A welcome addition to the walkability movement are the videos that go deep to explain how we ended up where we are today, and what we need to change. Check out four we enjoyed in our first video roundup.
Parking mandates crush businesses.
There are a lot of reasons to eliminate parking mandates, but the impact on struggling small businesses is justification enough. This video from Dallas shares the stories of small businesses in regulatory hell, with real impacts on their business viability due to irrational parking requirements. They have plenty of customers with the parking already available in the community – yet city codes require yet more even though the business can’t buy or lease additional parking spots. Small local businesses are essential to walkability and a sense of place. Eliminate parking minimums and let them thrive! Thanks to Better Block and Dallas Urbanists.
How did they come up with that traffic rule?
My first time seeing this creator, and I enjoyed his earnest and in-depth analysis on traffic engineering, featuring an interview with Wes Marshall, author of Killed by a Traffic Engineer. Particularly interesting to me were segments looking at the supposed research basis for a number of traffic engineering principles, and learning that there is not, in fact, a legitimate basis for them. The research does not say what the profession claims it says, but the myths have calcified into iron, and deadly, rules.
Can we talk about the health impacts?
A fact too often sloughed off – living next to a freeway is really bad for your health. This fact alone should be enough to ban urban freeways, or to prevent the dubious zoning practice of jamming apartments next to freeways. Check out the evidence in this video
An ode to existing technology, not magic technology
Electrifying transit buses is a great idea, but should it be electric battery buses or electric trolley buses? Electric trolleybuses run on an overhead wire, drawing power when they go. It can also have a battery onboard to run off of the wire for a short time, which is recharged when back on the wire. A bus that runs solely on batteries needs to be recharged, and a bus yard recharging multiple buses would need a lot of power. Plus, the batteries are heavy, which means the buses need even more power to haul their batteries around. So, do we need a new technology, or do we need to expand an existing proven technology?
