zoning

Dow Constantine wants your wasted heat

Dow Constantine wants your wasted heat

By Matt the Engineer on August 26, 2011

You turn on a shower.  Your hot water heater takes water that’s the same temperature as the ground (roughly 50F, depending on the season) and heats it up to around 120F.  The water runs in pipes through your walls (losing some of this heat to the outside), then you mix it with some cold water to [...]

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Why the Roosevelt tiny 10% upzone isn’t enough

By Matt the Engineer on August 6, 2011

Several Roosevelt neighborhood plan supporters are claiming that Roosevelt’s new zoning will triple the existing population within 1/2 mile of the new rail station.  At first I was tricked – triple the zoning is at least a win for Seattle, and probably as much zoning as I would have asked them for.  But some of [...]

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How to boost employment in Seattle in 2 years

By Matt the Engineer on February 4, 2011

Upzone. One of the arguments that comes up when debating Seattle’s zoning laws is that we’re in a recession, and nobody’s going to build no matter what we do right now.  I’d argue the opposite: if we upzone we can get people to build right now despite the fact that we’re in a recession. Housing [...]

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Taken For A Ride

By bgtothen on January 5, 2009

Welcome back! As a primer for two of my classes (transit planning and transportation policy) this quarter we are watching and discussing a PBS documentary “Taken for a Ride” by Jim Klein. The film documents how GM and other automotive industries conspired to kill established streetcar providers. I’m sure there are some half truths in this movie but it is a fact that GM was prosecuted for illegal activities that killed American streetcars.

I was able to find the first 20 minutes of this film on YouTube. If anyone else finds the complete film please share. If not maybe this would be something to watch at an STB meetup?

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