The Suburban Experiment creates an illusion of wealth early on, which makes it very seductive. As a city like Baxter, MN enters the second life cycle and all of the dispersed systems that came with the growth now need costly maintenance, the seductive illusion is slowly destroyed.
Read MoreA small town in Minnesota just gave an extended middle finger to one of the state’s most impotent bureaucracies.
Read MoreForgiving design principles that traffic engineers employ have replaced the “that’s what kids do” burden on the driver with a “that’s what drivers do” burden on all of society. If we want to make our cities prosperous again, we have to return that burden to the driver. Not just at intersections. Not just where there are properly specified signs. It is their burden, their responsibility, everywhere, all the time. Period.
Read MoreSafe Routes to School is a very popular federal program designed to make is easier for students to walk and bike to school. The amount spent on it, however, is a tiny fraction of what we spend each year building brand new schools.
