Woodward Light Fail: If Detroit can’t do rail, how can it keep young talent from fleeing? | MLive.com

Here’s all you need to know about the reported tension between Woodward Light Rail stakeholders: old people with gray hair are arguing about things old people with gray hair like to argue about. 

That’s not to dismiss fears that investors may pull back some or all of their $100 million commitment, it’s only to underscore how silly this spat is.

Over the last generation, cities across the country have built and supported light rail lines. The late Paul Weyrich, one of the conservative movement’s founding fathers and a fierce rail advocate, liked to point to Salt Lake City as a place without a long public transportation history where light rail was successful.

Consider this: If the private investors take their ball and go home and Woodward Light Rail fails, then Detroit can be reasonably considered less capable of urban redevelopment than Salt Lake City.

It’s not that light rail on Woodward is some magic bullet project, but if Detroit can’t do this—the most modest and obvious of urban transit projects—then there’s no reason to believe Detroit can ever muster the comeback necessary make this place a “world class city,” at least not in a sustainable macroscopic way. At that point there’s no reason for talented, ambitious young people to waste their time trying to make Detroit a better place.

Continue reading here: mlive.com

Woodward Light Fail: If Detroit can’t do rail, how can it keep young talent from fleeing? | MLive.com

Here’s all you need to know about the reported tension between Woodward Light Rail stakeholders: old people with gray hair are arguing about things old people with gray hair like to argue about. 

That’s not to dismiss fears that investors may pull back some or all of their $100 million commitment, it’s only to underscore how silly this spat is.

Over the last generation, cities across the country have built and supported light rail lines. The late Paul Weyrich, one of the conservative movement’s founding fathers and a fierce rail advocate, liked to point to Salt Lake City as a place without a long public transportation history where light rail was successful.

Consider this: If the private investors take their ball and go home and Woodward Light Rail fails, then Detroit can be reasonably considered less capable of urban redevelopment than Salt Lake City.

It’s not that light rail on Woodward is some magic bullet project, but if Detroit can’t do this—the most modest and obvious of urban transit projects—then there’s no reason to believe Detroit can ever muster the comeback necessary make this place a “world class city,” at least not in a sustainable macroscopic way. At that point there’s no reason for talented, ambitious young people to waste their time trying to make Detroit a better place.

Continue reading here: mlive.com

Cool Tools: SeatGuru

Being, rather short, I rarely have to worry about leg room. Being a geek, however, I idea of knowing where the power outlets are has definite appeal.

Cool Tools, has this great find – a new feature on TripAdvisor that shows an enhanced seating chart with leg room, restroom proximity and more.

via kk.org

Meet The Most Dangerous Device In The Air: Your iPad

I’ll be honest, I’m probably the first one on a flight to ignore the flight attendant’s announcement that “all portable electronic devices must now be switched to the ‘off’ position.” My reason? I simply don’t believe that one phone could cause an issue, especially since mine has been on during almost every flight I’ve taken. I know I’m not the only one to break the rules, either, and it seems like we doubters are winning the debate, with a number of different services available that offer in-flight phone calls. However, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) claims that our gadgets may be posing a greater risk than we thought, outlining 75 instances where flight crews believed “electronic interference” with flight systems was caused by electronic portable devices.

Read the rest at crunchgear.com

Google Maps Tells You Just How Late Your Bus Is

Waiting for your bus can sometimes seem like slowly dying in a desert as you watch vehicle-shaped mirages glimmer on the horizon. As a remedy for that transit-parched feel, Google is integrating live transit updates into Maps for mobile and desktop.

Before you get all excited, the update is only available in four U.S. cities (Boston, Portland, San Diego and San Francisco) and two European cities (Madrid and Turin), and for Google Maps for mobile on Android devices (although it will work on mobile browsers, and it doesn’t require any downloads to access).

Residents of those cities will be able to see delays and alerts when clicking on transit stations or planning routes, as well as “live departure times.”

Image courtesy of Flickr, Simon_sees

Accompanying video at source: mashable.com