Four the Future - August 29

• Risk-Taking Rises as Oil Rigs in Gulf Drill Deeper
  Source: New York Times; August 29, 2010
  Summary: Oil rigs have been built farther and farther out into the Gulf of Mexico. However, risks do not increase with increasing depth of drilling, but, instead with greater complexity. While the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon was only a drilling rig, Shell's Perdido rig "can drill and pump oil from wells across 30 miles of ocean floor. Below it is a subsea cityscape of pumps, pipes, valves, manifolds, wellheads and blowout preventers...." Undersea drilling had been deemed safe due to a limited number of reported accidents. But, according to a former industry executive, "Our ability to manage risks hasn't caught up with our ability to explore and produce in deep water."
  Opinion: The issue here is not that they're drilling deeper, but that our energy consumption isn't linked to the risks being experienced. If the nation's petroleum users are willing to take those risks, that's fine, but it should be a conscious decision. Additionally, the full costs associated with those risks should be borne by their consumers. The BP oil spill proves that this nation is not fully allocating those costs, not doing enough to mitigate those risks, nor prepared to deal with the consequences when those risks are realized. Ultimately, when someone argues that it's too expensive to deal with those issues, they're admitting that this nation is not willing to pay the price of our current petroleum addiction.
• Free parking isn't free
  Source: The Spokesman-Review; August 29, 2010
  Summary: Editor Gary Crooks discovers Donald Shoup's "The High Cost of Free Parking." He makes an estimable stab at the topic, laying out the problem with the hidden costs of "free" parking built into everything we buy, and into every time we travel.
  Opinion: the problem is not that it costs money to park, but that local government, through its land use code, has forced such a massive oversupply of parking that it's literally worthless in most places. In addition to being a massive waste of space, it moves every place you want to get to farther apart, necessitating the ownership of a car to get around. You can check it out from the Spokane City Library. Predictably, it's not available at Spokane County or Liberty Lake libraries.
• Homebuilders hope boomers beat a new path to their doors
  Source: The Spokesman-Review; February 7, 2010
  Summary: Homebuilders are pleased that the baby boomers are aging and wanting to downsize their homes. A quarter of the US population will be 55 or older in 2014. While 60 percent want to stay in their homes, the remainder want alternatives. More than 75 percent of these potential homebuyers want to live in the suburbs. They're only wanting to pay $190,000, though--a far cry from the $287,000 the builders want.
  Opinion: They can't live in the suburbs. For the past 50 years, governments have been making rules (which the baby boomers wanted) to prevent this kind of development. They want 1,900 square foot houses, which means that they're only paying $100/square foot which means either: 1) lower quality finishings, which they won't like because they compare unfavorably from what they came from, or 2) less land between the houses, which is not suburbia. They're also likely to be looking for homes with just one floor to make getting around easier. But, that also takes more land for the same space. Plus, they don't have as much equity as they think. If so many baby boomers want to move, the massive number of houses on the market will push prices down. Elected officials have been told this was going to happen for at least a decade, and it takes that long to get substantial change in the land use patterns. But, I guess, at least I'm happy that while the solution has been staring Spokane and the region in the face for a long time, at least there's an article in the newspaper which shows that someone has gotten up to noticing that there might be a problem. (By the way, Liberty Lake has a development on Appleway which may help with this problem despite significant opposition on the council and a self-defeating limit on density.)
• Seattle may create transportation taxing district
  Source: The Seattle Times; August 10, 2010
  Summary: Seattle is considering the creation of a transportation benefit district (TBD) to fund transportation projects within the city. TBD's are permitted to charge a $20 car tab fee without a vote of the people, and up to $100 with a public vote. Additionally, the TBD may also charge 0.2 cent sales tax and property taxes with a public vote.
  Opinion: This is the same type of district that the City of Spokane is considering for its well documented transportation woes (not congestion because the concept of congestion in Spokane is laughable, but asset preservation). There is another TBD in Spokane County already--the Liberty Lake Trails TBD which built a number of trails connecting throughout the community, and, with the help of the city, the pedestrian bridge over the freeway. However, that was an older version of the TBD statute which only authorized a property tax. The $20 car tab fee is new.