Dangerous By Design

http://t4america.org/resources/dangerousbydesign/

This is a report by Transportation for America which ranked U.S. metro areas based on pedestrian safety between 2007 and 2008. The top four most dangerous metro areas for pedestrians were Orlando-Kissimmee, Tampa-St.Pete-Clearwater, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, and Jacksonville, respectively.

Tampa landscaper offers cut-rate lawn care for foreclosed homes

http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/tampa-landscaper-offers-cut-rate-lawn-care-for-foreclosed-homes/1067728

I read this article today about how Lawn Mowing companies use Cattle and Goats to mow the lawns of Foreclosed houses and apartments. It is very environmentally friendly and it only costs $10 dollars. It provided food for the cattle and the waste of that procedure is turned into compost that acts as a fertilizer for better crops for Tampa. I really loved the idea of using natural things and saving money. Green Businesses do not have to be Expensive Businesses.

I also realized that Tampa area does not have the much recycling and compost bins for residents to use and help around. I know that being green is not just about recycling but at least we have the responsibility for our own trash.

EPA Says Breathing Is Deadly, But Radioactive Drinking Water Is Good For Us

http://www.infowars.com/epa-says-breathing-is-deadly-but-radioactive-drinking-water-is-good-for-us/

This article is pretty disturbing because it says that The EPA only reports and punishes air pollution cases however, water pollution cases are no profitable and they take less to no headlines and hence they do not punish it.

It says :" records show that fewer than 6 percent of the water systems that broke the law were ever punished or fined by the EPA." so actually the EPA recieve a lot of water violations and they ignore and do not even consider telling people about it.

I do not have water filter in the house and reading this article made me feel that It is not safe to drink or cook with this water from the tap. If water is not an important expensive headline topic anymore, do we not deserve to even know.

We hear a lot on the news about the panda who had a baby and the tortoises who were cold and had to be taken care of till they can go back into the water and I am sure all that news is very important to the ecology balance. However, the EPA fail to inform us the our water has a higher radioactivity than the "Allowed" level.

I worked with the Department of Environmental Protection with the State of Florida with the Phosphate Management and we always went around for insepction and we mostly inspected the water. A low radioactive low dilution number will be a good water. if we have a high number then a report is made but I am not sure if anyone ever heard about high radioactive drinking water in Tampa.. Have you?

Tampa is a City that Sleeps

We have been discussing in class how living in cities like Manhattan will be the almost perfect choice. I thought about living downtown Tampa. However, when I had a job interview two weeks ago at 6 pm downtown on Twiggs Ave, I realized that most stores were closed by 4pm or 5 pm. If Tampa wants to be a better cities, it should act like a city, which means it should be designed with the resident in mind not just the employees and employer schedule.

No wonder why the Channel Side district has all those condos but no one is living. Why would I live in a city that sleeps at 5pm. I want to go grocery shopping on foot and go sit in a cafe in the evening with friends. I also want to see more life in the city in the weekends. I also like cities because it has family owned businesses like diners and flower shops and gas stations.

Discussion Tomorrow

Just a heads up for everyone that for class this week I will be discussing Chapter 10 of Down the Asphalt Path.

is mass transit a waste of energy?

http://tampa.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/is_mass_transit_a_waste_of_energy_/Content?oid=961254

test out the link and it takes you to the right place.

I got this article from creative Loafing, a local small time newspaper that I sometimes I read. the article is mainly about 2 opposite points of view about whether or not mass transit actually saving energy or not. It ends with the main idea that it all depends on how one plays with the numbers.

the article pointed out something about California or Los Angles. Either way I ran into a female person that was in Los Angles and she told me that the public transit there was great. She compared it to Atlanta bus system, which she described it as horrible. oh, background on her. She spend some time traveling around the country by foot and hiking.

Anyway, I decided to check one of her claims and it turn out to be true. She claimed that the buses go there about every 5 minutes. I went on line and found that it was true. There was even one route that went every 3 minutes. Compare to the bus system here in Pinellas and Hillbure County which runs on the hour and half-hour. oh yeah, I'm the long hair Indian that uses public buses to get about.

One last point, this article reminded me on a show that I saw many, many moons ago that relates to this article on how people can play with numbers. The article was about electric cars and how they don't pollute the air. that is right but the Power Plant that produces the electrics to power up the electric cars produces "more" pollution than a gas power car. Don't know if that's true but it is something to think about.

How walkable is your neighborhood?

This application calculates and "walkability" score for any address you put in. Essentially, it calculates distances from the address to a list of possible services and amenities. Of course, the scores are only as good as the quality of the data. When I put in my address, for example, it claimed that the nearest park was 2.4 miles away, and it is "Citrus Park Drive" -- which of course is not a park at all, but a busy road leading to a shopping mall. But it's still fun to do. Here's the url:

www.walkscore.com

www.walkscore.com