I'm not a car nut, but like any American, I enjoy the cars I drive. The Detroit Free Press printed a good short article today shooting down some myths about American cars and the Big 3. It goes to prove that the mistakes the companies made decades ago still haunt them today, even though the problems they used to have are long past. Memories are hard to overcome.
http://www.freep.com/article/20081117/COL14/811170379/?imw=Y
Also, I got a chance to to see a 2010 Camero a few days ago here in the neighborhood. Holy Cow!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Mystery solved! I always wondered what the deal was with that strange interchange on I-94 (Ford Freeway) at Woodward in Detroit. Eastbound, for instance, you go under Woodward, then shoot off on a bit of a siding, which continues east, but to exit, you go onto John R Street and circle back to Woodward. What were they thinking when they built that?
Well, this article and picture answer the question. There were originally stairs leading down from Woodward to the freeway, where pedestrians could link to a planned rapid bus system that was supposed to run on the expressways. Check it out here.
So the idea was that the rapid busses would pull off of the freeway onto the siding, pick up passengers, then re-enter the highway. That would make too much sense. It never happened. Somewhere along the way the stairs disappeared, and we were just left with a crazy interchange. That sounds like the downtown People Mover, which was designed to be the end section of a rapid rail system that ran out the spoke avenues from downtown. The rail system was never built, so the PM is left to circle endlessly, shuttling people around downtown in its counter-clockwise circuit. I'm beginning to see a pattern here.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Here are some thoughts on sustainability, adapted from a posting I made on the Discuss Detroit board.
The idea is that society, or a business, or an industry, is founded and operated on a set of beliefs and understandings, which are translated into rules, regulations, or policies. As long as the rules are working and successful, there is growth and more success. At some point, sometimes, the environment changes and the rules don't fit the reality so well. Operating with the old set of rules doesn't work so successfully any more. If we're lucky, the only result is less success, but the system still operates. Sometimes, though, as time goes on, the gap between the environment and the rules widens, and there can develop a strong downside to operating under the old rules-- so much so that the society or industry causes so much damage that the whole thing implodes or falls apart. The system can't sustain itself anymore, because the old rules don't work any more. Let's take gasoline prices and the effect that will have on our society (even beyond Detroit). Take a look at this chart: http://inflationdata.com/Infla tion/images/charts/Oil/Gasolin e_inflation_chart.htm I know, it's only one chart, but I've seen others that say basically the same thing. Google around and look at some others. The charts say that gas is expensive in adjusted dollars, but no more than was the case at the beginning of the auto boom years, the years when Detroit boomed, too. And during the auto industry's second boom, in the 1950's, gasoline was significantly more expensive than during the 1990's. In fact, we nostalgically see the 1920's and the 1950's a golden years of the automobile. There were two really unusual periods on that chart-- 1980-82, and the '90's. We survived the high prices of 1980, but the '90's cheap prices caused what I think is the biggest difference between now and the '50's. The spike in the 1980's caused people to buy smaller, more efficient cars, the drop in the '90's allowed people to buy bigger less efficient cars, but also to move farther away from any destination and drive many more miles each week. Up until this past year, gasoline had risen to roughly the price it was post-WWII, and people didn't give up their gas-guzzlers back then. The big difference? They didn't drive as many miles. Farmers, yes. Urbanites and suburbanites? Much less. So how do the "rules" work here? The federal government and the state have plenty of laws and regulations that actively support sprawl, from how mortgage money is used to where roads are built to where water and sewer lines are built... right down to zoning ordinances that require quarter-acre lots or larger. (Remember the "super sewer" lawsuits in the '80's? There would be no development west of Novi Rd. if that case had been decided differently.) Even the media get into the act: I read somewhere that Better Homes & Gardens magazine began pushing suburban-style design in the early 1940's. What fuels this? Cheap gasoline and private cars. Are people going to give them up? No. I'm not, either. Can people continue to drive 50 miles each way to work? Depends. If this peak in gas prices is temporary, like 1980, then we'll get through it. Will prices drop to the super-low levels of the 1990's? Probably not. The chart says those were unusually low prices. If those low prices are what drove the sprawl out to the exurbs, then the exurbs are probably not sustainable. The rules of the 1990's fall apart. Books like "The End of Oil," whether you buy it or not, warn that at the very least, oil prices will be very volatile and spike wildly for the next two decades. At worst, they will spiral up and up with no end in sight. Look at this chart: http://www.randomuseless.info/ gasprice/gasprice.html For the last three years, the graph swings wildly up and down... big jumps with big drops. The cycles lasted about a year, but this last peak looks like a six-month cycle, with a super-high maximum. Will prices drop soon? Maybe, but in the long run, the trend is always up, at least since 1997. That's an 11-year trend. I think "up" is the trend from now on. A lot of factors have contributed to this. It is not the stupidity of the US auto industry. It is not the War in Iraq (1997 was four years before 9/11). It's not even George W. Bush. Nor was it Bill Clinton. He's been out of office a long time. It is our reliance on rules that are not sustainable. If we're smart, we'll change the policies that support those unworkable rules, and quit throwing our money away, money that supports big boxes and miles of infrastructure in places that will show zero growth very soon.
