Four the Future - October 1

Friday night: best time for posting? Nah. But I know you didn't want to keep waiting, right? So, tonight: four increasingly critical stories related to transportation, economic development and human rights.

• Study: High-speed rail will create 13,000 jobs
  Source: Business Journal of Milwaukee; September 20, 2010
  Summary: A study was conducted regarding a proposed high-speed rail line between Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin. It found that it would create 13,000 new jobs, eliminate 780,000 annual car trips, and save 2.76 million gallons of gas per year.
  Opinion: Rail is a more efficient form of transportation. It’s not surprising that the reduction in costs and stimulating activation of land adjacent to rail stations would result in broad economic benefit. A study was conducted for light rail in the Spokane region, too, and it was found to create "about 17,300 jobs, $561.6 million per year in payroll, and $1.4 billion per year in output or value of goods and services produced," just in the first phase from downtown Spokane to Liberty Lake.
  
• Millwood considering speed bumps to slow speeders
  Source: Spokesman-Review; September 30, 2010
  Summary: The City of Millwood is considering laying two speed bumps each along Riverway and Bridgeport, and a raised intersection at Empire and Fowler.
  Opinion: Maybe they’re not reading the blog. There seems to be some indication from a quote in the article that someone views speed bumps as punishment for speeders, and is failing to see that they are permanent "infrastructure-residents" of a neighborhood. Who volunteers to write a letter pointing out that there are alternatives to speed bumps?
  
• Could 'Goldilocks' planet be just right for life? (includes video)
  Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer; September 30, 2010
  Summary: Scientists using telescopes in Hawaii have discovered a planet orbiting the star Gliese 581 a. It is just the right distance from the star to be "not too hot and not too cold" for water to exist in liquid form. It is "tidally locked" which means one side of the planet is always facing the star (just like our moon is tidally lock to the Earth). The hottest parts of the planet would be 160 degrees and it would be -25 on the cold side. But at the terminator, where the star is constantly at the horizon, temperatures should be "shirt-sleeve weather."
  Opinion: OK, admittedly, this isn’t exactly in Spokane’s immediate neighborhood. This could be an interesting thought experiment for planners. In this case, there are significant environmental barriers, but many varied opportunities. For instance, in the hottest part of the planet, there’s plenty of solar radiation for energy production. But, no water there. Over time, I would think the liquid water be depleted, evaporating on the hot side, then snowing on the cold side, hidden from the sun and preventing the water from return. So, lots of frozen water for mining on the cold side. Look at that—the beginnings of an economy, and we’re not even there. But what else would be different? Would residents be recognized to have a right to clean air and water? Would they have a right to access to food and healthful agricultural products? A right to access to energy? What could we learn to help us understand our own world? Hopefully we’ll treat the natives better than we have in the past.
  
• Slime Mold Transportation Network Design
  Source: Science NOW; October 1, 2010
  Summary: The IgNobel Awards were given out recently. There were several categories, but the grand prize of 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollars (value? US$0) was given to research with a slime mold. Hokkaido University’s Nakagaki Toshiyuki demonstrated that a slime mold, when provided bits of oatmeal for food upon a map, would spread out in a system which closely replicated the transportation system of Tokyo, Japan. Actually, it wasn’t exactly the same. It was slightly more efficient.
  
  
  
  Opinion: This is usually the job of transportation planners. And, yes, slime molds are brainless creatures. Thanks for asking.

Four the Future - September 14

Transportation! Light Rail legal challenge, expanding valley highway, fewer youthful drivers, and transit cutbacks.

• State Supreme Court to hear fight to ban light rail from I-90
  Source: The Seattle Times; September 12, 2010
  Summary: The state Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case alleging that building light rail on I-90 would be a violation of the state constitution. Light rail opponent Kemper Freeman argues that using that the gas tax which built the freeway limits it to "highway purposes" and that using it for transit is a violation of the state's 18th amendment. The state argues that the lanes will be replaced by new ones, and that the lease of the property to the transit system is mere administration of the system. Transit has always had priority use on the inside lanes of highways.
  Opinion: First, as I've stated before, the 18th amendment is legislation posing as fundamental law of the land. It needs to be rescinded. Second, watch out: the North Spokane Corridor has a space allocation for dedicated transit lines. Third, next we'll hear that rail can't cross roads because that space is only to be used for "highway purposes." That's ridiculous, of course, but where's the line drawn? Transit uses the road space on a daily basis. Here in Spokane, it even upgrades major intersections to concrete. There’s space for everyone on the travelways. Let's hope the supreme court is rational about this.
  
