Four the Future - August 31

Today: signage blight, Intel-ligent vegetables, food carts, and parking lot tax proposal.

• Britain being "overrun" by street signs
  Source: Reuters; Aug 26, 2010
  Summary: There are so many signs, including traffic signs and advertising boards, that English cities are looking like "scrapyards." Money quote: "When busy Kensington High Street in central London was stripped of excess [signage], for example, it helped reduce accidents by 47 percent."
  
  
  
  Opinion: This is a public safety issue, complicated by the fact that signage is nothing more than an arms race. Each sign is competing for your attention. If it becomes hidden behind another sign, it is expanded to take up more of your view. Eventually the community looks like a college dorm room. The only solution is to limit the size and number of signs to something that prevents anyone from attempting to gain an advantage over everyone else.
• When geeks garden, radish technology advances
  Source: News Tribune; July 12, 2010
  Summary: Intel’s offices in DuPont, Washington, are sprouting gardens. They’re learning about the various vegetables they can grow, and are experimenting with soils amendments. They designed a hexagonal planting method. Their café produces compost from the four buckets of prep waste each day. “In late June they harvested 70 pounds of radishes from a 5-by-6-foot section of a raised bed.” Peas were coplanted with the radishes, so, even more produce will be coming from that same small amount of space. Intel encourages the activity because it saves time for the employees.
  Opinion: Getting the cubical denizens some time outside in the garden is also going to increase the employees’ productivity and morale. And food banks in Pierce and Thurston Counties are benefiting from the oversupply of fresh vegetables.
• Street renaissance under way in Vancouver
  Source: Globe and Mail; July 9, 2010
  
  
  
  Summary: Vancouver, British Columbia, is experimenting with creating an on-street food cart culture. When they offered 17 locations, about 800 vendors signed up. The city was looking to be more like Portland, Oregon, which has over 450 street food vendors. The locations will be subject to the health department. The CEO of the food services association was pleased with the enthusiasm. He expects that the carts would appeal to the “brown bag” crowd who don't visit the restaurants anyway.
  Opinion: I was thinking about this topic in mid-June due the Spovangelist mentioning it and doing a lovely job of encouraging an expansion. I agree with her: Spokane could stand to have more of this kind of activity as well. (And now I'm thinking—wow! We were ahead of Vancouver, BC?! Not anymore.) At the time, I humbly suggested that we could kill two birds with one stone: license fees for surface parking lots, with a rebate for food carts on the lot. Well, imagine what I felt when I read the next story....
• Parking tax debate turns to growth
  Source: Spokesman-Review; August 21, 2010
  Summary: The City of Spokane is now considering an annual parking lot tax of $10 to more than $100 per space per year. The tax would go to street maintenance. This tax, however, would not generate much revenue. Mayor Verner is interested, but is more interested if it exempts structured parking. The owner of Diamond Parking agrees that parking is not the best use of land downtown, but the owners of the parking lots are merely holding the land, and making a few dollars, until such time as the economy supports building.
  Opinion: There is an immense amount of parking available in downtown Spokane. And, hey, if they don’t want to pay the tax, they can make a food cart stall, perhaps! Or they can do any of these other things, ideas kindly supplied by the Spovangelist and friends.