Publictransportation.org

Riding public transportation saves individuals, on average, $9,381 annually and $782 per month based on the August 10, 2010 average national gas price ($2.78 per gallon- reported by AAA) and the national unreserved monthly parking rate. Riding public transit as an alternative to driving is a proven way for individuals to cut monthly and yearly transportation costs while also reducing their carbon footprint.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) releases this monthly “Transit Savings Report” to examine how an individual in a two-person household can save money by taking public transportation and living with one less car. The national average for a monthly unreserved parking space in a downtown business district is $154.23, according to the 2009 Colliers International Parking Rate Study. Over the course of a year, parking costs for a vehicle can amount to an average of $1,850.

The top 20 cities with the highest transit ridership are ranked in order of their transit savings based on the purchase of a monthly public transit pass and factoring in local gas prices for August 10, 2010 and the local monthly unreserved parking rate.*

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The Huffington Post

Labor Day has come and gone again with all its incongruities. It is a day when we celebrate laborers and the work ethic… by taking a day off. It’s a national day of leisure where we heap well-deserved praise on workers, many of them working all around us, many of them right there working to help us enjoy this very national holiday.

Despite extensive television and print advertising showing the ecstatic faces of school children of all ages preparing for the new academic year by purchasing shoes and electronics, kids of all ages were depressed yesterday. I was always depressed on Labor Day and, come on, almost everyone else was too. Summer is over. Labor begins. Teachers are even more depressed. I know, I come from a teaching family. It has been this way for the more than 100 years since Labor Day began.

While many have a holiday, Labor Day is a work day for the arts. Dancers dance. Musicians make music. Performances and festivals, and nightclub acts, and arts centers, are generally all open for business. And the artists and arts administrators needed for the magic are right there to make the magic happen as they are every day.

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Yes! Magazine

Imagine a no-holds-barred “summit” that comes up with ideas to solve both our job and environmental problems. What might it come up with?

As the midterm political season heats up, one word on every politician’s lips is “jobs.” And for good reason. People are hurting—they can’t pay their mortgages, send their kids to college, pay their dental bills. Young people are wondering if they have a place in the work world.

So the economic pundits cheer when car sales go up, housing starts rise, consumer confidence strengthens. But as the oily ooze in the Gulf tars yet another beach, we all sense something is terribly wrong. We can’t keep tearing up the planet to keep ourselves employed. There must be another way.

So—imagine a no-holds-barred “summit” that comes up with ideas to solve both our job and environmental problems. What might it come up with?

View the list and submit your own ideas

The New York Times

The James, a sleekly designed hotel rising over Grand Street in SoHo, will open for business on Wednesday with all the support staff a guest could expect: a concierge, receptionists, bellhops, chambermaids, parking valets.

All that, and one helping hand a guest might not expect: a hotel art curator.

Hotels have been hanging fine art on their walls for decades now. Ian Schrager commissioned a series ofRobert Mapplethorpe prints for what is considered the original boutique hotel, the Morgans, in 1984; the Roger Smith, a small property in Midtown Manhattan, transformed its lobby into an art gallery and performance space as part of a 1991 renovation.

But few have gone so far as the James, which hired a young artist, Matthew Jensen, to select original artworks to adorn each of its 14 floors of guest rooms.

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Maddux Report

Tampa City Council unanimously adopted an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan that defines the guidelines for Transit Oriented Development for the City of Tampa.  “I applaud your vision, and that of Mayor Iorio, leading the way with a new standard for urban development and infill that will facilitate a more livable and sustainable Tampa and region.” said Planning Commission Executive Director Robert B. Hunter, FAICP.  “This plan amendment has received unprecedented support by the public and private sectors, business community, civic groups and neighborhoods.  This action can be attributed to the combined efforts of the City of Tampa and the Planning Commission working together with the State Department of Community Affairs to ensure state compliance.  Tampa is shovel-ready for private and public development initiatives.”

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