The Public Purpose

COMMENTARY


#1: International Competitive Tendering in Urban Transport
#2: The Imperative for Competition in Government
#3: US Federal Employee Pay is Above Market
#4: Federal Mandates: Restoring Constitutional Principles
#5: Competitive Contracting for More Efficient & Effective Government

#6: Amtrak: How to Rescue US Passenger Rail Service from Gov't Failure
#7: US Urban Transport Labor Law Favors Employees over Riders
#8: Controlling the Demand for Taxes
#9: What is The Public Purpose?
#10: Living Wage Ordinances: Violating Equal Protection

#11: Urban Transport: From Theory to Reality
#12: Toronto Megacity: Projecting the Amalgamation Tax
#13: The New Urbanism: The Other Side (with Links)
#14: Public Transport in the US: The Imperative for Reform
#15: Competition in Public Transport: International State of the Art

#16: Urban Rail in America: Exorbitant Costs & Negligible Benefits
#17: Florida High Speed Rail: Tax Financed Junk Bonds
#18: US Public School & Private Schools Compared
#19: ISTEA's Proposed TIFIA: The Next S&L Style Bailout?

#20: Large Infrastructure Project Forecasts: Major Inaccuracies
#21: The Excess Cost of Government Employment in the US
#22: Cradle of Liberty No More: The Philadelphia Transit Strike
#23: US Urban Rail: Miniscule Impact on Traffic Congestion
#24: Amtrak, Passenger Rail and Federal Policy: A Return to the Basics

#25: Urban Rail Not Justified (Invited Engineering News Record Column)
#26: US Streets and Highways: User Fees and Subsidies: The Difference
#27: Mythical Underpinnings: The Crusade Against Urban Sprawl
#28 So Called "Smart Growth" Will Stunt Growth
#29 Portland Urban Policies Not for Atlanta

#30 Highways and Prosperity
#31 Interstate 2000: Improvement for the Next Millenium
#32 Reflections on Labor Day
#33 Pro-Choice with Respect to Urban Development
#34 Does Transit Work? (000117)

#35 Light Rail and Traffic Congestion (000317)
#36 Roadways: Competitive Provision (000423)
#37 Sic Transit Light Rail: Al Gore's Anti-Auto Boondoggle (000720)
#38 Hong Kong Rail Expansion: The Need to Avoid Western Policies (000729)
#39 Time for Open & Honest Debate in Atlanta: Atlanta Journal Op-ed (000802)

#40 Living Wage, Dying City: St. Louis (001222)
#41 Doubling Public Transport Ridership in the US: Impossible Task? (001228)
#42 A Hierarchy: Government Products & Services and the Market (010216)
#43 Individual Ownership: Bedrock of Modern Affluence (010404)
#44 Light Rail: The Answer to No Problem (010517)

#45 Commuter Rail Not Cost Effective: Atlanta Journal Op-ed (20010717)
#46 Bus Rapid Transit Less Expensive & Faster than Light Rail: USGAO (200101003)
#47 Reforming National Passenger Rail Service for the Riders and Taxpayers (20011110)
#48 Amtrak Subsidies in Context: Myth and Reality (20011114)
#49 Juvenile Logic: Senators Schumer and Torticelli on Amtrak (20020625)

#50 Dallas (DART) Transit Losses: Policy Implications (20020720)
#51 Lying About Project Costs: Implications for Florida High-Speed Rail (20020721)
#52 Turnip Trucks, Madison Commuter Rail & the Sierra Club (20021023)
#53 Anti-Sprawl Policies: Hazardous to Our Wealth (20030116)
#54 Auto Competitive Transit Service? Not Even in a Snow Storm (20030125)

#55 London on the Eve of Congestion Charging (20030215)
#56 Portland: Smart Growth Champion (20030312)
#57 How Higher Densities Make Traffic Worse (20030513)
#58 Transit: The Politician's Best Friend (20030517)
#59 The London Congestion Charge: Cautions (20030531)

#60 Loss of 177 Light Rail Projects Threatens L.A. Transportation Funding (20030606)
#61 Reauthorization: What's the Point? (20030610)
#62 Mag-Lev: Time for a Decent Burial (20030610)
#63 More and More Traffic: Reconciling Smart Growth and Traffic (20030610)
#64 Turning Point in Portland? (20030625)

#65 Los Angeles MTA Can't Count (20030704)
#66 More Maternity Wards Make Babies: The Milwaukee Freeway Debate (20030704)
#67 If Money Grew on Trees.. Flyvbjerg on Infrastructure Lying - The Public Purpose #67 (20030706)
#68 The Illusion of Transporation Choice: Service for the Elites - The Public Purpose #68 (20030816)
#69 The Reauthorization Roadblock - The Public Purpose #69 (20030816)

#70 Opiate of the Planners: 13 Myths of Urban Sprawl: Public Purpose #70 (20030818)
#71 Livability: The How-It-Never-Was Illusion: The Public Purpose #70 (20030818)
#72 Texas Transportation Institute Data: Traffic Trends Worse in Portland: The Public Purpose #72 (20031018)
        Portland's N.W. 23rd --- Not a Model (Environment & Climate News)
#73 The California Budget: Terminating the Power of Special Interests: The Public Purpose #73 (20030212)
#74 Portland Economic Growth Noose Loosened (Urban Growth Boundary): The Public Purpose #74 (20030214)
        Ceaucescu: Father of Smart Growth: The Heartland Institute (200400214)
#75 Transit & Soundwall Spending Deosn't Reduce Traffic Congestion (20030530)

#76 "Fidel Gives Us Candy": Of Charettes, Visioning and Contrivance (20040606)
#77 Double Secret Probation: The University of British Columbia Atlanta Driving and Obesity Study (20040608)
#78 Not So Grande Montreal: Despite Barriers Voters Strike Blow for Democracy (20040620)
#79 Sloganeering Hawaii Mayors Sell Transit Blather (20040623)
#80 US Metropolitan Growth 2000-2003: More of the Same (20040625)

#81 The Freeways/Urban Decline Myth: Collision of Theory and Reality (20040706)
#82 Providence: Least Sprawling Metropolitan Area in the USA (20040807)
#82A Colorado Springs Sprawls Less than Portland (20040807)
#83 Costs of Sprawl Measured in Benefits? (20040810)
#84 Washington Metro Quarter Century: Billions for Transit & More Congestion (20040807)
#85 Too Little Too Late: Sydney Loosens Noose on Strangled Housing Market (20041214)

#86 The Melbourne 2030 Plan: A Far Too Timid Vision (20050331)
#87 London's Congestion Charge: Separating the Hype from the Reality (20050607)
#88 Sprawl Costs: Toward a Nation of Renters (20051115)
#89 Dump the Rhetoric: Transit's Misleading Public Relations Barrage (20060603)

To facilitate the ideal of government as the servant of the people by identifying and implementing
strategies to achieve public purposes at a cost that is no higher than necessary.
(c) 1994-2006 www.publicpurpose.com --- Wendell Cox Consultancy (Demographia) --- Permission granted to use with attribution.