News Roundup & Open Thread

Readers were stumped by our last sidewalk photo—not even a single guess came in. The sidewalk in question was South Bayly Avenue looking toward Caledonia. Better luck this time with a new sidewalk photo. Guesses in the comments.

Don’t forget about several new Broken Sidewalk features including our Forums, Events Calendar, and Photo Pool. Recently, there has been a great discussion going on in the forum about building better cities instead of building great cities. Check it out.

Local News

• The Green Building makes it into another major publication (Arch Record)
• Windy Hills buys neglected properties at city entrance (C-J)
• A comprehensive list of Metro Lou’s social networking (Metro Lou)
• Louisville music history goes big city (Ville Voice)
• Arena cautionary tale: tax increment financing woes (H-L)
• No consensus on homeless task force (WLKY Redding)
• Industrial wasteland in the Algonquin neighborhood (Steph of Lou)
• Two-thirds of KY high school grads not ready for college or career (C-J)
• Ear-X-tacy makes it onto another list of really great record stores (Loueyville)

Transportation

• TARC Trolley-bus to remain free through end of year (WFPL)
• Bike thief advises on how to prevent your bike from being stolen (Hard Drive)
• Psychology of road rage: how cars transform others into obstacles (StreetsBlog)
• Talking and texting while driving kills 16,000 from 2001-2007 (Reuters)
• PSU evaluation finds that bike boxes work (Bike Portland)
• Jeffersonville buys two fake-trolleys for special events (C-J)
• Help needed for upcoming bike polo tournament (LHBP)
• Lou maintains bronze-level bike friendly status (LAB)
• Bicycling as a way of life across the globe (Shareable)
• New York bike valet program gets off to a slow start (WNYC)
• San Francisco transit agency’s plan puts cars in backseat (SF Chron)
• Cycling decor: Chandeliers made of bike chains (E Minor)
• Lego releases new build-your-own public transit kits (Human Transit)

Everything Else

• New York City more ecologically diverse than surrounding suburbs (NY Mag)
• The age of nations is over – the new urban age has begun (Foreign Policy)
• Lexington peels off some ugly facades (Lex Streetsweeper)
• Healthy offices make healthy employees (Good)
• Cities for cyborgs: 10 rules (Quiet Babylon)
• Video: New escalator technology goes curvy (VDC)
• Apartment sector leads market recovery (Real Deal)
• Stranger Studies 101: Cities as interaction machines (Atlantic)
• Construction screening in New York goes artsy (Arch Paper)
• Economic impact of obesity in the United States (Brookings)
• There’s no such thing as green industry (Urbanophile)
• Are networks or size more important to urban success? (Urbanophile)
• Check out a video of a recent flash mob at the University of Louisville (UL Youtube)