Friday, January 25, 2013

Missing Links For 1-25-13

Long list of things folks in northern Michigan may find interesting; these have been accumulating for a long time.


-Atlantic Cities: When a Music Scene Leads to a Boom
[happened in Omaha, maybe to the Good Works Collective too?]

-Atlantic Cities: How and Why American Cities Are Coming Back

-Crain's Detroit: So why does a business leave northern Michigan for Florida? Sometimes, it's talent, not taxes
"I just couldn't hire people in northern Michigan," Harr said. "Honestly, I've hired everybody I can. There's just no more talent. I would interview and interview and interview, and I just couldn't come up with the talent that I needed."
-Atlantic Cities: Chicago's Ambitious Plan for Zero Traffic Fatalities

-Cruising Grand Traverse Bay

-Partners returning landmark Petoskey building to brewing roots [Petoskey Brewing]

-French Broad River Paddle Trail opens [Asheville, NC]
"...volunteers ...have created eight public campsites along the paddle trail, which connects a 140-mile stretch of the ancient river [French Broad River]"

 -Northern Express: A Boom in Bike Paths

 -Salon: Rust Belt chic: Declining Midwest cities make a comeback

-Lebanon Valley Rail Trail good exercise and economics [study indicated the 20 mile trail contributed $1.3 million to the economy per year]

-TraverseMag: Hemingway in Northern Michigan

-Planetizen: New Understanding of Traffic Congestion

-Arizona Dept Of Transportation Research Dept: Land Use and Traffic Congestion - Final Report 618 - March 2012
Researchers performed a detailed analysis of the relationships between higher-density land use and traffic conditions in four Phoenix transportation corridors. The corridors included three older, high-density, mixed-used urban areas and a more contemporary suburban area with lower density but high traffic volumes. The analysis showed that the urban corridors had considerably less congestion despite densities that were many times higher than the suburban corridor. The reasons were traced to better mix of uses, particularly retail share, which led to shorter trips, more transit and nonmotorized travel, and fewer vehicle miles of travel (VMT). Also recognized was the importance of a secondary street grid in the three urban areas, which allows for better channeling of traffic and enables walking.
-SciAm: Why do we hurry to wait? [as in waiting in line at the gate or hurrying to a red light]

-Atlantic Cities: Study of the Day: Planners Miscalculate Benefits of New Roads [regarding the disconnect between transport researchers and transport modelling]

-PerSquareMile: Urban Trees Reveal Income Inequality [via EcoGeek]
...for every 1 percent increase in per capita income, demand for forest cover increased by 1.76 percent. But when income dropped by the same amount, demand decreased by 1.26 percent
-Bloomberg: U.S. Auto Sales May Slow Through 2016, AlixPartners Says
Auto sales may also decelerate in part because younger people are less likely to have driving licenses and drive fewer miles than previous generations
-Placeshakers: Get Your Hotels into a Walkable Town Center

-Crain's Detroit: A year after a 'Most Beautiful' moment, popularity of Sleeping Bear region hasn't hibernated

-Midwest Energy News: Traverse City takes a lead on energy efficiency

-Forbes: Cities Expect Bicycle Boom

-PhysOrg: Research suggests denser development is good for single-family home values
The researchers found that not only did the value of single-family residential properties increase with density of surrounding development, but that the quality of neighborhoods, as defined by access to other land uses, including parks, increased with density as well.
-Marketplace: City planners warm to 'accessory apartments'
...turn unused space in existing homes into affordable housing. Accessory apartments require a separate kitchen, bath and entrance. And they help not only renters looking for a cheaper deal. They bring in extra cash for homeowners with fixed or low incomes.
-The Path Less Pedaled: Economics of Bike Touring

-PacificStandard: Bicycle Studies Pick Up Speed in Academia

-TED: Pam Warhurst: How we can eat our landscapes 
"we didn't ask for permission, we just did it"

-Placemakers: In Defense of ‘Vibrancy’ (And beer)

-Fremantle Doctor: Five car parking myths: Why we need to get smarter about parking 

