I'm jealous. Starting next month, people in D.C. can rent a bicycle "day and night with the swipe of a membership card." Operating like ZipCar, SmartBike DC, a new public-private venture, will make 120 bicycles available at 10 spots in central locations in the city. Members will pay $40… more

Pat's Place, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with its plain hamburgers, posterless walls, and straightforward menu, became the last themeless restaurant in America to close. That's the news from The Onion. And how true it sometimes feels... more

Aquifers and rivers are running dry. Find out how three regions are coping from Wired. more

Want to understand the relative number of people in poverty? Watch this short, powerful video. more

Recalling the Democratic Convention in 1968, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh called for riots at this year's convention in Denver. I wonder what Rush would do if, indeed, his words provoked action. Let's see... since cities and the metro areas they anchor generate 80 percent of our nation’s… more

First, it was Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams calling for his town to shrink its service area to fit its smaller population. Then it was Harvard professor Ed Glaeser last Friday advising Buffalo to do the same. And now Detroit Free Press deputy editorial page editor Stephen Henderson is admonishing… more

When Blackpool lost its bid for a super-casino, the city decided to try something else. The city has set its sights on becoming UK's “capital of dance." According to The Stage, the resort has been earmarked £4 million of government money for the plan. Doug Garrett, the chief executive… more

Find out here.

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In every city, there are special people who have spent their lives trying to make their communities better places. Last night in Greenville, SC, I had the pleasure of having dinner with one such special person, Irv Welling. Irv is a real charmer and one of the people behind "I… more

Not as picturesque as Greenville's Falls Park but clearly a resource, a rejuvenated Oklahoma River in OK City is making news in the NYT as site of elite water sports.

Mayor Mick Cornett was honest about how it happened. "We completely did it by accident."

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At Eyecube, Global Director for Client Management for Taylor PR Rick Liebling explores Barack Obama as a Deeply Immersive Narrative Universe Brand.

"...I wondered if this was an idea that worked for things like science fiction stories (Star Wars) or video games (Halo) especially well, but maybe not for the… more

Greenville's Falls Park on the Reedy is a gem of a downtown park. I've seen nothing to compare.

Mayor Knox White explained to me tonight at dinner that it wasn't easy getting the people excited about featuring a falls most had never seen. (The fact that the park… more

Charity Vogel didn't much like Ed Glaeser's admonition to Buffalo to think small. Instead, she urges Buffalo to follow Richard Florida's advice to think big -- as in, mega-region of Rochester, Toronto and Buffalo. Glaeser was asked specifically about the potential of mega-regions, and he response was, essentially, not much.

Read… more

The price of gas isn't the only thing affecting road traffic patterns in the U.S. Over the next two decades, 20 million baby boomers will leave the workplace. As many as 70% are likely to start new businesses from home or small offices near home. This means a big chunk… more

Greenville, SC, may be America's next break-out city. It is just gorgeous. It has a vibrant and growing downtown with a truly fabulous urban park at its center. It has a surprising number of local retailers and restaurateurs, the buildings are "right sized" for Greenville, signage is handled really well,… more

These statistics continue to haunt me...

The U.S. Department of Labor projects that seven of the ten fastest-growing jobs from 2000-2010 do not pay a living wage. Of course, DOL doesn't put it that way. They use dollar signs to indicate the "earnings quartile" the job falls in. However, even two… more

That was the question Harvard professor Ed Glaeser asked last August in City Journal. His conclusion was, "Probably not, and government should probably stop bribing people to stay there."

Well, more than a few Buffalonians took umbrage at that. So a few brave souls, led by Kate Foster, Director of… more

When the economic development strategy says "grow an industry cluster," some puzzle over how that's really done. Here's one insider's view from the LA Design Scene... "When I got here 10 years ago it seemed particularly slow. Mind you, I wasn't in the 'know' but having dated [ex-girlfriend] for those… more

"We think of the Brooklyn Flea as a community-oriented shopping stroll, a life as art kind of thing," was the way Eric Demby, a co-organizer of the market, described the vibe at his new creation. "Of course, the reality is that it's a place for people to buy stuff."

