A Failure of Governance
I am absolutely appalled by the failure of governance in the state of Texas that resulted in a severe weather event turning into an absolute calamity for millions of people. This is the definition of a man-made problem similar to the levee failures in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in that failure of government to…
How to get a Starbucks (or a Trader Joe’s) in your Community
The urban planning questions we should be asking about these businesses. I have been involved in many downtown community plans professionally and have been active in my own neighborhood on economic development concerns and the question that I hear asked most often is along the lines of Why can’t we get a Starbucks (or Trader…
Hyperloop
I’ve been writing on social media about my disdain for Elon Musk’s foray into solving mass transit problems with the hyperloop for some time. But now we have evidence of a test ride with real people by Virgin Hyperloop in the Nevada desert. CNN covers the event, which is basically a commercial, though their article…
COVID-19 Update #1
April 14, 2020 We are just over a month into a stay-at-home order from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to “flatten the curve” against COVID-19. Today I am reading in the New York Times why it might be a good idea to start a coronavirus diary. I’m kind of a hack writer, as anyone who reads…
Detours and off road adventures
It’s been awhile since I’ve been back at the blog. Mostly this is life getting in the way. A lot of it is family commitments and neighborhood engagements. But I can honestly say, some of this is just the detours and off road adventures of life. Detours Since my previous post on this blog a…
The Road Ahead
The road ahead sometimes doesn’t appear as it may seem. You think you’re on the right path only to get derailed, whether you expected it or not. In my case, it was being let go from my project manager position with Metro Strategies. Since this is my second stint with unemployment, I’ve learned a few…