Tag: toronto

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Up To Speed

More than $64.3B to be invested in North American rail transit in 2013

More than $64.3B to be invested in North American rail transit in 2013.

As the migration of people from the suburbs back to cities continues, so does the investment in urban forms of transport. A modern streetcar route is currently under construction in Cincinnati, and bus rapid transit, light rail and commuter rail is all being studied for the area. Nationally, more than $64.3 billion is being invested to expand rail transit. More from The Transport Politic (including map):

What is evident is that certain cities are investing far more than others. Among American cities, Denver, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington stand out as regions that are currently investing particularly dramatically. Toronto has the biggest investments under way in Canada. These metropolitan areas have invested billions of local dollars in interconnected transit projects that will aid in the creation of more livable, multi-modal environments. Dynamic, growing cities require continuous investment in their transit systems.

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Up To Speed

The race for America’s fastest broadband speeds

The race for America’s fastest broadband speeds.

Last year Google selected Kansas City as the location for its first attempt to connect homes to its own fiber-optic network. Other than Kansas City, New York City is also trying to ramp up its Internet speeds to compete with cities like Amsterdam, Barcelona, Moscow, Singapore and Toronto. With this Internet speed race in full gear, where does Cincinnati stand? More from Next American City:

Here in Kansas City, Google is in the early stages of an experiment. The stated goal: To learn what there is to know about making high-speed broadband faster, cheaper and ubiquitous. Called Google Fiber, it’s the most ambitious fiber-to-the-home project in the country. Here in the geographic middle of America, at least this moment in time, these paired cities will have the fastest, broadest broadband network in the U.S.

For Kansas City, the dream is of a gigabit of connectivity in every pot, enough to bring into being remote medical screenings, digital coursework from anywhere in the world, fire departments equipped with 3-D building plans and immersive video gaming — enough to transform two mid-sized heartland cities into a 21st-century hub of the digital-age economy, a hotbed of innovation and growth.

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Business News Politics

A billboard battle looms…

A number of City Council members seem poised to take on the billboard industry in Cincinnati. Councilman Chris Bortz thinks billboards, along with those advertising benches at bus stops and racks that hold newspapers, cut into Cincinnati’s overall curb appeal. I would strongly agree with that notion. The problem doesn’t lie with the stance, but rather the billboard powers at be. Taking on this industry has proven to be a very difficult task to say the least.

For some communities its the superfluous newspaper stands and bus benches that restrict pedestrian flow/activity in their business districts. For others its the brightly illuminated billboards that prove to be undesirable for residents living nearby. Not to mention these billboards are almost always an eyesore for everyone who has to see them on a regular basis.

Maybe what the city should do is look into creating a streetscaping plan that requires all streetscaping items to have a specific look/appeal to them (much like what is done for lighting and signage). This has been done recently in places like NYC and Toronto, where they are striving to improve the curb appeal of their cities by creating coordinated street-furniture plans.

An important piece to this effort, in my opinion, is that the city include the neighborhood business districts that make the city special and not just put it into action downtown. Downtown is great, but these neighborhood centers are the foundation of our great city. I’m sure they will lend much support to this effort!