Bacon's Rebellion

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LEARNING FROM THE EU

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by

James A. Bacon
in

There is a lot we could learn from the Europeans, especially about energy and the environment, the subject of our last column as well as today’s column at Bacon’s Rebellion.

One topic is vocabulary. We talk about “linking land use and transportation” and “balancing transport system capacity with settlement pattern travel demand.”

In the EU they are talking about “breaking the link between economic prosperity (aka, growth) and the growth of transport (infrastructure).

Today’s WaPo Metro Section (“Land-Use Studies Crucial, Kaine Says: State to Measure Impact of Projects“) give hope that Tim was listening three years ago.

Expanding and refining the words used might help shift the trajectory of dysfunction towards a sustainable course.

EMR

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5 responses to “LEARNING FROM THE EU”

  1. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    Ed,

    Let me play devil’s advocate. With a couple of exceptions, Europe’s economic growth is pretty bad. It’s governments spend too much, are too large and impose way too much regulation, while often protecting inefficient businesses. Europe seems to me to be a good example of what not to be.

    Having said that, I was cheered by Kaine’s remarks to move back into land use issues. The VDOT study for Loudoun County was a good thing. I would, however, like to know why he generally ran from them last year to join the “let’s pave Virginia” crowd. His support for higher taxes and more spending by VDOT flies in the face of the state auditor’s report that found VDOT lacks cost controls and that the CTB funds whatever projects can be lobbyied through its members without regard to cost or benefit based economic and engineering data. I think that our Governor owes us some explanation in this area.

    Moreover, I was troubled by another Post article (Sunday, 8/27) that suggested Scott Kasprowicz, a deputy VDOT commissioner who also owns real estate in Reston near the proposed Silver Line, has been involved in evaluating and recommending that project. If true, this seems like a very significant conflict in interest — even for Virginia. Mr. Kasprowicz’s former association with PEC and his campaign contributions to Kaine (and the many other large contributions made by West Group, its affiliates and principals, along with other big Tysons landowners) seem par for the course. Campaign finance reform, anyone?

    Finally, I wonder whether the Governor would also support a similar traffic study, to what was done for Loudoun, to examine the impact of the proposed zoning changes and comprehensive plan amendments for Tysons Corner. Members of the Providence District Council, a large community organization in Fairfax County, have roughly estimated that, even with the Silver Line, the added density would create around twice as many new car trips as would the proposed 28,000 new houses in Loudoun County.

  2. E M Risse Avatar
    E M Risse

    TMT:

    You are very right about the rate of economic “growth.”

    No one will defend over-bureaucratic governance. However, they (for example Italy) have done a far better job of restructuring the levels of governance to match the components of contemporary settlement patterns.

    In general the governments in the EU have been more concerned with the majority of citizens being happy and safe and less concerned with a small percentage very well off and thus driving up consumption and “growth.”

    Considering the issues addressed in our last two columns, who will be better off in 10 or 15 years?

    As noted in our “Soft Consumption Paths” column, the EU per capita consumption of non-renewable resources has been flat since 1973 and skyrocketed in the US of A.

    I did not suggest we should do what they have done, I said there was a lot we could learn from them, like evolving a more robust and descriptive vocabulary.

    On your other notes, we will just have to see what happens on the gorund.

    EMR

  3. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    I can’t believe you are pointing to the Italians as how to run a government. Haven’t they had like, 110 “governments” since the war? Don’t they have 30 political parties, each claiming to be the one true religion? Isn’t their traffic legendary? (Although, I have seen it argued that by abandoning their traffic to chaos they actually achieve better flow than with our overregulated system.)

    I own shares in a stock fund that is the European equivalent of and S&P 500 index in the states. My 500 index has run the European version into the ground for the last fifteen years. I don’t see any indication the next fifteen will be any better. If it’s a proxy for how happy people are, I’d just as soon not be that happy. It doesn’t seem that the French are particularly overjoyed, either.

    On the other hand, Europeans do actually enjoy some services from their governments for the high taxes they pay. They seem to be spending a lot less on war, lately.

    One reason they use less renewable resources is that they have a lot more nuclear power, I think. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.

  4. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    I was/am amused that a pro growth group used the Freedom of Info act to get info that showed that the Kaine folks had a hand in the VDOT study and HORRORs had an AGENDA.

    And so this “proved” that Kaine and company were “interfering” with localities and developers who really would prefer that the traffic impacts of an additional 28,000 homes NOT be published in the newspaper (better for it to remain inside of folder at the planning office – available upon request of course).

    In other words – it’s none of VDOT and the Governor’s business.. so stay out of it.

    If Loudoun county wants to build 28K more homes… it’s nobodies business but their own.

    Besides.. if this stuff actually makes its way into public awareness, somebody is eventually going to ask – “well, HOW are we going to improve our roads to handle this increased traffic”?

    My point is that most folks are clueless about the fact that each home generates (on average) 10 auto trips a day. 28K new homes translates into 280,000 new auto trips a day.

    If you want to judge what this means – consider that this is MORE than I-95 and I-395 including the Wilson Bridge.

    I don’t think the study can or should be used to justify “no growth” type responses but I think it does put on the table the realities associated with growth and the fact that with no additional transportation money and/or changes in the ways that we grow that the future is dismal.

    And a not good outcome could occur if the result is that big projects that have big impacts get turned down and the same level of growth occurs anyhow with much smaller projects that cannot easily be master-planned to reduce impacts.

  5. Ray Hyde Avatar
    Ray Hyde

    Let’s be clear about what ten trips a day means. If I go to work and stop for coffee on the way nad milk on the way back, that counts as four trips.

    But you are right, no matter how you slice it those 28,000 residences are going to be creaated somewhere. No matter how you count the trips, more trips will happen. We are going to have to spend more money, and not just on transportation.

    What evidence have we got, anywhere, that master planning reduces impacts? At best, all it does is determine who gets the windfall that comes with permission. The convention center was supposed to revitalize downtown Washington. It has long since been demolished and now the new plan is the stadium.

    TMT is right, let’s study the Tyson’s plan, and see what it projects. If the study says that putting metro and a lot more new development there will reduce congestion, then that will be a study that flies in the face of experience.

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