Video: Courtesy Streetfilms. 10 finalists in New York City's bike rack design competition are having their creations street-tested: prototypes have been installed at Astor Place. They're all pretty neat in one way or another, and it would be great to have any one of them become the official NYC bike rack and well distributed around the city. We're hard up here for good bike parking.
While I've been off tending to non-blog things, news has continued to bubble up, boil over, and froth all around our collective feet. Lots is getting lost in the unrelenting coverage of the Wall Street meltdown. I'll try to save a few stories from the dustheap, below.
Much distinction is being drawn between the concerns of Main Street ("regular" America) and Wall Street (Rich Uncle Milburn Pennybags) -- and how improbable it seems to be to people that the former is going to melt if Big Finance burns. Lately I've been considering that, as Wall Street IS Main Street here in NYC, it's pretty much a win-win for me and my fellow New Yorkers to bail it out.
- Off-Shore Wind Power Set to Expand (Worldwatch Institute)
- Mayors 'Get It' on Climate Change (World Resources Institute)
- Global Seed Vault Now Accepting Seeds (Scientific American)
- Mars Lander Detects Falling Snow (BBC News) [[this has nothing to do with cities, the environment, or sustainability -- it's just very exciting news of more proof of water on Mars]]
- Xcel Energy to Convert Coal Station Into Clean Biomass Power Plant (Biopact) Google's Green Energy Futures Fund Could Save U.S. $1 Trillion (Treehugger) [[Good timing for Google: Now everyone knows we're going to need to save $1 trillion somewhere to make up for the Wall Street bailout]]
I wouldn't recognize some of those as bike racks. I'd think they were modern art sculptures. I think they need signs on them that say "Bike Rack"