See the… more

Writing in Metropolis (4.08), Karrie Jacobs surveys the municipal landscape and concludes that mayors around the world are acting with unusual determination to address big issues such as disasters, climate change, new energy generation, and homeland security. And they are acting in ways that may be contrary to… more

Doing my research for next week's speech in Greenville, SC, I ran across a terrifically frank video on how South Carolina's Upstate brand is being developed. Watch it here.

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Reconnecting America has a terrific audio interview with Peter Calthorpe on transit-oriented development.

In it, Peter debunks the strange myths about Portland, Oregon with these comments:

"We all tend to discount Portland, but I was there yesterday and as I traveled around I thought, I came to Portland in the… more

Earth Day is Tuesday April 22. In observance, apparel retailer Banana Republic will be donating a percentage of all in-store and online sales for April 22-27 to support The Trust for Public Land's Parks for People initiative to create parks and conserve open space in American cities. Banana Republic also… more

While the Democratic primary candidates debate the role of guns in Pennsylvania, a coalition of America's mayors have negotiated an agreement with the nation's biggest seller of guns, Wal-Mart, to track the sale of firearms more closely.

According to the NYT, the agreement between Wal-Mart and the group, Mayors Against… more

Front page headline in today's NYT says "Retailing Chains Caught In A Wave Of Bankruptcies." Here's the lede: "The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and… more

Talked today to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, the driving force behind the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, which now has 830 mayors representing 79 million Americans signed on.

He told me that Seattle is making the transition from conspicuous consumption to conspicuous conservation, and his goal is to make… more

Toronto Mayor David Miller is in China with his "Tower Project" team to consolidate research on how Toronto's concrete towers can be made more energy efficient and much higher quality places to live. E.R.A. Architects’ Graeme Stewart, who will be travelling with the firm’s principal architect, Michael McLelland, told Novae… more

Reality-Based Community considers "the lunacy of [the proposed Senate bill] subsidizing housing in any way with the earth heading for a world climate disaster.

"This part of the bill allows homebuilders who are losing money now but made profits back to 2004 to get back taxes they paid in their… more

Just talked to Jeff Howard, founder of the Efficacy Institute, who works with school districts and communities to develop widespread commitment to the twin ideas that all children who can learn a language by age 2.5 can learn at high standards and can develop strong character.

While Jeff acknowledges that children… more

Innoblog reports on a study by Gavan J. Fitzsimmons of Duke¹s Fuqua School of Business in which he found that even subliminal exposure to brands may cause individuals to act in accordance with the traits that accompany those brands. Participants who were exposed to the Apple logo during… more

CEOs for Cities member UDA has a lovely expression of its corporate culture packaged at Atelier 3.0: Spirit, Commitment, Passion. It is an interesting (and unintended) roadmap for cities attempting to attract and retain talented people. Congratulations to Don Carter and his colleagues for imagining this document.

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Matthew Yglesias has this post at Atlantic.com:

Quoting Peter Moskos' Cop in the Hood on the devastating impact car patrol has had on police work:

"Car patrol eliminated the neighborhood police officer. Police were pulled off neighborhood beats to fill cars. But motorized patrol -- the cornerstone of urban policing… more

Time magazine identifies an interesting new trend: Gourmet chefs cooking and serving from kitchens in trucks on city streets. Grilled wild salmon with roasted shallot bread pudding to go? Yep.

The explanation: "People in their 30s and late 20s are not caught up with trying to impress people by going to… more

A new nationwide survey found that a majority of children and teens in the U.S. have little or no interest in achieving leadership roles when they become adults. They would rather fit in, make a lot of money and help animals or the environment.

Peter Levine, who studies young people… more

Quality of Life is the subject of Houston's indicators project. There are eight categories of indicators:

1. Air Quality
2. Billboards (I love this one)
3. Green Buildings
4. Litter and Graffiti
5. Parks and Open Space
6. Tax Delinquent or Abandoned Lots
7. Trees
8. Water Quality

As Mayor Bill White's… more

The remedy for the home mortgage mess may inadvertently be another subsidy for sprawl and gas guzzling lifestyles.

The biggest declines in housing prices and the most widespread foreclosures are in Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona. And for the most part, the mortgage problem is mostly concentrated in the suburbs,… more

We were just in Grand Rapids preaching the power of events to redefine a city and came back to find this post on CoolTown about events in D.C.

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