• Third lane planned for I-90 from Sullivan to Barker
  Source: Spokesman-Review; September 13, 2010
  Summary: $25 million in construction bid savings is allowing WSDOT to expand I-90 from Sullivan to Barker to six lanes. Additionally, ruts from downtown Spokane to the Geiger exit will be repaired for $15.5 million. Construction will begin in the spring.
  Opinion: The ruts are caused by studded tires. The purchase of those tires should include a fee based on the expected amount it will cost to repair its share of the damage. That way those who think they improve driving can have them, and those who don’t do not have to pay for the inordinate amount of damage they cause. And with the widening project, now I-90 won’t be congested at the Sullivan exit. It will be congested at Barker, instead. Was ramp metering even in the alternatives analysis? (Was there an alternatives analysis at all?)
  
• Sweet 16 can be sweeter without driver's license
  Source: USA Today; September 13, 2010
  Summary: There are more and more 16 year olds who do not have a driver’s license. This bodes well for traffic safety. Some credit less mobile children, protective parents, and the poor economy, but graduated drivers’ licensing is to be credited.
  Opinion: Whatever the cause, one must consider what kind of society begins to form when 16 year olds cannot be assumed to have a license, let alone a car. Musing with my friend, KC Traver, I wondered out loud what would happen if the Eagle Pass program (which gives all Eastern Washington University students, staff, and faculty use of the bus system without payment at the bus) were extended to all high school students. We would have the opportunity to help teach students before that magical driving age how to get around without a car. And, in this economy, who wouldn't want to reduce the household transportation cost? In the long term, it would be better to have a community built in such a way that the need for transportation is reduced, such as mixed use neighborhoods. These are strategies which can be used to make ourselves more resilient in the face of a changing world. But, as the next story shows us, we're not always making progress in that direction....
  
• Riders sad for WTA's last day of Sunday bus service
  Source: The Bellingham Herald; September 12, 2010
  Summary: Whatcom Transportation Authority shut down its Sunday service to both regular route and paratransit riders after voters turned down a tax increase. Many riders were unsure how they'll get to church next week.
  Opinion: Whatcom is suffering the losses Spokane Transit managed to avoid. Still, STA is in route-cutting mode as well.
  

Four the Future - January 25

On Tap: Building demolition, county sued again, smart meters (audio!), and avoiding stimulus funding.

• Bid to save warehouse fails
  Source: The Spokesman-Review; January 24, 2010
  Summary: A warehouse on the southeast corner of Riverside and Division will be demolished to make way for an extension of Riverside Avenue. Developer Dan Spalding attempted to save the building, but Washington State University and the City of Spokane are moving forward to preserve the availability of federal transportation dollars and to prevent the loss of parking for SIRTI. Alternatives were considered and found to be unfeasible. Historic preservation advocates say the process was not respected. The new road, to be called Martin Luther King Jr. Way, will connect Riverside to Trent.
  Opinion: First of all, I have to say that I don't have the skills to determine the historical value of this building. However, I should point out that what this building is in the way of is greater automobile use in downtown Spokane. I'm not sure that's of a very high priority. On the other hand, there is an underutilized area between Trent and the rail line. Let's make this even more complex. Part of the conceptual engineering of the light rail also determined that the building to be demolished was also in the way of that project. All in all, a mess. But, I don't think there's anyone here with bad motives. I have found that it is possible in planning that there are two goods which are incompatible with each other. I have also found that early participation in the process is the most effective way of making sure your voice is heard in the final product. Governments need to be better at letting people know what's going on, yes, but each citizen also has a responsibility. If your circle of concern includes historical buildings, then you have a responsibility to make sure you're involved. Because once they're gone, they're gone.
• Plan change appealed to state hearing board
  Source: The Spokesman-Review; January 21, 2010
  See Also: Four the Future - December 23
  See Also: Four the Future - December 12
  Summary: Spokane County is being sued by Community Addressing Urban Sprawl Excess (CAUSE) in response to the county's recent rezoning of a property near Liberty Lake. The county's comprehensive plan declares the area rural, but Commissioner Mark Richard and an unnamed commissioner voted to allow 6 units per acre, with an additional condition of approval that it not be greater than 5 units per acre.
  Opinion: The unnamed commissioner is Todd Mielke. I'm sure the people up on the south hill would be interested to hear that the commissioners suddenly believe in conditions of approval. To the main point, however: Mielke and Richard ignored the law which only allows one house per 10 acres and now they're being sued for it. No one should be surprised about this. Even Mark Richard knows which way the wind blows when he said that the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board "has a tendency to decide against the county." Well, duh, Mark. When you ignore the comprehensive plan, that happens. And now he'll be using your tax dollars to defend himself in a losing battle because he wants to make a point to developers that he'll do whatever it takes to help them. But, the citizens of this county should learn a lesson, too: that Mielke and Richard are willing to use your resources against you.
• Debate: Do Smart Meters Curb Energy Use?
  Source: National Public Radio; January 8, 2010
  Summary: Google is pushing a new device which can track your energy use, and alert you in real time on your desktop. Using it, a person can see what appliances in your house are driving up your energy costs. (Energy is delivered in an odd way. Imagine that when you went into a grocery store, nothing had a price tag on it. Then, at the end of the month, you'd get a summary bill without any itemization.) The theory is that if you were aware of how much energy you were using, you would reduce. However, the debate comes in when one notices how cheap energy prices are. So, perhaps, you would actually use more. The offered solution? Have a machine make those decisions for you.
  Opinion: Energy prices are low to many people, but part of that is only because there are massive externalities (carbon emissions, habitat destruction, etc. which energy companies are not required to mitigate) and federal subsidies which make it cheap. For commercial buildings, at least, I think it's a pretty good idea to have automated energy usage decision making. I also think that energy companies should be allowed to charge based on the time of day so that our peak energy usage can be reduced (although, still regulated!).
• What We Learned From The Stimulus
  Source: Smart Growth America; retrieved January 25, 2010
  Summary: The amount of work generated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was twice as great per dollar for transit than for highway infrastructure. For every billion dollars spent by the federal government, the Surface Transportation Program (STP) created 8,781 job-months and public transportation dollars created 16,419 job-months. Far more dollars were spent on the "shovel ready" STP projects. Texas received six times more STP funds than transit funds, yet transit created 15 percent more jobs. Transit creates more jobs because they spend less money on land and more on people, projects are more complex, and they buy and maintain vehicles.
  Opinion: A lost opportunity for Spokane. Spokane was ready to build a light rail system. Indeed, construction could have been underway as we speak. But certain "conservative" members of the STA board--most egregiously Al French--and STA CEO (and anti-transit activist) E. Susan Meyer used public dollars to withhold information from the public and purposely failed to educate the public about the light rail vote that they had deliberately obfuscated. (Why conservative in quotation marks? They're not actually conservative in this matter. They're anti-transit, which is much different. Many conservatives embrace light rail because it's more efficient than buses and better for economic development. See Paul Weyrich, for example.) In the end, what did they do? They redirected transit funding to other cities, and left people here unemployed. Way to go, "conservatives!"

