Governing Magazine/June 2008

CHRISTOPHER SWOPE'S URBAN NOTEBOOK

KERMIT WAS RIGHT

A few weeks ago, I got stuck in what may go down as one of history's
most bizarre traffic jams. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon, and my
hometown of Washington, D.C., had set up a drop-off point for
residents to unload old computers, batteries, unused paint and other
hazardous waste. The event was quickly overrun by a crush of eco-
consciousness: Some 4,000 do-gooders showed up, many with old TV sets
poking out from the trunks of their cars. The true martyrs gave up
three hours waiting in line to keep their toxic junk out of the
landfill. One hour was enough torture for me--I bailed.
 Surely, nobody idling in that gridlock missed the irony: Here were a
bunch of environmentally mindful people, emitting untold amounts of
greenhouse gas--all in the name of recycling. Nothing more clearly
demonstrates the wisdom of Kermit the Frog about the difficulties of
being green. And it creates a paradox that localities are beginning to
bump into in the rush toward "sustainability."
 Being an environmentalist used to be simpler. Clean air and water
were good. Pollution and littering were bad. Separating brown, green
and clear glass recyclables was no hassle for the environmentalist: It
was the least he could do to save the Earth. Only animal-related
issues tore the green heart apart. Re-introducing wolves into
Yellowstone National Park where they kill elk and deer--now that was a
tough one.
 The new consciousness about climate change complicates everything.
It's no longer good enough to recycle the plastic your bottled water
came in. Now you may well feel guilty that the water was shipped to
you--consuming fossil fuels--from Fiji. Organizing a campaign to clean
up roadside litter may be a good thing to do. But if any driving is
involved, it also increases your locality's carbon footprint.
 The frustration for policy makers--at least those who take global
warming seriously--is that there's little data available to help weigh
the trade-offs. D.C.'s recycling day surely prevented lots of lead,
mercury and other toxins from leaching into ground water. Was it worth
all the carbon dioxide that my car and all the others spewed into the
atmosphere? Maybe. It's hard to know.


BLOOMBERG FIGHTS ON

Speaking of environmentalism and traffic jams, New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg's plan for congestion pricing in Manhattan may be dead, but
the rest of his "sustainable streets" initiative is moving forward.
Some of it is a clever packaging of programs that other cities are
already doing well, such as bus-rapid transit (Los Angeles) and
creating more bike lanes (Portland). But there are some novel
aspirations in Bloomberg's scheme that other cities should pay
attention to.
 For example, the plan's overriding philosophy is that streets aren't
just conduits for automobile traffic but public places. A
demonstration of that approach is coming where Broadway meets 5th
Avenue--a major crossroads best known for the Flatiron Building
sitting at one end of it. The intersection is a mess of asphalt and a
pedestrian nightmare. This summer, the city's department of
transportation is going to redesign it, reclaiming underutilized parts
of the roadway for a pedestrian plaza while rationalizing traffic flow
for cars.
 Other aspects of the plan include the sensible, if difficult, goal of
reducing traffic fatalities by 50 percent; raising street-parking fees
to increase turnover of spaces; using more recycled asphalt; and
adopting a travel policy for DOT employees that puts "travel
avoidance" above driving, riding transit or even walking and biking.

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