Sunday, August 5, 2007

The importance of infrastructure

It's called education by disaster. Just as there was a irhabi terrorist threat before 9/11/01 and a dangerous situation in New Orleans before Katrina, we have had an infrastructure problem in the United States for years before the Minneapolis bridge collapse. All of our condolences go to the families of those killed and the people injured. It truly was an event out of a nightmare. I suggest we avoid pointing fingers (we saw how well that worked after Katrina), and focus on how to avoid similar events in the future. While funding isn't the only concern (the Minnesota DOT got a large increase in funding), it is one aspect of the issue.

Nicole Gelinas writes a fascinating article in City Journal discussing this problem. Strangely, this issue gets ignored by both political parties. Apparently it didn't seem flashy enough - at least until now. The article also discusses the neglect of mass transit in cities and our freight rail lines. Nest time you hear a discussion about infrastructure maintenance and replacement comes up, think about our "D" rating from the American Society of Civil Engineers. Our civilization needs solid infrastructure to run on, and we won't get it unless we ask for it.

This might be a good time to mention the RTA's plan to request additional funding to maintain their system. Give it a click.

UPDATE:
More on the bridge collapse and the decay of American infrastructure at Popular Mechanics.

Friday, July 27, 2007

Welcome to Citizens for Better Planning

We are a group of Chicago residents who feel development and new high-rise buildings are generally beneficial to Chicagoans. As opposed to NIMBYs, we are YIMBYs: Yes, In My BackYard.