Wednesday’s Headlines

  • Public input can be too much of a good thing, as cities wind up catering to the loudest (and often most affluent) voices and fighting misinformation — or sometimes, they can’t get anything done at all, as Austin found when it tried to rewrite its zoning code. (Governing)
  • Uber is back in court as a U.K. judge decides whether its drivers are employees with rights or contractors, as the company contends. (Bloomberg)
  • This profile of Michigan congressional candidate Rashida Tlaib has some interesting tidbits about how downtown Detroit has become a playground for billionaire developers while the surrounding neighborhoods continue to crumble — specifically, the Q-Line, the new streetcar that seems to function solely to carry suburbanites from one tourist attraction to the next. (Jezebel)
  • Milwaukee’s (hopefully more functional) streetcar, The Hop, opens on Friday. (Journal Sentinel)
  • Indianapolis will use a $1 per scooter per day fee on e-scooter companies to build bike lanes. The fees are expected to raise between $400,000 and $2.8 million annually. (Star)
  • Texas A&M has cut ties with ofo because its auto insurance has lapsed, preventing workers in vans from collecting improperly parked bikes. The company’s 2,300 bikes in College Station will be recycled or repurposed elsewhere. (Eagle)
  • The Kansas City Star endorses a gas-tax hike in Missouri, saying it will lead to safer roads.
  • At LSU, 14 percent of students, faculty and staff bike on campus because they only have a quarter-mile of bike lanes. (LSU Now)
  • Fox fail: A Fresno man was thrown 100 feet by a hit-and-run driver, and the local affiliate led with the fact that he was jaywalking.
  • Happy Halloween! Check out this spooky parking garage in Bethesda, Md. But beware: It could … drive you insane. Muwahahaha! (DCist)
  • FlamingoFresh

    “Public Input” article. I think it’s fair to receive public input from everybody and really hear people’s concerns. I also wouldn’t necessarily leave it up to elected officials to make the final call on said public projects. I think after taking into consideration everybody’s input science and data should back the ultimate decision and also looking at the grand scheme of things, is it beneficial to the area as a whole. If you let yourself be fully controlled by public input then the NIMBYs would block everything (they almost do at this point). It’s up to the elected official to take the data provided by the experts in their respective field in combination with public input to make the best decision for the whole community. Even if in the short term you are despised and may not be elected but in the long term it will pay off.

  • Daisy’s World

    New York City officials are taking heat for botching a ceremony meant to honor victims of last year’s deadly truck attack. A last-minute invitation to one victim’s mother meant she couldn’t attend the ceremony, and those who did make it Wednesday were miffed when officials finished the event without reading the names of the eight dead. A police officer scrambled to the podium as the small crowd was dispersing, and Mayor Bill de Blasio raced up to apologize and read the names. De Blasio attended the ceremony alongside emergency responders, a small group of family members and friends and the consuls general of Argentina and Belgium. A wreath of white roses was placed at the site of the attack and a minute-long moment of silence was observed. http://www.daisylimo.com