Friday, September 22, 2023

Government

CarsGovernmentMobilityUrban Planning

MDOT: “An I-375 With Fewer Than Ten Lanes Would Take Away People’s Right To Get Around”

Our favorite road engineering agency is finally again talking about replacing the useless stretch of interstate that is I-375. Unfortunately, the plans just keep getting worse and worse.

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EnergyGovernmentUtilities

Southeast Michigan Dreams of Public Power

Municipalization of public utilities, transportation systems, and distribution systems for gas and electricity was all the rage about a century ago. Is it time to bring it back into vogue? A symposium looked at this question.

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CyclingPublic Safety

Drivers: Please Don’t Honk At Cyclists. Ever.

Car horns are dangerously loud, and dangerously loud sounds are not only deleterious to health, they’re also scary for cyclists– who are already occupying a precarious position on the streets of American cities.

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Economic DevelopmentGovernment

City of Detroit: Just Kidding, We Do Have A Secret MOU With The Ilitches and Morouns.

The City of Detroit responded to a long-outstanding FOIA request and conceded that, yes, they do have a secret memorandum of understanding with a couple of the city’s most delinquent landowners. It’s not surprising. It’s just obnoxious that they told me the exact opposite before.

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EnergyGovernmentPolicy

The GOP Released Their Policy Blueprint For 2025. It’s A Mess.

The Republican Party has drafted its “policy” plans for 2025, when they at this point seem unlikely to be able to retake the White House. While there are some valuable points in critiquing the structure of the federal regulatory apparatus, most of the over-arching objectives include dismantling federal agencies and applying theocratic and corporatist dogma to American public policy.

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DetroitGovernmentHeavy IndustryUrban Planning

City of Detroit: “You’re good– if your last name is Moroun or Ilitch.”

A months-long saga to try and clean up a lot being used for long-term storage of inoperable vehicles finally gets a response from a persnickety FOIA coordinator, who points out that, well, we don’t care about the problems here, because it’s not a residential neighborhood.

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Consumer ProductsEnvironmentPolicy

Vape Recycling: Handbuilt Lobbies State Senators To Regulate eWaste

Michiganders throw out hundreds of thousands of vapes each year, if not more. This is an environmental disaster, but one we can mitigate with better eWaste recycling.

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CarsPublic Safety

It’s Time To Talk About Speed. No, Not The Adderall Shortage.

A society with 40,000 deaths each year from traffic violence can’t claim to be virtuous, progressive, or innovative– at least, not when we have plenty of proven solutions to reduce the rates of traffic fatalities.

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