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<p><img style="width: 200px; height: 150px; float: right" src="/files/u2/20071214-toy-train.jpg" alt="Toy train" title="Toy train" hspace="30" vspace="2" width="200" height="150" align="right" />Metrolink is Southern California&#39;s <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrolink_%28Southern_California%29">regional rail</a> system linking several counties. The 15-year old system with 7 lines, 54 stations, and 388 route miles serves over 40,000 passengers in the Southland. <a href="http://www.metrolinktrains.com/about/">Metrolink</a> says its mission is &quot;to provide the people of Southern California safe, reliable and environmentally friendly commute option.&quot; Sure, but can it also serve as an interesting venue to host a 4-year old&#39;s birthday party?</p> <p>One birthday boy in particular loves trains and is a fan of a popular <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_the_Tank_Engine_and_Friends">TV series</a> featuring trains. His mother told me that their family trips were often planned around using rail transit to get to destinations in Central and Southern California. So what better way to celebrate his birthday than to invite his friends -- accompanied by parents of course -- for a trip on a commuter train? Children that age are probably more used to birthday parties where they are entertained by clowns or magicians. Would these children, growing up in Southern California&#39;s car-centric culture be entertained at a party where the view through a train window was the main attraction? </p>

December 14 - Abhijeet Chavan

<p>Seattle's long-planned South Lake Union streetcar officially began operations Wednesday.</p>

December 14 - The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

<p>Various projects in Las Vegas are including environmentally-friendly elements, signaling a shift amongst the city's development community.</p>

December 14 - E/The Environmental Magazine

<p>Despite protests, thousands of public housing units in New Orleans are being demolished.</p>

December 14 - Yahoo! News

<p>The urban lighting artist responsible for illuminating hundreds of Parisian landmarks tackles one last challenge before retiring: the Notre Dame Cathedral.</p>

December 14 - The Globe & Mail

<p>A ballot measure aimed for November 2008 will ask San Francisco voters to raise the commercial utilities tax and lower the city's payroll tax in an effort to reduce energy usage, increase use of public transit, and increase recycling.</p>

December 14 - The San Francisco Chronicle

<p>Officials at New York's Comubia University have vowed that they would not use eminent domain or evict any tenants as they move forward with their 25-year expansion plan.</p>

December 14 - The Daily News

<p>Plans to demolish about 4,500 units of public housing in New Orleans have angered many in the city and inspired a string of protests.</p>

December 13 - Associated Press via The Times Picayune

<p>Planning has begun for a 400-acre plot of land near downtown Los Angeles, and expectations are high.</p>

December 13 - Los Angeles Downtown News

<p>Chicago city officials have proposed a ban that would forbid residents from keeping chickens.</p>

December 13 - Associated Press

<p>Automobile crashes are the number one killer of teenagers in the United States, with nearly 6,000 deaths a year for the past decade, and more than 300,000 injuries annually.</p>

December 13 - Streetsblog

<p>A new report ranking Canada's cities in terms of their ability to attract skilled workers finds that looming demographic challenges and infrastructure deficits will require urgent attention from higher levels of government.</p>

December 13 - The Globe & Mail

<p>The governor of Washington is leaning towards surface street options and public transit as possible solutions to the traffic problem posed by Seattle's crumbling inner city freeway, the Alaskan Way Viaduct.</p>

December 13 - The Seattle Times

<p>Officials in Spain have announced billion-dollars plans to help homeowners retrofit and renovate houses to be more energy efficient.</p>

December 13 - Reuters

<p>Some cemeteries are being planned and designed for uses beyond the funeral. But more should be done to improve the banal architecture of the cemetery, according to this article from <em>The Guardian</em>.</p>

December 13 - The Guardian

<p>Toronto's poet laureate argues that environmental sustainability cannot be achieved until people become better neighbors and create better communities.</p>

December 13 - Spacing

<p>The regional association of governments in Washington D.C. is calling on its member cities to put more emphasis on encouraging environmentally friendly development.</p>

December 13 - The Washington Post

<p>According to Mayor C. Ray Nagin, Louisiana's recovery has reached the tipping point, setting 2008 up as the year New Orleans will truly come back.</p>

December 13 - WWL AM 870

<p>As racial tensions erupt across France, the diverse city of Marseille has remained calm. Many look to it as a model for the future of an increasingly ethnically-mixed France and Europe.</p>

December 12 - Smithsonian Magazine

<p>Jerry Abramson, mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, has announced plans to invest $100,000 in creating a pedestrian plan for his city.</p>

December 12 - Louisville Courier-Journal