An E-Bike Transformed Her Life

E-bike. (CC0 Public Domain).

Every day at The Overhead Wire we sort through over 1,500 news items about cities and share the best ones with our email list. Each week, we take some of the most popular stories and share them with Urban Milwaukee readers. They are national (or international) links, sometimes entertaining and sometimes absurd, but hopefully useful.

An E-Bike transformed her life: After spending so much time driving and navigating traffic to get her daughter to school, Elizabeth Endicott took the plunge and bought an e-bike. What resulted was a new way of getting around that cut through traffic and didn’t result in her getting to her destination drenched in sweat. An added benefit was a better connection with her daughter during morning rides. (Elizabeth Endicott | The Atlantic)

The user pay myth: Transportation has always been funded from various sources yet there is a persistent belief that users pay directly. This user pay myth wasn’t even true just three years into the highway trust fund’s existence as it failed and needed congressional support to stay solvent. Today the idea persists but it should be put to bed as public investment in transportation should be about getting people to destinations rather than just supporting drivers argues Dave Cooke. (Dave Cooke | Union of Concerned Scientists)

Designed forests: In an interview about his book Designed Forests: A Cultural History, Dan Handel explores how forests have been shaped by human design, uncovering deep connections between forestry, architecture, and cultural narratives. He also notes that personal experiences with nature often form our ideas on landscapes, whether natural or designed, and that can influence our cultural interactions with them. (Urška Škerl | Landzine)

Taxing municipal bonds: Republicans in congress are considering removing tax free status for municipal bonds to pay for tax cuts which could make borrowing more expensive and increase city budgets. 80% of infrastructure funding comes from state and local spending and bonds are a significant fundraising mechanism to pay for it. (Tax Policy Center) Additionally, as Susan Crawford argues, this could make funding for climate adaptation more expensive and at the whim of the private credit markets. (Susan Crawford | Moving Day)

Are cities becoming all the same?: A debate rages about different styles of architecture and what constitutes beauty. Is it classical or more modernist and minimal? Critics argue that the minimalist style has led to homogenous cities that can be found anywhere. Others fear classical architecture is now politically motivated but perhaps a mix of styles is the way forward to reduce the loss of cultural and social identity. (Lorenzo Villa | NSS Magazine)

Quote of the Week

For urban mining to really take off, it will require a shift in mindset among all the city’s residents – not just its builders. People’s natural instinct needs to shift from throwing away their old stuff to thinking how they or others might find a use for it.

–Kobe Vaes in The Guardian discussing Leuven Belgium’s building recycling programs.

This week on the Talking Headways podcast, we’re joined by Stacy Mitchell of the Institute of Local Self Reliance who chats about her recent article in the Atlantic entitled The Great Grocery Squeeze.

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