Comments on: Midwest Miscellany

By: books

books — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:44:05 +0000

Thank you i just liked this blog and the information is good

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Sun, 31 May 2009 18:41:43 +0000

New York had fiscal problems throughout 2008, but Paterson just kept slashing spending (unfortunately, he didn’t figure out the trick of selling overpriced highways to the private sector). Unlike in California, the state managed to pass a budget.

By: The Urbanophile

The Urbanophile — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:53:37 +0000

pete - thank you so much for such a nice comment. I appreciate. I've never been to Baltimore but would love to see it one day.

TUP, Metra has long received greater per ride subsidies than the CTA.

Alon, NY does have serious fiscal problems, partially as a result of public sector employment considerations. What NY lacks is California's initiative process for creating unfunded spending mandates.

Stephen, if you are interested in talking further about this, please email me.

By: Stephen Gross

Stephen Gross — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:54:40 +0000

Your note about the Chicago-area collection-’o-blogs is really interesting.

I used to write a blog (grossreport.blogspot.com) about midwest urbanism. I didn’t quite have enough content to keep it up on a regular basis, though. I’ve been wondering whether there’s room in the blogosphere for a website featuring midwest/urban-oriented bloggers. Do you think this would be possible?

By: pete from baltimore

pete from baltimore — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:32:50 +0000

I would just like to say that I enjoy your blog..And I appreciate the fact that you cover urban issues from a different standpoint than many journalists.

Too often ,many journalists just cover New York City and forget about places like Cleveland and Pittsburgh .

As a resident of Baltimore , the issue of de-industrialisation ,and the urban decay caused by it , is very important to me.

I like to read about ways that our post industrial cities can survive and reinvent themselves.

Thanks again for your time and hard work spent on this blog.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:52:46 +0000

I'm skeptical of Kotkin's attack on lavish pensions. If it were high taxes and spending that killed California, then you'd see the same problems crop up in New York and New Jersey, which the Tax Foundation has ranked the two worst in nation in business tax climate and as having the two highest state/local tax burdens. Both states have very high school expenditures, strong public sector unions, and lavish pensions. And yet, New Jersey is adding jobs faster than any other state, and New York ranks 6th (see here); the recession has hit them, but not nearly so hard as California, and they're already in recovery mode.

By: the urban politician

the urban politician — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:15:43 +0000

“Work on a $29 billion capital bill is working its way through the Illinois legislature. This includes $3 billion for roads and $2 billion for transit, with the CTA getting $910 million and $810 million. Yet again, on a per rider basis, Metra receives the lion’s share of the subsidies. It is easy to run a good system when you get all the money.”

^ I made a similar comment in the forums, Aaron, but it was explained to me that a good chunk of the money allocated to Metra will go towards projects that are a part of CREATE, the multi-billion dollar plan to reduce freight rail congestion in the Chicago area