More Inane Zoning Restrictions
Suburban DC: It's easy to blame developers for the ill-effects of suburban sprawl, but more often than not it's the zoning regulations that produce many of our problems and discourage many creative solutions. In Clarksburg, MD, a newly developing "town",... [read on...]
Posted at 06:22 AM | Please feel free to comment (4)
Arco Arena Location
Sacramento: It has taken a long time for cities to re-discover the benefits of downtown stadiums - good for businesses, less investment in infrastructure, reintroduces the populace to public transportation and urban life, etc... etc... and now, at least in... [read on...]
Posted at 06:44 PM | Please feel free to comment (4)
Unnatural Nature
Anthem, AZ: Far to the north of Phoenix, lies a rapidly expanding suburbia that is at best barely begining to understand the desert environment they are paving over. At Anthem, a painfully hokey mega-development, a superficial effort has been made... [read on...]
High Density with no Benefits
Phoenix, AZ: This type of high-density condo development can be found all over American Suburbia, especially here in the sunbelt. The problem to me is that while they might be more affordable than other options, they take on many of... [read on...]
Posted at 04:53 AM | Please feel free to comment (5)
Edge-ucation
Your Suburb: Improving schools is never a bad idea, but the trend for years has been to abandon renovation of old neighborhood school buildings and build new ones on the fringes of development. Among the problems with this approach are... [read on...]
Posted at 09:53 PM | Please feel free to comment (1)
Absurd Street Widths
Tucson: This is a residential street in central Tucson and it's wide enough to hold about 8 lanes of traffic. Why? Given that only a smattering of cars use the street, then if it were 1/2 as wide, there would... [read on...]
Posted at 08:46 AM | Please feel free to comment (2)
Absurd Fences
Chicago: Having lived a year in London, i got used to having fences every ten feet, but they usually seemed to define something vaguely sensible. These little enclosures in Chicago seem completely useless. (and the first one is especially ugly).... [read on...]
Posted at 07:32 PM | Please feel free to comment (4)
Traffic on Oxford Street
London: Oxford Street is probably London's busiest shopping street. Private cars were banned from it some years back, but buses and taxis still have access. In principal this is a great idea, but there are so many busses and taxis... [read on...]
Posted at 09:45 AM | Please feel free to comment (2)
Noise Pollution
Bayeux, France: The otherwise quaint and delightful town of Bayeux in Normandy has a strange and decidedly un-quaint situation in the town center. In the footsteps of William the Conqueror, someone has put up public loudspeakers all over the place... [read on...]
Posted at 05:19 PM | Please feel free to comment (1)
Inconsistent Signage
Britain: What's the difference between these two signs? Well to me, the one on the left says "welcome bikes", whereas the one on the right says "no bikes allowed". As it turns out, they both mean "no bikes allowed". However,... [read on...]
Inane Bus Routing
London: One of the drawbacks of some bus routes is that they go slowly. Not because the bus itself is slow, or because of traffic, but because the route is so crooked and inefficient. I've generally been quite happy with... [read on...]
Posted at 05:51 PM | Please feel free to comment (1)
The Stink About Parking Meters
San Francisco: For once I agree with Ken Garcia. It seems the city of San Francisco is replacing those crummy old mechanical parking meters with efficient 'multi-space' meters, like you see in Europe. This sound's like a great idea to... [read on...]
Shoppes o' Sprawle
Delafield, WI: Dave Barry once proposed an "extra E" tax be imposed on kitschy stores that try to sound Old-English by adding an extra 'e' or two to their names. He continues: "In extreme cases, such as 'Ye Olde Barne... [read on...]
Posted at 10:12 AM | Please feel free to comment (2)
Demise of the Pedestrian
Orlando: "Orlando Streets Worst For Pedestrian Safety" according to a USA Today report. Well, big surprise. Orlando, and most American cities are really not urban at all anymore, at least in the traditional sense. They are disparate suburban networks... [read on...]
Pedestrian Crossing Flags
Berkeley: I love Berkeley, I really do. But sometimes I just don't get it. The City installed 3,000 orange flags in buckets at intersections around town for pedestrians to use when crossing the street. The idea is they take a... [read on...]
Crossing the Street
LONDON: I'm gonna get flamed here, but I can't help myself: The system of rights of way in London is beyond stupidity. Let's say you're strolling along the sidewalk and come to a minor intersection with no traffic light. (see... [read on...]
Pointless Graffiti
BUDAPEST: To be honest, I think graffiti has it's place. I actually thought the New York Subway was much more interesting when the trains were covered in color. But there's a big difference between graffiti-art, and destructive drivel. In Budapest,... [read on...]
The Peotone Airport Proposal
CHICAGO: The Background: Chicago's two airports are way overcrowded. So much so, in fact, that the slightest inclemental weather in Chicago can cripple air traffic throughout the entire continent for days at a time. The largely Democratic city of Chicago,... [read on...]
Posted at 06:50 PM | Please feel free to comment (9)