"Since George Bush and Dick Cheney took over as president and vice president, gas prices have doubled!" charged Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), standing at an Exxon station on Capitol Hill where regular unleaded hit $3.10. "They are too cozy with the oil industry."
She then hopped in a waiting Chrysler LHS (18 mpg) -- even though her Senate office was only a block away.
"I can quit anytime I want," the senator explained. "I just, I just need a little more to get through today, that's all."
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Jane Jacobs, May 4, 1916 - April 25, 2006
American cities have lost a great advocate.
At a time when urban planners demolished entire neighborhoods to make it easier for cars to get around, Jane Jacobs was a voice of reason.
She opposed letting freeways strangle our cities and fought to save landmarks with deep meaning for their neighborhoods. You can still walk the streets of Greenwich Village because of her.
I have to admit that I'm one of those people who always intended to read her books, but never has.
I can only hope that her death will, at least briefly, bring urban renewal to the forefront of the media's consciousness. Not the massive, bulldoze-it-all projects of the last 50 years, but real renewal that engages the residents, rather than displaces them. Renewal that weaves a vibrant urban fabric, rather than tears it apart.
At a time when urban planners demolished entire neighborhoods to make it easier for cars to get around, Jane Jacobs was a voice of reason.
She opposed letting freeways strangle our cities and fought to save landmarks with deep meaning for their neighborhoods. You can still walk the streets of Greenwich Village because of her.
I have to admit that I'm one of those people who always intended to read her books, but never has.
I can only hope that her death will, at least briefly, bring urban renewal to the forefront of the media's consciousness. Not the massive, bulldoze-it-all projects of the last 50 years, but real renewal that engages the residents, rather than displaces them. Renewal that weaves a vibrant urban fabric, rather than tears it apart.
It's a gas, gas, gas
Boy, how about them gas prices, huh?
Bet you wish you hadn't bought that Jeep Grande Escalade Valdez.
I'm not much for gloating, but as bad as things are, I'm glad we had the foresight to buy a Prius back before they were popular. Not only did we get a great deal on the car in December 2002, but we'd have to wait 8 months to buy one today.
Folks said we'd never get the money back from gas savings. That was when gas cost about half what it does now. I mean, we're all hurting here, but I have to say I'm hurting less than a lot of folks I know.
High gas prices force people to pay attention. People talk about hybrids and transit all of a sudden, as if they'd never heard of them before. Unfortunately, most of these same people will go back to their SUVs and forget the bus and train if gas drops just 50 cents.
Thing is, it's going to go back up again. And we'll be right back where we are now, thinking about hybrids and transit, but doing nothing about it.
Long-term thinking. Try some today.
Bet you wish you hadn't bought that Jeep Grande Escalade Valdez.
I'm not much for gloating, but as bad as things are, I'm glad we had the foresight to buy a Prius back before they were popular. Not only did we get a great deal on the car in December 2002, but we'd have to wait 8 months to buy one today.
Folks said we'd never get the money back from gas savings. That was when gas cost about half what it does now. I mean, we're all hurting here, but I have to say I'm hurting less than a lot of folks I know.
High gas prices force people to pay attention. People talk about hybrids and transit all of a sudden, as if they'd never heard of them before. Unfortunately, most of these same people will go back to their SUVs and forget the bus and train if gas drops just 50 cents.
Thing is, it's going to go back up again. And we'll be right back where we are now, thinking about hybrids and transit, but doing nothing about it.
Long-term thinking. Try some today.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Duke students tend to have more money than you
I'm not going to waste my time pontificating on a case that hasn't even gone to trial yet. I'll leave that to Jesse Jackson and Rush Limbaugh.
But, is this not the most obvious, understated headline in the history of journalism?
Duke suspects raised in privileged surroundings
The only surprise here for some folks might be that these guys, along with most of the other lacrosse players, grew up in the North, not the South (It's an obsession in Baltimore, but you couldn't find enough kids for one team in Charlotte). A lot of reporters have framed the story as if it could only happen in the South. Racism doesn't stop at the Mason-Dixon line. This could have happened anywhere in the country.