The idea is that society, or a business, or an industry, is founded and operated on a set of beliefs and understandings, which are translated into rules, regulations, or policies. As long as the rules are working and successful, there is growth and more success. At some point, sometimes, the environment changes and the rules don't fit the reality so well. Operating with the old set of rules doesn't work so successfully any more. If we're lucky, the only result is less success, but the system still operates. Sometimes, though, as time goes on, the gap between the environment and the rules widens, and there can develop a strong downside to operating under the old rules-- so much so that the society or industry causes so much damage that the whole thing implodes or falls apart. The system can't sustain itself anymore, because the old rules don't work any more. Let's take gasoline prices and the effect that will have on our society (even beyond Detroit). Take a look at this chart: http://inflationdata.com/Infla tion/images/charts/Oil/Gasolin e_inflation_chart.htm I know, it's only one chart, but I've seen others that say basically the same thing. Google around and look at some others. The charts say that gas is expensive in adjusted dollars, but no more than was the case at the beginning of the auto boom years, the years when Detroit boomed, too. And during the auto industry's second boom, in the 1950's, gasoline was significantly more expensive than during the 1990's. In fact, we nostalgically see the 1920's and the 1950's a golden years of the automobile. There were two really unusual periods on that chart-- 1980-82, and the '90's. We survived the high prices of 1980, but the '90's cheap prices caused what I think is the biggest difference between now and the '50's. The spike in the 1980's caused people to buy smaller, more efficient cars, the drop in the '90's allowed people to buy bigger less efficient cars, but also to move farther away from any destination and drive many more miles each week. Up until this past year, gasoline had risen to roughly the price it was post-WWII, and people didn't give up their gas-guzzlers back then. The big difference? They didn't drive as many miles. Farmers, yes. Urbanites and suburbanites? Much less. So how do the "rules" work here? The federal government and the state have plenty of laws and regulations that actively support sprawl, from how mortgage money is used to where roads are built to where water and sewer lines are built... right down to zoning ordinances that require quarter-acre lots or larger. (Remember the "super sewer" lawsuits in the '80's? There would be no development west of Novi Rd. if that case had been decided differently.) Even the media get into the act: I read somewhere that Better Homes & Gardens magazine began pushing suburban-style design in the early 1940's. What fuels this? Cheap gasoline and private cars. Are people going to give them up? No. I'm not, either. Can people continue to drive 50 miles each way to work? Depends. If this peak in gas prices is temporary, like 1980, then we'll get through it. Will prices drop to the super-low levels of the 1990's? Probably not. The chart says those were unusually low prices. If those low prices are what drove the sprawl out to the exurbs, then the exurbs are probably not sustainable. The rules of the 1990's fall apart. Books like "The End of Oil," whether you buy it or not, warn that at the very least, oil prices will be very volatile and spike wildly for the next two decades. At worst, they will spiral up and up with no end in sight. Look at this chart: http://www.randomuseless.info/ gasprice/gasprice.html For the last three years, the graph swings wildly up and down... big jumps with big drops. The cycles lasted about a year, but this last peak looks like a six-month cycle, with a super-high maximum. Will prices drop soon? Maybe, but in the long run, the trend is always up, at least since 1997. That's an 11-year trend. I think "up" is the trend from now on. A lot of factors have contributed to this. It is not the stupidity of the US auto industry. It is not the War in Iraq (1997 was four years before 9/11). It's not even George W. Bush. Nor was it Bill Clinton. He's been out of office a long time. It is our reliance on rules that are not sustainable. If we're smart, we'll change the policies that support those unworkable rules, and quit throwing our money away, money that supports big boxes and miles of infrastructure in places that will show zero growth very soon.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Transit again
In a recent podcast of the Smart City radio program, a researcher from the National Housing Institute, Alan Mallach, discussed a new report he recently published on the factors that help revitalize neighborhoods. The way it is done, he says, is to increase the demand for housing, and that is accomplished by adding or changing neighborhood features that make it desirable. The number one factor: adding a light rail station. This feature will change a neighborhood more quickly than anything else. He cited two examples, such as the increase in development that has happened in East Los Angeles after they announced a new light rail line to the area. Transit is part of neighborhood amenities, one of six factors that affect the housing market. The entire report is available in .pdf format here.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Links to Detroit Webcams
I just added links to webcams in Detroit, just for fun. The links are in the right column of this blog page.
