Christopher Swope

Recent Articles

• Mississippl's Urbanist Odyssey
• Sep 1, 2006
• The ravaged Gulf Coast has a rare opportunity to recreate itself. But it has to decide what it wants to look like.

• Fuel on the Fire
• Aug 31, 2006
• When it comes to disaster preparedness, sometimes you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't. Just ask the folks in storm-wary south ...
• 4 Comments

• Urinalgate
• Aug 29, 2006
• You could forgive Maryland Guv hopeful Martin O'Malley if Watergate crossed his mind. It seems an intruder broke into his Baltimore campaign office the other ...
• 4 Comments

• Bad Reefers
• Aug 23, 2006
• Sinking ships, airplanes or even piles of rocks in the ocean to form aritificial reefs is a good idea. My dad, an avid SCUBA diver ...

• Not So Sharpe
• Aug 21, 2006
• We gave you a Heads Up about this a little earlier, but it deserves a little more discussion. You can hardly blame Sharpe James. He ...

• Pension Woes Mounting?
• Aug 21, 2006
• My "pension doom ahead" folder is bursting with clips lately. E.J. McMahon, writing in today's WSJ (paid subsc), argues that public pension ...
• 2 Comments

• More Bobbletower Fun
• Aug 17, 2006
• Thanks to one of our readers for pointing out that the famous Leaning Tower of Sioux Falls, SD, the undemolishable ZIP Feed mill, is now ...

• The Governor of Seattle
• Aug 11, 2006
• D.C. United, our hometown soccer club, played Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw the other night in a match played in Seattle. ...

• Sensationalism on Parade
• Aug 9, 2006
• Most Sunday mornings when I read the newspaper, my issue of Parade Magazine goes straight into the garbage can, along with all the other stuff ...
• 8 Comments

• Gulf Coast Day 5: The Wake in Waveland
• Jul 21, 2006
• There is so much destruction up and down the Mississippi coast that you can become inured to the sight of bombed out buildings and concrete ...

• Gulf Coast Day 4: Big Box Bonanza
• Jul 20, 2006
• Like many of the towns along Mississippi's Gulf Coast, Gulfport has fallen in love with New Urbanism since Katrina. The city has held a series ...
• 2 Comments

• Gulf Coast Day 3: Don't Leave Me High, Don't Leave Me Dry
• Jul 19, 2006
• Biloxi Councilman George Lawrence took me for a drive through his ward yesterday. It's a U-shaped gerrymander around the point of East Biloxi, where people ...

• Gulf Coast Day 2: Well Hedged
• Jul 18, 2006
• Biloxi is a town that likes a good bet. Before Katrina, the city was pulling in $20 million a year in revenue from casinos. But how's ...

• Gulf Coast Day 1: A Tale of Two Cities
• Jul 17, 2006
• I'll be down on the Gulf Coast all week, working on a year-after Katrina story. I'm focusing more on Mississippi (Rob Gurwitt drew the Louisiana ...
• 4 Comments

• Pee in a Cup. Right Now.
• Jul 14, 2006
• How's this for a double dog dare? Bridgeport, Conn., Mayor John Fabrizi,  who not long ago confessed to a coke habit, declares that he's ...
• 6 Comments