Obesity & Urbanism

Mathew, SS raises a really good point. I generally agree with your argument and if you compared say, bike commuters with car commuters then there might be some interesting correlation.

But he’s right, the worst obesity in the US is in the urban black population – who typically live in compact, theoretically walkable urban neighborhoods – including much of Milwaukee. These communities may be walkable, but they are hit by the extra whammy of poverty, miserable education levels, and almost no access to anything but junk food. Ironically, in those neighborhoods the only thing you can walk to is McDonalds or the liquor store, so not having a car actually makes nutrition worse.

At the end of the day, educated and prosperous walkable areas have thinner people, but without education and prosperity, even walkability gets trumped.

MCTS Unveils New Buses

Are new buses the wisest thing to spend stimulus money on? I mean, the old buses didn’t seem so bad to me. Are they maintenance costs really so high that this saves money? Are they able to get some money back by selling to old buses, to say, some city in Mexico?

Pedaling Revolution - Book Review

WHY are they using a giant red flag on the cover of that book? As a daily cyclist, I get it, and I love seeing cycling becoming more popular and having better infrastructure built for it. The book sounds great. Here’s the problem:

Lest we judge a book by its flag….

There’s nothing that will set the teabag/right wingers off more that something that can be construed as socialist or communist – regardless of whether it actually is – than “revolutionary” talk and big red flags. This shouldn’t even be a political issue at all, but unfortunately, there’s a real risk that it will become one and suffer for it – especially if government money is being used for bike infrastructure and so on…. maybe I’m over-reacting, but I would have chosen a different cover and tittle for sure!

A Brand for High-Speed Rail in the Midwest

It also occurred to me that we should stop referring to it as Madison-Milwaukee. It should be called Madison-Chicago, that will also draw more people in and emphasize the connections…

RTA Will Be a Last Minute Decision

The goon squad is out of control on JSonline today in the comments section. Makes me kinda sad. But who knows, maybe some last minute progress will happen!

No no no... No!

The thing that’s important about those buildings is only partly that they’re historic – it’s that they are individualistic – this means that if and when shops and offices move in, they’ll function in a far more independent and democratic way than as tenants of a larger, more shopping-mall like building. That’s great for small business and creativity.

Now, if the buildings in question are truly unsalvagable, then so be it, but it seems like these guys are not thinking very creatively.

Waukesha County Will Love High-Speed Rail

Super nitpickly detail – Chicago is the CAPITAL, not the CAPITOL of the midwest. The latter spelling is only used to describe the building. Easy to remeber since most capitols have domes, and domes are round, like an “o”.

Downtown History Presents Opportunity in Milwaukee

Great write up. I’m not really sure the block structure, in an of itself is going to be much of a tourist attraction. Rather, it’s about good attitude, pleasant places to stroll, and a “Real-ness” which you might be able to get in milwaukee that you might not get in, say, Orlando. The next frontier in international tourism once the furthest reaches of the globe are trodden? Why not!

Megabus Unveils New Bus Schedules for Milwaukee

I’m surprised there’s not a weekend late nighter… a midnight bus might get some riders, or even a midnight train during the summer festival season, though I guess at that hour you might as well grab a hotel.