Michael Lewyn is a professor at Touro University, Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Center, in Long Island. His scholarship can be found at http://works.bepress.com/lewyn.
A Middle Ground In The Bag Wars
<p> <span><span style="font-size: x-small">The San Jose City Council is considering a proposal to ban plastic bags and most paper bags in supermarkets, out of concerns about the greenhouse gases used to manufacture them and about the waste from discarded bags. But this policy might create as many environmental problems as it solves. <br /> <br /> In a city without disposable bags, shoppers who seek to buy large amounts of groceries will have to drag around an army of nondisposable containers. For drivers, this is not a big deal. Susie SUV can always find space for dozens of nondisposable bags in her truck. And because Susie’s bags can stay in her truck forever, she will always be able to make impulse purchases without difficulty. <br />
Stress and the city, part 2
<p class="EC_MsoNormal"> Not long ago, I posted on what makes some cities more stressful than others.<span> </span>(See <a href="/40441" target="_blank">http://www.planetizen.com/node/40441</a> ).<span> </span>In that post, I remarked that the ideal objective indicia of stress (resident surveys on crime, illness, etc.) often do not exist for most cities. </p>
What Makes A City Stressful?
<div class="content"> <p> Forbes just came up with another of its “Most X City” surveys. This week, it listed the most stressful cities (<a href="http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/20/stress-unemployment-homes-lifestyle-real-estate-home-values-stressful-cities_slide.html?partner=msnhealth" title="http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/20/stress-unemployment-homes-lifestyle-real-estate-home-values-stressful-cities_slide.html?partner=msnhealth">http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/20/stress-unemployment-homes-lifestyle-rea...</a> ). Nearly all of Forbes’ criteria, however, are silly in one respect or another. </p>
Legibility vs. efficiency
<p> <span><span style="font-size: x-small">One reason why buses are less popular than trains is buses' lack of "legibility</span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small">"</span></span><span><span style="font-size: x-small">: the ability of an occasional passenger to figure out how to get somewhere by bus. While subway or light rail passengers can look at a system map (which is usually present on a station wall) and figure out that a train to destination X shall arrive at their station reasonably soon, bus passengers typically have to invest time in getting schedules, and then pray that the schedule has not changed.<br /> </span></span> </p>
New urbanists and old-fashioned Jews
<p> A few years ago, someone asked me the following question (loosely paraphrased) on a listserv: “Since the most tradition-minded* religious Jews are required by Jewish law to walk to synagogue on Sabbaths and holy days (and thus presumably prize walkability) why aren’t they a major market for new urbanist developments?” At the time, I didn’t have a coherent answer. But now that I know more about both traditional Jews and new urbanism, I do. </p>