-WSJ: A Surfer Waits for an Idea to Catch The Right Wave—In Idaho [river bungee surfing]

-Grand Rapids Residents Want A Whitewater Park Full Coverage at MLive

-Idaho Stateman: Two new Boise parks all about water [whitewater park is open - video]

-FastCoExist: Bikes Aren’t Just Good For You, They’re Good For The Economy, Too

-PhysOrg: 'Smart growth' strategies curb car use, greenhouse gas emissions
researchers at San Francisco State University found that a 10 percent increase in a city's smart growth features—including housing density, jobs per capita and public transit infrastructure—would lead to a 20 percent decrease in the number of vehicle miles traveled per household, per year.
-Bicycling: Iceman Cometh: An Old-School Adventure Race

-Quartz: America’s new subprime boom: This time it’s cars

-City of Chicago: Chicago Sustainable Backyards Program

-Chef Michael Ruhlman: Pigstock, Traverse City, Michigan
"one of the most inspiring days of my life"

-flickr: PigstockTC 2012

-Felix: The problems with measuring traffic congestion

-I Like Your Bike



-Jeff Smith @MyNorth: A Journey Down Traverse City's MicroBrew Canoe Trail

-Crain's Detroit: The 'boomerang' effect: Young people who left Traverse City find their future … back home

-SLC Tribune: Salt Lake City Council bans demolishing buildings to create parking lots
Surface lots cover about 20 percent of downtown – some 55 acres.
-Atlantic Cities: 4 Reasons Retailers Don't Need Free Parking to Thrive

-NYT: A Michigan City Bets on Food for Its Growth [Grand Rapids]

-Atlantic: Who Knew the Most Creative Seed Fund Was in Grand Rapids?

-Oregon Public House
OUR VISION Portland, Oregon is the craft brewing capital of America and supports an extensive, thriving pub culture. Portland also hosts more non-profit organizations per capita then any other city in America. our vision is to leverage these two unique attributes of our city by creating a family-friendly pub environment where our neighbors from the surrounding area can come to enjoy community around good food and craft beer while supporting great causes. To integrate this vision of pub with benevolent outreach, we have established relationships with a number of non-profit organizations to which our pub will donate 100% of net profits. The customer will purchase their food and/or beverage, and then have a change to choose were they wish their individual proceeds will go to from a short list of local charities. We've simply positioned ourselves to be the "fundraising department" for these charitable organizations, by providing the community with great food and great beer in a warm, inviting environment.
-TH: Study Finds Cyclists and Pedestrians Spend More In Stores Than Drivers

-Per Square Mile: Town, section, range, and the transportation psychology of a nation

-Ticker: Local Micro Distilleries On The Rise

-The Michigan Beer Film Teaser

The Michigan Beer Film Teaser - Rhino Media Productions from Rhino Media Productions on Vimeo.

-Grand Rapids Urban Forest Project

-USCG Air Station Traverse City Welcome Aboard Pamphlet (pdf)

-USCG: Great Lakes Shipmate of the Week: Chief Warrant Officer John Leaming, Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City

-Streetsblog: Road Diets Are Changing American Cities for the Better
Poughkeepsie’s treatment for Raymond Avenue involved the removal of one traffic lane in each direction and the addition of three roundabouts. The city also added a center median with pedestrian refuges, to facilitate safer crossing. That project led to a 50 percent decrease in traffic collisions and the opening of several new businesses in the area.
-Touring and Tasting: Beautiful, Bountiful, Traverse City

-Crain's Detroit: Ex-psychiatric hospital could become a nerve center for Traverse City's local-food movement

-Oryana: list of PLU's

-BattleCreekEnq: Dunes in northwest lower Michigan 2,000 years younger than once believed, MSU researchers say

-EasternSurf: Over the River and Through the Woods: South Florida’s Blake Burns Finds Empty Summertime Fun In Northern Michigan
No matter how many times I visit Northern Michigan, I’m still taken aback by the beauty of the area in the summertime.