Veritas et Venustas

Norman Foster: Paris does not need skyscrapers.

Foster is quoted in le Figaro:

The most beautiful cities of the future will be inspired by today's most sustainable cities. And it does not mean that build up. Paris, London and Copenhagen are these cities. Of course, Manhattan is a shining example in terms of energy consumed, the presence of high buildings is beneficial. Many people go to work on foot, others use public transport. Few people own a car. But Copenhagen, Paris, Munich and Berlin are all cities in which to walk, they are durable and offer a high quality of urban life. You need a good mix of uses and buildings. Consider Copenhagen and Detroit, with a population and a similar climate: the second is three times higher population density than the other and yet it consumes ten times more energy, mainly because of gasoline. Under these conditions, I do not see how Paris would need skyscrapers.

translated by Google

Paris n'a pas besoin de gratte-ciel
Quote of the Day

Ken Burns's JAZZ

GOOD beginning

Sprung

Baseball on the radio and the joys of summer can't be far behind.

People ask me what I do in the winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.

— Rogers Hornsby

New York Bike Wars

"There are not only 8.4 million New Yorkers but at times 8.4 million traffic engineers," said JS-K. "And we’re, you know, very opinionated.” (Frank Bruni, Bicycle Visionary, New York Times, September 10, 2011).

Some evidence of that: 

Ethan Kent, Ciclovia, Is NYC Ready?, Streetsblog, June 6, 2007

Brian Paul, Copenhagen Comes to New York?, Remapping Debate, February 9, 2011

John Cassidy, Battle of the Bike Lanes, The New Yorker, March 8, 2011

Matt Chaban, Bike Lames! Straw Men on 10-Speeds in New York's Last Culture War, New York Observer, March 9, 2011

Aaron Naparstek, The New York City Bike Lane Backlash is Completely Irrational, Naparstek Post, March 9, 2011

Matthew Shear, Not Quite Copenhagen, Is New York too New York for bike lanes?, New York, March 20, 2011

Brad Cuozzo, Murder on Broadway, Pedestrian lanes blighting biz, New York Post, July 14, 2011

Brad Aaron, In the Tortured Mind of Steve Cuozzo, Even Street Trees Are a Threat, Streetsblog, July 15, 2011

Adam Sternbergh, ‘I Was A Teenage Cyclist,’ or How Anti-Bike-Lane Arguments Echo the Tea Party, The 6th Floor Blog, New York Times, March 9, 2011

Ben Fried, Bin Laden Is Dead, But the Second Avenue Bike Lane Lives On, Streetsblog, July 8, 2011

Steve Cuozzo, The bike-lane cancer Metastasis on Columbus, New York Post, December 12, 2012

Ben Fried, Help Make Sense of Crazy Steve Cuozzo, Streetsblog, December 13, 2012

Noah Kazis, The NBBL Files: PPW Foes Pursued Connections to Reverse Public Process, Streetsblog, December 20, 2012

Noah Kazis and Ben Fried, The NBBL Files: Weinshall and Steisel Manufactured Anti-Bike Coverage, Streetsblog, December 20, 2012

Denis Hamill, 'I hate bike lanes' and support the mayoral candidate who will put the brakes on them, New York Daily News, January 29, 2013, updated January 30, 2013

Christopher Robbins, Daily News Columnist: Big Crashes’ Await Cyclists Who Use Bike Lanes, Gothamist, January 30, 2013

Matt Flegenheimer, Anxiety Over Future of Bike Lanes, New York Times, February 13, 2013

“Someone was saying, ‘Well, you know, Janette Sadik-Khan is trying to domesticate the city.’ As though being run over by a taxi was a sign of New York’s urban vitality.” (Chaban, op. cit.)

Hear Bloody Hear: London Mayor—Get Bigshots Out of Cars, Onto Transit “Like Everybody Else"

THE QUOTE comes from an excellent article in Streetsblog, but instead of linking to it directly from Twitter I wanted to first direct people to this quote from a Matt Chaban article in the Observer: "

“Nobody on Park Avenue walks,” [New York City developer] Michael Shvo said last month....

“I stopped walking a decade ago,” said Mr. Shvo nonchalantly, a statement of success rather than disability.

— Pedestrians at the Gates:
Pathway Plan for Park Avenue
Could Turn Class Into Mass

After the jump, Chaban continues:

Nearby was Irwin Cohen, the man who turned the old Nabisco factory into the Chelsea Market. With the High Line nearby, he had seen the transformative power of an impressive infrastructure project firsthand—so how might he feel about reclaiming the Park Avenue median as an actual park?

“That’s ludicrous,” his wife Jill Cohen said. “What if you’re coming here? Where would your driver stand the car?”

“I don’t know that Park Avenue needs it,” a friend piped up. “The sidewalks are plenty wide already.”

“As long as they don’t make it bike lanes,” Mr. Cohen said.

Quote of the Day

An individual only has one life, and if during it he has no great environment, no community, he has been irreparably robbed of a human right.

– Paul Goodman, Growing Up Absurd

Glenn Beck: He's A Communist and That's Okay

LOTS OF NEW URBANISTS, including yours truly, have been running into Agenda 21 Tea Partiers who say New Urbanism is a Commie Socialist Plot, part of the New World Order the UN is imposing on us. So how do they explain the two new towns discussed by Jon Stewart?

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
America 2: Now With More Freedom - A Glenn Beck Holiday
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V&V: I'm a Communist and that's okay

V&V: The Revolutionary Communist Party Likes New Urbanism (sort of)