Posts by David Alpert — Founder
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Low rent for metal tenants
I pay approximately $4.36 per square foot per month for my apartment. But to park my car right outside, if I comply with alternate side parking rules, costs zero. Keep reading…
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Good ideas almost everyone wants
The New York Times came out in favor of congestion pricing. Local business leaders want it, activist groups want it… but Bloomberg still doesn’t. Keep reading…
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More than a thousand words
None but the most corrupt of politicians would think that moving Yankee Stadium over to a public park, farther from the highway, replacing that park with some space on top of garages and other parkland crammed up against the river far away from the neighborhood, and having the city kick in $70 million for this, could possibly be a good idea. Keep reading…
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Grand Street is crazy wide
Last night, heading to a party on the Lower East Side, I decided to drive. As Transportation Alternatives’ recent study (PDF) showed, the top reason most people who drive into or out of Manhattan do so is because it’s faster. And from Hoboken to the LES late on a Saturday night, it sure is, and (once you already have paid the sunk cost of having a car) cheaper too:… Keep reading…
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Thin layer of ice found in hell
Smart growth, transit-oriented development - there are many names for the idea of building mixed-use, walkable communities. Whatever you call it, it’s starting to catch on in suburban communities from San Mateo to Silver Spring. But most are areas with existing transit, near to already walkable cities. What about America’s great bastions of… Keep reading…
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WMATA expansion plans
New York City’s subway first opened in 1904, and Boston’s in 1908; but by the 1960s, Washington DC still had no subway system. A comprehensive plan designed at that time has by now been built, with a few changes. Therefore, WMATA has developed a new master plan to keep systems in good repair, extend trains to eight cars, make pedestrian access improvements,… Keep reading…
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Westwood Station
In Westwood, MA is the Route 128 rail station, a stop on Amtrak’s Acela and Regional trains between Boston and the rest of the Northeast Corridor cities to the south. It is also a stop on the MBTA’s commuter rail, and immediately off Massachusetts’ Route 128, (in that area at least) better know to the rest of the country as I-95. Keep reading…
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Economists for sprawl?
A Harvard economist, Edward Glaeser, got some press recently for a report he has written about the connection between land-use rules in Massachusetts towns and housing prices. It’s really not much of a surprise that many towns, like Lincoln and Weston (among the richest towns in the Commonwealth) use land restrictions to keep their towns small and expensive. Keep reading…
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Build This California!
San Francisco is one of California’s few dense, walkable cities. Many San Francisco residents do not own cars and get around on a daily basis using public transportation. Keep reading…
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A backbone for people and bicycles
I first read about this idea in the RPA’s analysis of congestion pricing, but now that traffic reduction ideas are a talked-about topic, another more radical idea has hit the blogs: closing Broadway to traffic. Paul White of TA brings up the idea in a Gothamist interview, and MemeFirst follows up with some more detailed detailed thoughts. Keep reading…