USC has a beautiful, compact campus in the middle of Los Angeles. Here is a picture of some lovely flowers putting on a show for passersby.
Day: April 13, 2010
CP&DR on Elizabeth Currid and the Buzz
Using Paparazzi For Planning | Planetizen Radar covers a talk my colleague, Elizabeth Currid, gave recently on her new book, Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity. Take a look (and pre-order! I did!)
The City Fix Coverage of Delhi’s Rickshaws
A Day Without Auto Rickshaws: Inconvenience, Intimidation and Corruption | TheCityFix.com is a nice story demonstrating the important role played by the jitney and taxi services in urban transport, particularly in mega-cities. Yet, the working conditions and compensation offered to the actual labor for this system is exploitative.
So what’s the answer? Peter Gordon and I are argue about this point, as I do think a base level of safety regulation is a good idea for jitneys; they should have seat belts and licensed drivers at least. Peter correctly points out that more freedom you allow drivers, the better off they are and the more mobility they can supply, and passengers benefit from price and service competition. Here seems a pretty clear case of destructive unions; drivers would be better off without the unions, and they are probably better off without the type of controls the city seems to be considering.