news rodeo - April 29, 2007

We here at PHG have been busy as of late (or at least busy procrastinating from getting any 'real' work done). So to catch you all (all two of you!) up on what's been going on here is the first ever PHG news rodeo!

story: Ad on Bus Mocks Bus. In Grand Rapids, Michigan there will be an ad on the back of buses that openly mocks the transit system in Grand Rapids. According the news article: "The political ad shows a Rapid transit bus that has morphed into a pig. It's eating money and spewing pollution." The ad proclaims This Pig Stinks! in bold letters. A group paid $290 to place the ad for a month, and it is in opposition to an increase in revenue to expand service in Grand Rapids.

PHG take: This is exactly the opposite approach that CBS took when MoveOn.org and PETA tried to pay for advertisements during the Super Bowl two years ago. Even though these groups were willing to pay $2 million for a thirty second ad, CBS denied their ads stating that they refuse to air political ads. Grand Rapids certainly didn't have to accept this ad, but should be given some credit for accepting this controversial ad. I think the real story is: $290 for a 21 inch by 72 inch ad! PHG should scrape together some money, perhaps by selling Rice Krispy treats, to take our message of hope, transit, soccer, and transportation planning songs to Grand Rapids.

story: 'Gated Communities for the War-Ravaged." The Washington Post ran a story earlier this week with this precise headline! The article reports: "The U.S. military is walling off at least 10 of Baghdad's most violent neighborhoods and using biometric technology to track some of their residents, creating what officers call 'gated communities' in an attempt to carve out oases of safety in this war-ravaged city."

PHG take: The war must finally be taking a turn for the better if Iraqis are getting their own gated communities! The picture that the Washington Post ran of Iraqi children playing soccer in their new 'gated community' does in many ways resemble Belmont Country Club in Loudoun County, Virginia.


story: Russia Plans World's Longest Tunnel, Link to Alaska. I found this story on the Transportationist blog. The 64 mile tunnel connecting Siberia to Alaska would be primarily used to transport oil, natural gas, and electricity but would also contain a highway and a high speed railway.

PHG take: Finally, the land bridge across the Bering Strait returns! This world is getting increasingly smaller by the day. If this thing is built, you could technically drive from New York to London by car. This is a different route than suggested by Google Maps, which encourages people traveling from New York to London to "swim across the Atlantic Ocean."


story: Other new from Russia - Boris Yeltsin dies.

PHG take: Yelstin was the first ever popularly elected president of Russia, and a leader during the very critical time of transition out of Cold War politics. I don't know if the Washington Post has anything against Yeltsin, but this was the photograph they were running on the front page of their website after his death.

the intersection of soccer and transit

one of my favorite things in life is taking the Metro to a DC United game at Estadio RFK (in Goffer's parlance). This is especially magnificent if it is one of those beautiful summer evenings in Washington, DC where you are finally getting a break from the mid-day heat and humidity.

Major League Soccer has a new team this year and it is good old Toronto FC. As part of the promotional push for their new team, Toronto has decorated one of its streetcars to honor Toronto FC. Awesome!

transit makes density possible

The New Wembley stadium opened in London on March 24, 2007 with a soccer match between the under-21 squads of England and Italy. When everything is finalized, the massive stadium will hold over 90,000 people. Even with this large number of spectators, there will be no general parking at New Wembley. What makes this density possible? Transit. During soccer matches, the stadium will be served by over 100 trains an hour. 3 Tube lines and 2 national rail lines serve the stadium, and have the capacity to transport a whopping 70,000 persons per hour. The stadium is also served by an extensive network of buses.

In other news, the Tube carried more than 1 billion passengers last year! The Mayor of London, Ken Livingston, maintained that this strong transit ridership reflected the health of London's economy: "This new record of one billion passengers shows the strength of London's economy and how crucial the Tube is to that economic success."

transit poems: station victoria

station victoria

on the subway back in
Boston dad always preferred
the journey to Auditorium
something about the name called
over loudspeaker declaring itself
in the present tense of time
here I am in London and I
might venture to Embankment
but Canada Water lures me with promises
of refreshments and Saskatchewan natives
I know I’m in Europe not because
no one knows my name but
no one knows I’m American until
I open my mouth and the secret’s exposed
and no one cares except for the
few who understand that they’re
being bought by our culture
I buy into yours while you buy into mine
yet in the long run we all know
that those who derive pleasure from the
stately ambiguity of subway stops

will ultimately diminish to haze

study the past

Welcome to port halifax idea gateway. As this is my inaugural post, and in the terminology of Bill Morrish, I am inaugurating the civilized terrain I figure I would begin with an homage to my favorite statue, which is right across the street from my favorite Metro stop. The Metro stop would be Archives / Navy Memorial in DC and the statue is this very large and very somber looking man with his left arm resting on a book. On the base of the statue there is an inscription that reads: 'Study The Past."

The inscription is a command, a suggestion, a call to arms and a very stern reminder. I have always wished that this statue had stood outside of the History Department at Northwestern University where I studied as an undergraduate. If this man stared me down each cold Chicago morning, I probably would've put a much greater effort into my studies.

Even though I am now a student of the planning of cities and their transportation networks my thinking is always grounded in the past. I recently finished Zachary Schrag's book The Great Society Subway: a History of the Washington Metro. In it, I was amazed to see Fairfax County repeatedly making transportation planning mistakes. In the 1960s when Fairfax County was deciding on the alignment for the Metro they decided to emphasize cheap right of way and selected an alignment in the median of Interstate 66 going west to what would become known as the Vienna Metro station. In the 1970s, Fairfax County had the opportunity to revisit this decision and perhaps re-route the Metro closer to the burgeoning Tysons Corner area. County officials stuck with their I-66 alignment. In recent years, there have been private efforts by developers to create a 'transit village' near the Vienna Metro. The high levels of density met with great resistance from both community members and Congressman Tom Davis.

Despite this history, Fairfax County is positioned to make another massive mistake. With the Metrorail extension from West Falls Church to Dulles Airport becoming more plausible by the day the big discussion in Washington, DC right now is whether to have the Metro run under ground or above ground through Tysons Corner. Like 40 years ago, the plan for Metro in Fairfax County is emphasizing the cheapest possible alignment. I know that many officials in Fairfax want the underground system through Tysons Corner but they should study the past and say "we've made mistakes in the past and this time we're going to do it right." If that means waiting for a few more years then that's what they should do.

If the Metro system had done what was cheapest in terms of its station designs, we would not be enjoying the vaulted, arching ceilings nor the comfort and security that the stations provide. These are iconic landmarks, in a city replete with landmarks. Study the past! There is a second chance (actually third or fourth chance) for compelling rail transit in Fairfax County. Let's take advantage of this opportunity!