75 MPG Car Coming to Canada

Will be marketed in Canada but not the US. I have driven these in Europe and would buy one if I could here. They make a lot of sense for getting around the urban area. You could take it up the elevator and park it in your foyer. 66-75 mpg raises my concerns about energy sustainability. But, of course those numbers wont be achieved in Canada, where there are neither gallons nor miles. (Wendell Cox)

Why Not Just Buy Them Cars

That US urban public transport costs per passenger mile are now four times that of the automobile raises an interesting concept. There may be ways to provide all low-income transit riders with cars, which could lead to higher incomes and more efficient labor markets. This thought exercise has become very popular on both sides of the political spectrum, though for different reasons.

Obese Portland Loosens Belt (Urban Growth Boundary)

Less than seven months after voters outlawed further neighborhood densification, Metro expandeded the urban growth boundary more than had been planned for the next 36 years (2040). Metro expanded the boundary farther in 2004. At the rate since 1995, the urban growth boundary is on track for sprawling beyond what had been projected if the area's so-called smart growth policies had never been adopted. However, the weight of regulation has already distorted the market and driven housing affordability down and traffic congestion has become the worst among medium sized urban areas.

Elusive Costs of Sprawl: 50 Years is Enough

The anti-sprawl movement claims that newer (more sprawling) communities have higher government costs than older (less sprawling) communities. However, an econometric analysis shows no practically significant difference in expenditures per capita between the two types of communities. Other factors explain the variation in municipal expenditures.

50 years of suburbanization would seem to be sufficient for the elusive costs of sprawl to reflect themselves in the actual data.