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The Planetizen News Brief - 9/17/09

17 September 2009 - 5:00am
Smart City Radio

The Planetizen News Brief is a weekly rundown of some of the most interesting and important news and issues of the past week.

The Planetizen News Brief airs every week on the nationally-syndicated radio program "Smart City", which is broadcast in cities across the U.S. Learn more about Smart City and listen to archived shows.

Full Transcript

Across the U.S., government entities at all levels are struggling through this economic recession. The state of New Jersey is in such a tight spot it’s threatening to slash aid to its local governments. In the face of these dark economic times, cities and towns in New Jersey are finding strength in each other. According to a recent article from the Star-Ledger, towns there are joining forces to share or combine local services as a way of cutting costs. Police departments are merging, fire departments are ditching city borders to create regional forces, and some are even considering disbanding local health departments and combining them into one larger county department. While there’s no real hard data about the cost-savings of such measures, towns in the state seem to be willing to try whatever they can to stay afloat and in operation.

Meanwhile, Portland, Oregon has just seen the addition of a new light rail line to its regional MAX rail system. The Green Line addition has been in the works since the ‘70s and finally began operations last week. The new line heads from the southeast into downtown Portland, and transit officials estimate it will carry about 25,000 riders per day. According to a recent article from the Oregonian, the new Green Line is just the first of a series of expansions to the system that are being planned over the next 10 years. Funding has already been approved for another 7.3-mile extension, and three other branches are under consideration. Portland transportation planners say they are on their way to creating a region that is truly connected and served by rail.

And finally, a new study by the University of Leeds reaches some conclusions that may surprise cyclists. Bike lanes, it turns out, may actually be a safety hazard. According to the research, drivers give bicyclists less room to ride when there are painted bike lanes on the road. Worldchanging points us to the study, which used a specially equipped bike that could measure the proximity of vehicles as they passed by. When streets had no painted bike lanes, drivers tended to keep more room between themselves and the bike. Streets with painted lanes saw drivers edging closer and closer to the bike. The results of the study suggest that removing bike lanes may make streets safer for cyclists, as drivers have to pay more attention to where cyclists actually are instead of where they’re supposed to be.

Stories discussed in this week's Planetizen News Brief

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If hundreds of people in your community raised reasonable concerns about a planning program you developed, how would you respond? Perhaps you might call a community meeting, or ask community elected officials to reach out to community leaders.
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