• The Bellows » Homes on the Cheap

  Housing price downturn hasn’t fixed or addressed the affordable housing crisis, and it would be a good thing if liberal/progressive policy makers engaged with the ideas of “conservatives” like Ed Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko, who advocate “a substantial increase in housing vouchers and federal measures to incentivize growth in housing supply in tight markets.”

  QUOTE
  What a lot of urban liberals are going to have to understand is that much of what they know is wrong. Low densities and excessive urban green space aren’t actually all that environmentally beneficial, since they act to reduce housing supply and shift population growth to places like exurban Houston, where the living is dirty (in an emissions sense). NIMBYs who fight development around transit may have good intentions, but they may as well be spending their time lobbying for new highways and coal plants. And suburbs, with their extensive, and very restrictive rules on land use and building use and design, act as heavy anchors preventing us from making housing more affordable, economies more dynamic, and carbon intensities lower.
  UNQUOTE

  And for pete’s sake, read the comments – great stuff in there.

  tags: ryan_avent, the_bellows, affordable_housing, housing, affordability, policy, edward_glaeser

• From magazine warehouse to a printing facility « Manifest Magazine

  Interesting idea by Manifest Magazine (Wahyd) to “replace” Cambridge MA’s Out of Town News (which will close 1/1/09) with a print-on-demand shop.

  Related to this: I left comments on Scripting.com and Doc Searls’ weblog (both had blogged this).

  tags: manifest_magazine, newspapers, business_model, harvard, cambridge_ma

• “Financial 9-1-1: Implications of the Economic Crisis – The UVic President’s Panel on the Economy”

  Podcast of the panel/symposium hosted by University of Victoria on 11/18/08 re. “Financial 9-1-1: Implications of the Economic Crisis – The UVic President’s Panel on the Economy”
  QUOTE
  How might the current economic crisis affect your house, your job, your future? Gain insight and a fresh perspective on the global financial crisis from this panel discussion featuring business, economic, and financial experts from UVic and the community.

  Speakers: Graham Voss, UVic, Associate Professor, Department of Economics
  Basma Majerbi, UVic, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Business
  Tom Siemens, RBC, Vice President Commercial Banking
  Robert Jawl, Jawl Properties, Principal
  Tony Gage, Head, JEA Pension System Solutions
  UNQUOTE

  Local perspective.

  tags: uvic, economy, financial_crisis, podcast, daily_splice, victoria

• CIBC World Markets – Economics & Strategy – Metropolitan Economic Activity

  QUOTE
  The CIBCWM Metropolitan Economic Activity Index

  Using 9 key macroeconomic variables, we have developed a metropolitan index of economic activity, which is structured in a way that approximates the change in each city’s level of economic activity. With data going back for almost 10 years, our index enables us not only to monitor the current performance of a given city but also to track its cyclical behavior against the national economy and other census metropolitan areas (CMAs). The focus is on the 25 largest CMAs in Canada.

  The macro variables used to develop the index are: (1) Population growth, (2) Employment growth, (3) Unemployment rate, (4) Full-time share in total employment, (5) Personal bankruptcy rate, (6) Business bankruptcy rate, (7) Housing starts, (8) MLS Housing resales, and (9) Non-Residential building permits. We combined all the above information into one index per city: “The CIBCWM Metropolitan Economic Activity Index”1.
  UNQUOTE

  The link to the synopsis (Metro Monitor – Canadian Cities: An Economic Snapshot 12/17/08) is on this page (PDF) :
  http://research.cibcwm.com/economic_public/download/metro_monitor.pdf (6 pages)

  tags: cibc, canada, metros, census_metropolitan_areas, economy, world_markets, markets

• Newspaper revenues to plummet in 2009 says new study

  QUOTE
  Newspaper revenues in 2009 will plummet while online revenue will grow, states Preview 2009 – a survey of 400 daily newspaper executives by Toronto-based marketing research firm Kubas Consultants.

  The online survey of both US and Canadian newspapers, of all sizes, revealed that more executives projected a downward spiral rather than increases in seven out of eight ad revenue categories -including employement classifieds, the “next disaster area,” at – 16% projected change, says the report. While online ad revenues appear to grow at 13.6%, automotive and real estate classifieds, among other categories, will see decreasing growth in ad sales of -15.5% and -13.8% respectively.
  UNQUOTE

  But what are Canadian newspapers doing? “…they are more focused on improving sales technology and upgrading printing equipment.” Upgrading *printing* equipment???

  tags: 2009, kubas, newspapers, revenue, advertising

• “Preview 2009: Newspapers’ Outlook on Ad Revenue Growth and Strategic Initiatives” (PDF Kubas)

  Read later.

  tags: kubas, newspapers, advertising, revenue, 2009

• Citizen journalism will shape the new face of the Oakland Press – The Oakland Press Opinion: The best place for news in and around Oakland County

  Must read later; filed for now.

  tags: oakland, citizen_journalism, newspapers

• “Why home values may take decades to recover,” by Dennis Cauchon (USAToday.com)

  Quite a horrifying article about the depth (and breadth) housing’s role in the financial crisis, and why the market is in the doldrums in a bad bad way.
  QUOTE:
  Home values have fallen before — during the Great Depression and in Texas after a 1980s oil boom, for example — but those drops were a response to other economic forces. This time, the housing price collapse is the cause of the nation’s broad economic troubles, not just an effect.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: usatoday, housing, subprime_mortgage_crisis, bailout, financial_crisis, economy

• Jim Rogers calls most big U.S. banks bankrupt | U.S. | Reuters

  Not a pretty picture:
  QUOTE
  Jim Rogers, one of the world’s most prominent international investors, on Thursday called most of the largest U.S. banks “totally bankrupt,” and said government efforts to fix the sector are wrongheaded.
  UNQUOTE

  tags: bailout, financial_crisis, ethics, bankrupt

• “Need for infrastructure investment nears crisis point,” by Mike De Souza (National Post) – Annotated

  Yet another article on the massive infrastructure crisis in Canada, and the federal attempts to boost the economy by putting money into infrastructure upgrades.

  tags: national_post, canada, cities, infrastructure_funding, infrastructure, federal, bailout

• “Time for intelligent, sexy infrastructure,” by Christopher Hume (TheStar.com) – Annotated

  Everyone is talking about infrastructure now. “Roosevelt 2.0,” I guess. Hume has some interesting takes, as usual.

  tags: thestar, christopher_hume, infrastructure, infrastructure_funding, bailout, canada, cities

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Posted: 12|21|08 at 2:30 am. Filed under: links.

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