Archive for April, 2008
Costing out urban vs suburban living
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008A few years ago when a real estate marketing company was promoting a downtown Vancouver condo project, they argued that a couple who could forgo automobile ownership would save the equivalent per year in expenses that would allow for an additional $100,000 worth of a mortgage. That is, skip auto ownership and you could […]
VOG and Geckos
Thursday, April 24th, 2008Two geckos are chasing each other across the wall as I write this in the lobby of our hotel in Hilo, Hawaii while the coqui frogs sing. As regular readers have probably figured out, I’m on vacation. Will be back next week and posts should resume soon.
In the meantime, I learned a new urban alert […]
Crowding out the locals
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008In Honolulu this week. Amidst the sunshine and drier weather — a contrast from Vancouver of the past 18 months — I’ve noticed a remarkable similarity: Homeless people are everywhere.
From reading the local papers, guidebooks and chatting to residents it seems that a leading cause (or at least the believed leading cause) is tourism and […]
“3 cups of tea:” Lessons from those who’ve never seen a city
Wednesday, April 9th, 2008Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time (New York: Penguin, 2006).
They live in isolated villages deep in the Karakorum Mountains at the western edge of the Himalayas. On our paper map abstractions, they live in Pakistan or Afghanistan. In reality, […]
Unintended consequences of a new bylaw
Saturday, April 5th, 2008In Vancouver a new bylaw came into effect last week banning cigarette smoking on restaurant patios and within 6 meters (about 20 feet) of doorways. Smoking has been banned at indoor public places for a long time.
I had a positive and a negative experience with this new bylaw this week. The positive […]
From carpool to toll lanes
Friday, April 4th, 2008Between the Seattle-Tacoma Suburbs of Renton and Auburn, the state department of transit will launch a pilot project later this month, converting a carpool lane on Route 167 to a HOT lane, or High Occupancy Toll route.
Under the new rules, carpools or high occupancy vehicles can use the HOV lane for free. Other drivers can […]