After nearly going extinct in the ’60s, vintage streetcars are returning to the rails in downtowns from Philly to San Francisco. These electric-powered trams are so painstakingly restored, they make classic T-Bird owners look like chumps. Here's what it looks like when mass transit goes retro.
Darby Minow Smith's posts 
Out of reach: How sprawl jacks up the cost of ‘affordable’ housing
Each year, U.S. taxpayers spend billions to subsidize affordable housing for low-income Americans. It’s an important part of the social safety net we’ve built to keep families and the elderly from falling through the cracks. But there’s a problem: A lot of that housing has been built far away from public transit, schools, and jobs. As a result, residents drive long distances, burning gobs of gas -- and huge holes in their wallets -- in the process.
For many residents of affordable housing, transportation and housing costs eat up over half of their income. For a struggling family, this can make healthy food, higher education, and health care seem as far-fetched as President Newt.
Lately, however, there’s been a push to alleviate transportation costs for low-income families. Efforts on the state level show some promise, and officials at the federal level are expressing interest as well.
Read more: Sprawl
Love fast food, America? Well then, why don’t you marry it?
"No."
Still reeling from your failed marriage proposal to Jack in the Box's bacon? (Don't take it personally -- bacon always leaves a greasy trail of heartbreak.) Cheer up, meatlover: You can still make that fast-food-themed forever commitment -- but this time, with a human! And it only costs $10,010. Thanks for saving Valentine's Day, Pizza Hut!
Read more: Business & Technology, Food
Seeing red: Where do the GOP candidates stand on urban issues?
Photos by Gage Skidmore.
How times change. Four years ago, a Washington Post op-ed gushed that the Democratic primary had turned into “a sharp competition among the leading candidates to become champions of urban America.” Skip ahead to the 2012 Republican primaries, and cities are getting dissed. Big time.
The national Conference of Mayors is having its annual meeting in Washington this weekend. Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Rick Perry were all invited. Romney said he had a scheduling conflict. (OK, fair’s fair: The South Carolina primary is a legitimate excuse -- but he couldn’t swing by Sunday? Oh, right.) The other two didn’t even bother to reply. The chorus seemed to be: “Cities -- who needs ’em?”
Truth be told, cities won’t likely decide this election. America is still firmly rooted in the suburbs. (Emily Badger wrote in The Atlantic Cities last week that both Romney and President Obama have drawn most of their campaign cash from the “moneyed ’burbs.”) But this is just the latest in decades of insults slung at cities by Republicans in Washington.
“The core of the Republican constituency in metropolitan America are the growing, racially and economically exclusive ‘outer suburbs’ whose privileged status Republicans seek to protect at all costs,” former Albuquerque Mayor David Rusk told Daniel Denvir in his excellent primer on the subject for Salon.
But the Republicans currently taking pot shots at each other in the presidential primary never cease to surprise. While there has been almost no mention of urban policy on the campaign trail, a look at their sordid pasts reveals that (surprise!) some of them have actually had some sensible ideas over the years, albeit often grounded in some pretty weird logic. Here’s a quick peek.
An act of dog: Why climate change is like walking Fido [VIDEO]
What can't you use dogs to illustrate? A new video offers a very simple explanation of the relationship between climate and weather. The next time someone in a parka snickers about Al Gore, send them this: Looks like a harsh wiener.Photo: Jonathan GillSo, if weather is a dog, and climate is the dog walker, we should be working on trading the pair for a kitten on a turtle. Any questions? (h/t Climate Central)
Read more: Climate & Energy, Climate Change
Spies among us: Café Nordo’s sustainable dinner theater
Photo: John CornicelloI'm on Pan Am Flight 892, en route to the 1962 World's Fair. Only this is no ordinary airline food, and there are spies slinking among the seats. This is To Savor Tomorrow, the latest production from Seattle theater company Cafe Nordo. It's the company's fourth foray into dinner theater -- although I wince calling it that. Whereas the term conjures up mediocre food and mildly entertaining shlock, Nordo has a refreshing take on the form. Stewardess with "dwinkies"Photo: Alabastro PhotographyAlongside zany, gastronomic fare, made from local sustainable ingredients, they tell compelling stories that illuminate the very foods …
Read more: Food
No girls allowed: Dr. Pepper's latest is dudes-only
Thank godessa.Image: Dr. Pepper Snapple GroupThe internet is fizzing over a new diet soda marketed strictly to men from, of all companies, Dr. Pepper. In a wildly misguided effort to get Bro Six-Pack to start calorie-counting, they've deployed an array of Axe-Deodorant-style "viral" marketing initiatives that are about as stale and musky as Tim Allen's man-cave. And boy oh boy, is "Dr. Pepper Ten" corny. From the AP: Instead of the dainty tan bubbles on the diet can, Ten will be wrapped in gunmetal grey packaging with silver bullets ... A Facebook page for the drink contains an application that …
Read more: Food, Scary Food
Green-minded dinner theater's 'Sauced' buzzworthy, but not intoxicating
The saucy crew of Sauced.Photo: Cafe NordoTake the backroom of Theo Chocolate in Fremont, Seattle. Add creative interpretations of bar food made from local, sustainable ingredients. Mix in carefully-constructed cocktails from America's best bartender, original jazz scores, booze's fascinating history, stunning women in stunning vintage, an actor who talks exactly like an old-timey radio announcer, and a tale of twisted, tainted love. What do you get? No, not the strangest, most analogy-strained drink ever. It's Sauced, the third production from innovative dinner theater Cafe Nordo. I attended Nordo's second production, Bounty! An Epic Adventure last spring and had just that. …
From the kitchen to the catwalk: clothing you can wear, then eat [SLIDESHOW]
Chocolate fashion show in New York. Photo: BoshLately at Grist, we've had fashion on our minds (but never on our bodies; for some reason hemp pants still haven't caught on). Lady Gaga recently raised a ruckus with the meat dress she wore to the MTV Video Music Awards. And last week, we polar-fleeced-Seattleites warily watched Fashion Week take New York by storm. So in honor of comestible couture and fashion in general, we've compiled some of the more delectable rags you can sport from the kitchen table to the catwalk. Photographer Ted Sabarese was generous enough to lend us incredible …
The Jersey Shore's Snooki and her five eco-snafus
Hey Snooks, listen up. I have something green to say.Photo: Wikipedia commonsOh, Jersey Shore. After a long day dealing with the scary realities of the world, I crave this divorced-from-reality show. Curling up with some DIY Junk Food and DUI junk television helps me take my mind off downers like global warming and Sarah Palin as president. It's mindless television, but that doesn't stop my mind from wandering and starting to apply green values to the show. (Pesky noggin, I wanted to relax!) Short in stature, but never in spirit (or spirits), Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi is my favorite cast member. …
Read more: Living
