of shuttered storefronts on its commercial strip, Mount Pleasant Street. Although it was roughly equal parts white, black and Latino in the last census, it appears the population is changing.

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• Headlines

  Meraki Offers Municipalities a $10,000 Deal

  Helen I. Hwang | Fri, Nov 14th, 2008 | Category: Headlines | City: Headlines | Tags: san francisco, helen i. hwang, sanjit biswas, municipal wi-fi, plug-and-play technology, meraki | 2

  It’s a limited-time offer, as they say, for cities to get a municipal Wi-Fi start.

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• The Daily Report

  Holiday Party + Issue 21 Release Celebration

  Pooja Shah | Thu, Nov 13th, 2008 | Category: Events | City: Philadelphia | Tags: philadelphia, next american city, digital divide, holiday party, 21, issue release | 0

  Join Next American CIty for a holiday celebration as we unveil Issue 21!

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• The Daily Report

  URBANEXUS LA: Mark Vallianatos’ Farmlab Speech

  Benjamin Gilbert | Wed, Nov 12th, 2008 | Category: Events | City: Los Angeles | Tags: los angeles, neighborhoods, mark vallianatos, farmlab, urbanexus, fast-food ban | 0

  On Oct. 31, Next American City and over 100 guests explored Los Angeles’ hidden gem, Farmlab. The afternoon lunch, courtesy of Farmlab, included a spread of fresh foods and vegetables including some ingredients - cactus and bananas - grown on the premises! Occidental College’s Mark Vallianatos then took attendees through a brief history of food in Los Angeles, highlighting some of the key conversations at the moment including the lack of affordable fresh food in several neighborhoods, the demand for schools to offer healthy alternatives and the recent fast food ban.

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• Columnists

  Obama Team Announces Office of Urban Policy

  Ben Adler | Wed, Nov 12th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Chicago | Tags: barack obama, chicago, michael bloomberg, miami, ben adler, rahm emmanuel, anthony williams, adrian fenty | 5

  While he first floated the idea of a cabinet position to coordinate urban policy at the annual conference of mayors in Miami this past summer, now Obama has promised action. 

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• The Daily Report

  URBANEXUS LA: A+D Slideshow

  Benjamin Gilbert | Wed, Nov 12th, 2008 | Category: Events | City: Los Angeles | Tags: los angeles, los angeles times, mark vallianatos, farmlab, urbanexus, sam lubell, the architect's newspaper, christopher hawthorne, a+d museum | 0

  On Oct. 29, nearly 50 guests attended the salon at the A+D Museum to discuss the challenges of developing built environment in LA. Our guests - Christopher Hawthorne of the Los Angeles Times and Sam Lubell of The Architect’s Newspaper - shared their own perspectives as guests questioned the pros and cons of architecture in their own neighborhoods.

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• The Daily Report

  Triple Canopy Nails NOLA Mania

  Nick Lalla | Wed, Nov 12th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: New Orleans | Tags: new orleans, hurricane katrina, nick lalla, ray nagin, triple canopy, brian rosa, disaster tourism, gray line, september 11th, mardi gras | 2

  Stop the presses! The (um) September issue of online magazine Triple Canopy is so good...it’s worth ignoring for two months and then rhapsodizing about, a few months too late.

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• The Daily Report

  California’s Lesser-Known Proposition

  Holly Otterbein | Tue, Nov 11th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Los Angeles | Tags: barack obama, los angeles, california, france, holly otterbein, gov. arnold schwarzenegger, bullet train, spain, proposition 1a | 0

  Last Tuesday, Californians voted to build a high-speed bullet train that will connect the state’s major cities. It’s costing them $10 billion.
  

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• The Daily Report

  New Yorkers Found to be Breathing American Air, Mayor Gasps

  Nick Lalla | Mon, Nov 10th, 2008 | Category: Commentary | City: Chicago | Tags: new york, michael bloomberg, gavin newsom, nick lalla, philadelphia office of sustainability, richard m. daley, environmental pollution control act, environmental defense fund, preemtion, greening, mayors | 1

  On the last day of October a district court found that New York City would have to put a hold on its plan to replace its city’s taxi cabs with hybrid cars. Mayor Michael Bloomberg fired back by invoking the threat that the court’s ruling would prevent “all cities” from taking their environment and health into their own hands. I talked with some experts to see how real the threat was.

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