Cities at the Edge of Never
EDITOR NOTE: Most of this piece was written before news broke that the Supreme Court is likely to strike down Roe v. Wade. That is the big news of the week. I’m a straight white male, I’m not who you should or want to read on that. Check out these pieces instead, and read this useful guide on digital security and protest/reproductive rights/general online security. And now, on with the regular newsletter.
In March, The Appeal did a major dive into how pandemic relief money meant to help with public health infrastructure was used. Turns out the majority of those funds ended up in the hands of police. Sam Levin at The Guardian took a deeper look at California cities and found how much was given to police instead of public health programs. Now ask yourself, how much of that money could have gone toward testing programs? Food delivery for the elderly, disabled, immunocompromised, etc? Also, didn't police and pro-punitive measures politicians insist that police were actually being defunded, not landing on windfalls?
Society, if we actually invested in public services and infrastructure.
Life is strange in cities right now. Beyond the easing of whatever miniscule COVID health restrictions there were (seriously, not enough was done that could have saved lives, but people insist there are crushing, oppressive rules in place even as people go to concerts and parties), there's been a bit of a trend of big measures to overhaul or innovate city life, even as some basic public services get ignored or abused. By now you've likely seen the video in March of a Tesla accelerating up a steep hill in Los Angeles' Echo Park neighborhood, jumping over the top and crashing on the downhill. It was a stupid TikTok stunt (the guy behind the wheel is apparently bragging about it online). A few days later, only a few miles away, a car killed a cyclist in the Cypress Park area. The crash was only a couple hundred yards from the brand new cyclist bridge over the Los Angeles River that opened March. Said opening was by invitation only, cyclists going down the river's bike paths were blocked and in a prime example of missing the moment the officials who attended the event arrived by car.
I bring up both incidents because it ties into how we view improving a city. Chances are you're reading this from a metropolitan area; despite the agrarian, anti-urban framing of so many political ads, the majority of people live in urban areas. And lately it feels like there's been an abdication on bold, universal efforts to improve the quality of city life. Real, universal improvements that take an investment now for long-term gains. Instead, it's been a retreat by leaders, trying to gloss over failures in the public sphere, with the private world exploits public infrastructure. On one end of that it's the stupid Tesla jump. On the other it's wider corporate models that depend on sidewalks, roads, etc. being available to leave scooters and other items around.
There's been a spate of ambitious, one-simple-trick ideas aimed at revolutionizing cities, instead of long-term, not as sexy solutions. Tunnels. Aerial gondolas. Corporate-planned communities. Crypto. Putting cities on the blockchain. Public services reinvented by private companies to exclude working class and poor people. But these ideas won't improve the lives of everyone in cities, and we have to consider who the designers think deserves to live in these spaces.
It's a shame because even in the face and aftermath of real tragedies, there's not solution. Remember a year ago when the condo building in Surfside, Florida collapsed, killing 98 people? The state government failed to pass new safety measures in early March. Even after a highly visible tragedy where the greed and flaws in the system were aired amid outrage and sadness, better inspections and safety regulations couldn't succeed.
Back in 2020, Alex Pareene (whose newsletter is fantastic, I recommend it) wrote an interesting proposal for The New Republic: What if Democrats promised to make things work? Well what if elected officials promised and followed through on improving conditions in cities, and funding well-liked, beneficial policies instead of pursuing miracle plans or fads? What if there had been a well-funded and maintained network of public handwashing stations in the early months of the pandemic? That could have saved some lives.
It's not as if the answer lies in the private sector. Seriously, it doesn't. In February news came out that Disney was looking to build a planned community for fans in Rancho Mirage, California. It would basically be a community styled and designed by Disney's resorts division, as a concept of “storyliving.” That got a lot of excitement, and some Disney fans threw out ideas with various Mouse-branded home ideas. Except Disney has already done this before. It was news to me, but reading up on Celebration, Florida was a trip. A Disney-planned community where houses had leaking roofs, mold and other issues so much so that there was a civil suit in 2016 (to be fair, Disney divested most of its control after building the community; the homes and building issues remain a real concern however).
The other big idea out there has been cities partnering with Elon Musk's tunneling company to build car tunnels underground. Listen, if these actually did reduce congestion, carbon emissions and headaches, I'd be willing to give them a good chance. It doesn't seem like it.
Honestly as someone with mild claustrophobia, this gives me nightmares. How do you get out in the event the tunnel is blocked?
Another “revolutionary idea” has been stuck in my head ever since I read about it last year. It feels almost like a parody. The Saudi government proposed “The Line,” a community designed as a 106-mile-long line. Why a line? Apparently it helps organize the city, so that essential services like schools are only 5 minutes apart. They've already started moving earth for this. Will it actually work? Who knows. Ordos was a ghost city for years. We'll see. But it is a strange idea. A brand new big, expensive city.
Why not improve the spaces we already live in? We know what these places need to be more equitable and resilient in the face of climate change. Electric buses on rapid routes, more bike shares, increased green space, shade from the worsening heat, protected bike lanes, these are things that not only improve the quality of life, they're what people demand. Instead of punitive measures, such as sicking cops on fare dodgers on the New York City subway, why not expand transit options? The cost of deploying cops vastly outweighs the money lost. Elon Musk's tunnels suffer traffic jams and he has apparently not heard of trains.
What's the alternative? We're already seeing it. Cities where people are forced out due to high costs, forced to commute by car further damaging the planet. Cities where wealthy people are holed up in enclaves protected by private security that feeds off paranoia of the middle class (and these are just the firms we know about). Crumbling roads and bridges. Little preparation for the next big disaster.
Or we could just make cities universally better for everyone.
Today's Panic Links
Speaking of poor local governance, the very program designed to protect pedestrians and cyclists in Los Angeles is understaffed, per a new report at KPCC/LAist.
During the protests against the Roe news this week in Los Angeles, Department of Homeland Security forces deployed against protestors, several blocks from the federal courthouse. Why? Kevin Rector at the L.A. Times looked into it.
Also, I’m back at Paste Magazine, writing about the massive identity crisis in Marvel’s Moon Knight show. The series had no idea what it wanted to be, even at the end, leaving a very disjointed set of episodes.
And in employment news, I have a new job! I join Task & Purpose next week as their weekend editor. I am beyond thrilled to have a steady journalism job again. I did some writing for them the other weekend (including writing about the Ghost of Kyiv, who is not real, officially). This newsletter will still continue, and I hope to keep doing local reporting and arts writing. But look for my pieces every weekend at Task & Purpose.
Today's Panic Music
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists’ “Bottled in Cork” has been on rotation in my playlists lately. It makes a good song to have a drink to.