Okay, that's enough.
Other headlines:
Baltimore has a lot of crime.
NASA announces Outer Space is 'really' big.
Bush is a crook.
Okay, so maybe that last one is only obvious to some of us.
But, is this not the most obvious, understated headline in the history of journalism?
Duke suspects raised in privileged surroundings
The only surprise here for some folks might be that these guys, along with most of the other lacrosse players, grew up in the North, not the South (It's an obsession in Baltimore, but you couldn't find enough kids for one team in Charlotte). A lot of reporters have framed the story as if it could only happen in the South. Racism doesn't stop at the Mason-Dixon line. This could have happened anywhere in the country.
Okay, that's enough.
Other headlines:
Baltimore has a lot of crime.
NASA announces Outer Space is 'really' big.
Bush is a crook.
Okay, so maybe that last one is only obvious to some of us.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
The Great Easter Egg Hunt of 'aught 6
Easter is here! Haven't found the chocolate bunnies yet, but I'm sure they're here somewhere ... right?
Springtime in the NC is beautiful. Flowers bloom from every bush and garden. And the temperature is a cool 90 degrees. Sandals and shorts weather.
The preacher started his sermon by saying there was no way to describe the ressurection. Then spent 30 minutes trying anyway. He told the congregation that God was like music, and we all had to shake our groove things. This did not go over well. Lots of nervous laughter. Episcopalians aren't much fun.
The kids at the church swarmed the yard afterward like well-dressed vandals, uprooting bushes and knocking each other over to find their prized eggs. Some had snuck out early to begin the hunt and were promptly beaten by the others when discovered. Their chocolate-smeared faces gleaming with the maniacal look of junkies in Baltimore.
Being without children, we managed to escape the carnage.
Springtime in the NC is beautiful. Flowers bloom from every bush and garden. And the temperature is a cool 90 degrees. Sandals and shorts weather.
The preacher started his sermon by saying there was no way to describe the ressurection. Then spent 30 minutes trying anyway. He told the congregation that God was like music, and we all had to shake our groove things. This did not go over well. Lots of nervous laughter. Episcopalians aren't much fun.
The kids at the church swarmed the yard afterward like well-dressed vandals, uprooting bushes and knocking each other over to find their prized eggs. Some had snuck out early to begin the hunt and were promptly beaten by the others when discovered. Their chocolate-smeared faces gleaming with the maniacal look of junkies in Baltimore.
Being without children, we managed to escape the carnage.
In the wasteland
Driving up WT Harris from the Old Tecki Homestead in East Charlotte always depresses me. While Baltimore has scads of great old buildings just waiting to be revitalized and filled with families and businesses, Charlotte suffers its own success. Still growing strong, the city and its suburbs sprawl across the landscape like a cancer. If all that growth could be concentrated in pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use neighborhoods instead of strip malls, fast food joints and ever-bigger Targets and Wal-Marts, I would be happier to come home.
Of course, any growth at all in East Charlotte would be nice. That part of town is falling apart, and I worry the eventual revitalization will be much more difficult than in urban cities like Baltimore. No matter how run-down the old homes, commercial and industrial buildings in Baltimore were, someone always eventually came along to renovate beacause those buildings and their neighborhoods had character. The vast stretches of Independence Blvd. and Albemarle Rd. have all the charm of ... parking lots. No one is going to look at the now mostly shuttered Coliseum Shopping Center and say, "Gee, I'll bet folks would love to move into some condos there."
Of course, any growth at all in East Charlotte would be nice. That part of town is falling apart, and I worry the eventual revitalization will be much more difficult than in urban cities like Baltimore. No matter how run-down the old homes, commercial and industrial buildings in Baltimore were, someone always eventually came along to renovate beacause those buildings and their neighborhoods had character. The vast stretches of Independence Blvd. and Albemarle Rd. have all the charm of ... parking lots. No one is going to look at the now mostly shuttered Coliseum Shopping Center and say, "Gee, I'll bet folks would love to move into some condos there."
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