Climate Change and Inequality. Two Issues for the 21st Century.

Josh Cohen. Next City.

Elizabeth Bauerle is a research scientist at the University of Washington’s medical center. To get from her home in the north Seattle suburb of Shoreline to her job on the Seattle campus, she can either drive or take two buses.

Like all of us, Bauerle weighs cost, convenience and personal values in deciding how she’ll travel to work. She says the two-bus trip can take as much 20 to 30 minutes longer than driving. That time difference would matter less to Bauerle if she wasn’t paying for the bus out of pocket, but the cost plus time has her grabbing the car keys most mornings, joining the roughly 34 percent of University of Washington employees who drive alone.

Bauerle is part of a campaign to try and change that equation for employees like herself. UW Pass or Fail — a new campaign lead by a broad coalition including university employees, the Seattle Transit Riders Union, 350 Seattle, SEIU Local 925 and others — is pushing the University of Washington to fully cover the cost of transit passes. Currently, university faculty and staff can get an unlimited transit pass for $50 a month. Though that’s nearly half the normal $99 cost for an unlimited monthly regional transit pass, the campaign argues that as a state employer with tens of thousands of employees, the University of Washington is lagging behind other state employers, Seattle universities, hospitals and large companies that provide employees with free transit passes.

Link to the rest here.

Images and Research. Zach Neal.

Image One. Flickr. 

Image Two. Google Street Views.

Thank you for reading.

Editorial Notes.

What would happen if, in a city like Sarnia, a college town, one of 72,000 people, with a newly-diversifying economy and a college that attracts hundreds if not thousands of international students, should provide free transit to all and sundry? While the city would have to forgo certain revenues, there would be some cost savings in the fact that no one would be required to collect, account and audit such revenues. Bear in mind, this system is never profitable, it requires big subsidies every year. What's another thirty percent? That is the big question. And yet the actual benefits, would be inestimable--think of all those foreign students, going home when they have finished school, and telling anyone who would listen about this town in Ontario, Canada, where they have free transit. And they're not going bankrupt, they're actually doing pretty well.

(But if it requires big subsidies, why do they do it at all? - ed.)

There is a distinct possibility that these well-educated. middle-class students would impel some sort of similar program in their own home town or city.

According to the article, there are only a couple of hundred cities in the world doing this sort of thing at the present time. And they're not going bankrupt--they're actually doing pretty well.

One could see ridership tripling, with a resulting increase in simple efficiency. There would be a reduction in overall road traffic, less noise and congestion, less pollution. This would also result in savings due to decreased wear and tear on municipal thoroughfares.

Think of all the folks on social assistance, clients of ODSP who can never go and walk on a beach, because of the prohibitive cost of public transit, and the fact that their ODSP pension is thirty-five to forty percent below the poverty line. And in many cases, the landlord is taking a major proportion of that in rent. The sheer number of people working minimum-wage jobs makes this one kind of a no-brainer, hopefully our city will take a look at it in the interest of reducing inequality, and making this city a more attractive place for that young. sometimes cash-strapped entrepreneurial class that is so important in the diversification of our local economy.

This, is a really interesting idea.

Zach Neal for Wit Ventures.

Canatara Beach Earns One of Sarnia-Lambton Blue Flag Designations.

From Stephanie Schaves.

Four Lambton waterfront beaches are once again flying the prestigious Blue Flag.

Canatara Beach will fly the Blue Flag again this summer, for the fifth year in a row.

Grand Bend Beach, Grand Bend Marina and Port Franks Marina in Lambton Shores also made the list again this year.

Tourism Sarnia-Lambton spokesperson Kyle Morrison says the Blue Flag status has led to an increase in the number of visitors.

“It’s really a marker that this beach is clean, it meets a certain set of safety criteria and there’s also amenities that it offers as well,” says Morrison.

Link to the rest here.

Images: Zach Neal. Google maps.

Notes. After hearing about this on local radio, roving Wit Ventures photographer Zach Neal went down and had a look. While the whole of Canatara beach is only a kilometre long, there is a certain feeling there, deserted as it is, in the slanting light of a sparkling spring morning. That feeling is one of serenity, or zen.

It is the sort of place that a person can breathe, and to know that one is alive—and to be alive is good.

Zach smashed this with PAINT and Pixlr.

The water’s a bit cold yet, but it’s a nice place to have a coffee and count the boats on the horizon—this morning, there were thirteen at one point, including one laker coming in from the north, one cabin-cruiser coming up out of the St. Clair River, and the rest were all local sport-fishermen hunting the big salmon, trout, pickerel and other tasty game fish.

In the Google maps image, the wreck of an old ship can be seen, (centre-left). At one time there were at least three down there, perhaps the others have been obliterated by time and the waves, ice and storms. Back in the sixties, the big wooden beam of the fore-peak of one such vessel stuck up out of the water, and people used to swim out, climb it, and then dive off again.

It’s just the sort of thing you remember.

Thank you for reading.

Mud Room Project, Part Two.

So, the sheathing is done, the windows are in. The door didn't even have glass in it last time we blogged about it. The Duke says he'll be roughing in the electrical today. At some point, he'll have the door side (the east elevation) covered with vinyl siding, and then they can shove the porch back in. Keeping the old porch saves a bit of money. For the most part, people are coming and going by the front door, and of course the basement apartment has a separate entrance.

What was a mud room, (or boot room if you prefer) for many years, will become an adjunct to Shirley's country kitchen, which was already pretty big. It was something of a challenge to take out the old mud room, which was dragging down on the rest of the structure, while saving the roof and shingles, which would have added time (labour at x-dollars per hour) and materials to the project.

At the same time, it had to be safe and feasible, and not take too much time in its own right.

The previous room had a frosted window from an interior bathroom, a bench, coat-hooks, a brick wall on what was an exterior wall before, there was a small fridge, and it was basically cold, dark, and kind of dirty. It had never been upgraded, not for many years at least. 

It is, in fact, the last room in the house to be redone since owners Ron and Shirley took possession.

#projects

The interior has to be complete by June 8, or they miss out on certain government rebates.

With upgrades to windows and doors, a certain R-value on the insulation, there will be an improvement in energy efficiency. The old room had a single, old-fashioned light fixture in the ceiling, period insulation and vapour barrier, and we’re probably looking at new LED fixtures as well. Built on top of an old concrete and block porch with inadequate foundations, the whole thing was sinking into the ground.

When the skirting boards are done underneath, The Duke will obviously have to make sure the patio interlocking stones come in nice and tight.

The east elevation needs a fascia board in addition to whatever cladding it needs, as well as an eaves-trough.

Also needed are some fascia, metal or plastic, and soffits under both sides of the roof overhang, probably ventilated. I don't know what happened to the bathroom vent, which should be up on the gable end.

Maybe he just hasn't cut the hole yet. In the previous post, it was clearly visible and he had preserved it for that very reason. In terms of the interior, the electrical device boxes and wiring have to go in, then the drywall goes in, floor and ceiling. 

That will have to be mudded and sanded, as they say in the drywall biz.

After that, flooring, trim, paint, putting in receptacles and light switches, possibly a small ceiling fan, all the finishing touches that go into making what is admittedly, one small and single new room, and a fairly simple one at that.

But, whole thing seems to be coming along nicely, especially now that the weather has improved.

 

Images. Zach Neal.

Thank you for reading.