The Detroit River Webcam is user-controlled, which can be great... but if the camera is panning and zooming all over the place when you log on, that just means that someone is playing with the controls. This one is used by a lot of freighter hobbyists. You'll see a listing of vessel passages on this page. Actually, the Detroit News keeps a similar log every day. There are a lot of people who follow which boats (that's what huge lake freighters are called) and ocean-going freighters pass through each day. And, for those of you who don't know, the Detroit River isn't a river: it is a straits between Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. If Lake St. Clair were included in the list of the Great Lakes, what would happen to the acronym used to memorize the names of all of the lakes? HOMES=Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior. HOMESS? SHOMES? HOMSES? SOMESH?
Work Starts on Grand River
Construction on the Grand River project started about three weeks ago. The work started at Southfield, and currently goes west to Artesian. They have torn up the sidewalks on the north side of the avenue, and have actually poured some concrete close to Southfield/Fenkell/Grand River.
BUT... I DON'T SEE ANY BUMP-OUTS! We'll see how this all progresses.
BUT... I DON'T SEE ANY BUMP-OUTS! We'll see how this all progresses.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Grand River Improvements-- maybe traffic calming?
I get really fed up with the crazy way traffic moves on Grand River Avenue-- and on Fenkell Avenue, for that matter. Heck-- on every main street around Detroit. People drive much too fast, and the bad habit of passing at high speed in the parking lane makes me crazy! It is definitely all about "Get out of my way!" Dangerous, thoughtless, and rude. One very visible result: smashed light posts all around town. Two summers ago, the city installed new light posts along Grand River, which is also known as M-5, as state trunk line. Grand River Avenue actually runs from Lake Michigan, along the Grand River itself, all the way to downtown Detroit. (A sign at the end of our street says, "To Canada.") It is a major highway. But, it is also Rosedale Park's main street. Unfortunately, it is a main street that you can't use as a pedestrian. There isn't a traffic light for over six-tenths of a mile between the Southfield Expressway and Warwick, and traffic really gets moving. And as people zip into the right turn lane at the few lights, then floor it to get ahead of traffic, they often lose control when a parked car gets in their way, and they smash into one of the new light posts. At least it isn't a pedestrian!
The state awarded a grant to the local development group to enhance the streetscape in the neighborhood. The work is supposed to start next month. One of the announced features: curb bump-outs at bus stops. Excellent! That means that every two or three blocks the parking lane will be blocked, regardless of the number of cars parked along the curb. Maybe that will slow down traffic. Some other traffic calming features were slashed by budget cuts, such as more traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, and a median that would run all the way through the area. These things have been proven to slow things down, making the areas safer and more usable for pedestrians. Some strategic pedestrian islands will be built at some intersections. Let's hope for the best!
The state awarded a grant to the local development group to enhance the streetscape in the neighborhood. The work is supposed to start next month. One of the announced features: curb bump-outs at bus stops. Excellent! That means that every two or three blocks the parking lane will be blocked, regardless of the number of cars parked along the curb. Maybe that will slow down traffic. Some other traffic calming features were slashed by budget cuts, such as more traffic lights and pedestrian crossings, and a median that would run all the way through the area. These things have been proven to slow things down, making the areas safer and more usable for pedestrians. Some strategic pedestrian islands will be built at some intersections. Let's hope for the best!
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