Summer Update

Next week, Eastern Washington University will commence a new fall quarter, and my entrance into planning from an academic point of view will be underway. The planning courses I'm taking will be:

Introduction to Urban and Regional Planning (Mondays and Wednesdays 1-3:30);
Community Development (Tuesdays and Thursdays 1-3:30); and
Professional Planning Practice (September 25-26, 8 am - 6 pm)

These are the classes I will be blogging here, but I may also address other things which are related to the people involved and the program itself.

A couple of things have happened during the summer as the new year quickly approaches. First, I joined the EWU Association of Student Planners. (That's not actually a huge task, every member of the planning department is automatically a member.) I went to a meeting of the executive board at Zola. There are a number of events that the ASP is planning over the course of the year, including some traditions such as a Chili Cook Off (on November 6 this year).

Second, I created a web site for the EWU ASP at http://ewuasp.ning.com (UPDATE: The Ning site has been closed down). At the moment, the graphics are just standard, but we'll punch it up with some more interesting images and graphics later. The purpose was to get things rolling, and you can already join up and view some of the upcoming events.

Third, I asked the former project manager of the Spokane Light Rail Project and current president of the Inland Empire Rail Transit Association, K.C. Traver, to speak at a brown bag seminar for the planning students. Of course, everyone is invited. Details will be released on the EWU ASP web site when we have them. There will be several brown bag seminars on topics of interest in this area.

Fourth, I went to a tailgate party with several second year graduate students at a Spokane Indians baseball game (Spokane beat Yakima 3-0). It was a great chance to socialize with a really fun and intelligent group of people. I truly enjoy them.

Fifth, I escorted a city councilmember from Mountlake Terrace, Washington to the East Side Block Party and Sustainable Uprising this last weekend. I introduced her to Mariah McKay (The Spovangelist), Angie Dierdorff (of Community Minded Enterprises), Beth Mort (the immdiate past president of EWU ASP) and the Inland Rail crew. She was thrilled by the event, and mentioned to Beth that she'd be willing to host a field trip to MLT to walk the downtown and look over the planning documents. All in all, a great connection there.

Student orientation begins tomorrow. So, I was very pleased to get an email today saying that this quarter is fully paid, and I'm all set. I hope you enjoy my journey, too.