Comments on: Today’s Headlines

By: Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:42:43 +0000

Can you PLEASE have different colors for visited vs non-visited links? It’s good web development etiquette. Your old site did. I am using FireFox.

Bureaucrat,

Thanks for pointing that out. It’s on the fix-it list. I think it’ll be done before the week is out.

By: bureaucrat

bureaucrat — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 18:38:10 +0000

Can you PLEASE have different colors for visited vs non-visited links? It’s good web development etiquette. Your old site did. I am using FireFox.

By: Larry Littlefield

Larry Littlefield — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:31:10 +0000

“New York’s traditional transit-accessible shopping is gradually being replaced by auto-dependent shopping.”

Show me the large inventory of empty storefronts, and vacant 20K lots on local commercial streets waiting for development.

The national retail vacancy rate is currently 7.7% according to my firm, with about 1 of every 13 square feet available. Lots of places for people to open new businesses. The average asking rent for that vacant space is less than $20 per square foot.

A more accurate statement is that New York’s shopping is expanding in every direction the scarcity of real estate and regulations allow (or in some cases do not allow), recapturing jobs, taxes and sales that previously went to the suburbs. Some of those previously driving to the suburbs now drive in the city, but they may eventually use other modes as things evolve.

By: Charles Siegel

Charles Siegel — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:44:35 +0000

The NY Times article about Ikea mentions the local impact of traffic on Redhook, but it doesn’t mention the major city planning issue that is involved: New York’s traditional transit-accessible shopping is gradually being replaced by auto-dependent shopping.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:40:03 +0000

What will we do with all those useless multistory parking garages in the decades ahead when driving all but disappears? Turn them into vertical farms!

http://www.verticalfarm.com/

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:02:16 +0000

Sen. Adams initial written response to Streetsblog’s (well aimed) challenge was the best-case scenario for a public official responding to criticism. Since then I’ve wondered how the meeting went. I’m glad to hear Adams has gotten on board. Could he become the next liveable-streets mayor, after Mikey? Better him than Weiner.

By: Spud Spudly

Spud Spudly — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:07:10 +0000

I wish they’d bring those closures to Columbus Avenue too. But three times all summer from 7AM to 1PM isn’t much. If they did it for a full day near my place there’d be partying in the streets. I might even buy a hibachi.

By: gecko

gecko — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:54:22 +0000

#2 J. Mork, #4 Charles Komanoff, What a great way to start the week with the announcement of car-free summer days on Park Avenue South and Senator Adam’s support for bicycle culture.

Cheers!

By: Charles Komanoff

Charles Komanoff — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:29:09 +0000

Sen. Adams’ “kitchen cabinet” meeting earlier this month deserves a clearer account than the one posted on the Hawthorne Street blog (and linked to in today’s S’blog Headlines).

Following is the comment I just submitted (I’m not sure it made it through, so I’m pasting it here).

—–

The anonymous report above is incomplete and misleading.

I was one of the six participants in the June 7 meeting. Sen. Adams committed to a number of meaningful actions, including: signaling support for a congestion pricing plan that includes free bus and subway service, jawboning the State Assembly leadership to stop blocking widespread installation of red-light cameras in NYC, pilot installation of large-scale bicycle parking in place of car parking at a subway station in Flatbush or Bed-Stuy, and a number of other initiatives to incubate bicycle culture and infrastructure in Central Brooklyn.

We did not discuss the Senator’s expression of support for a “gas-tax holiday.” The issue appears dormant for now, but if it rears its head our group will have a solid line of communication to persuade Sen. Adams that subsidizing cheaper gas is an inefficient and unsustainable way to ease his constituents’ economic hardships.

I was impressed by the Senator’s openness and energy in our meeting and am encouraged by the dialogue he and I have maintained since then. I look forward to his becoming an ardent and effective advocate for livable streets and sustainable transport in his district and citywide.

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:07:05 +0000

Investing guru Peter Lynch, who once ran Fidelity’s Magellan Fund, calls energy “the number one problem facing the U.S. and the world.” Then he asks: “…What is the ‘real cost’ of gasoline?”

http://www.renewableenergystocks.com/PL/news/061308a.asp

By: J. Mork

J. Mork — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:06:35 +0000

Her’s a bombshell headline from today’s Sun (via Gotham Gazette’s Eye Opener email)

http://www.nysun.com/new-york/city-will-close-five-miles-of-manhattan-road/80058/

“Mayor Bloomberg’s next big idea: Shut down Park Avenue.

A five-mile stretch of road running from Lower Manhattan to Central Park will be closed to automobiles for three days in August, as part of a city Department of Transportation program that, if successful, could lead to regular street closings.”

By: Mark Walker

Mark Walker — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:03:54 +0000

Greetings from Oregon … we don’t need no steeking sidewalks!

http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080614/NEWS/806140309/-1/LIFE