http://paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html
Err – unfortunately, I haven’t had the time to read the above article yet, but apparently its the seminal document on how Silicon Valley came to be a tech power house – perhaps some good pointers in there for other aspiring economies.
Here’s a post on WorldChanging that introduces the concept of city planning that’s inclusive of bicycle traffic.
Alex Steffen quotes Dave Neiwert:
“Some of this has to do with an entrenched transportation bureaucracy that is often skeptical about the costs and benefits of accommodating bicycles, and that translates into reluctance on the part of policy-makers to make the kinds of changes that might make the network [function well].“
Agreed, agreed. That being said, Winnipeg has made strides towards becoming bicycle friendly (withness bike paths along Fermor and Bishop Grandin), but as noted (in relation to Seattle) in the Worldchanging article, the peices don’t fit together into a coherent, functional whole – i.e.: few people want to travel via bike from one part of Bishop Grandin to another; what they’d like is to be able to go from their St. Vital neighborhood to downtown, or the U of M, etc. Unfortunately, this network is not (yet) in place – cyclists end up on high traffic routes with narrow lanes, or on the sidewalks.
Anyway – I can accept that expanding the network will take time. No problem. What does bother me, however, is when zero-cost options are lost, seemingly on the basis of oversight. The best example I’ve seen so far is the Gisele’s Day Spa parking lot near the Kenaston/Grant intersection. When the rail line was pulled out from beind the area, it left a perfect green corridor that ran a good deal of the length of Route 90. Now that path is interrupted by a fenced parking lot.
Was this the best way to put this suddenly available land to use? How was this land sold anyway? Is it direct from the rail co.’s to the strip mall owner? Surely zoning must have played a role here, alerting the city to what was going on.
Anyway, to bring it all back together – the city is slowly working on making bike transportation feasible, but needs to incorporate it more fully as a mandate when considering infrastructure projects (lane width) and zoning changes.
Winnipeg’s climate dictates that our infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, curbs, etc) gets eroded quickly – as anyone who has driven here knows. I would think then, that the city, province, and U of M engineering department would be aggressively collaborating in developing solutions and spinning off businesses – and who knows, maybe they are.
This week though, its a Californian company that’s making the news for their rubber sidewalk product. Made of recycled tires, they look nice, last long, don’t crack from freezing or tree roots, are easier on walker’s and runner’s feet, etc. etc. They are more expensive, but I’d be interested to see the CBA calculations.
On a higher level, though, what’s going on with this type of research here? Is it taking place? Manitoba should be the world leader in durable infrastructure research and supply.
In the tech world, energy costs are becoming a major concern and a significant part of operating budgets. So much so that major firms (like Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft) are building their infrastructure components based on the presence of cheap energy:
“In fact, it’s not just Google that’s here, or nearby. Microsoft and Yahoo have both set up shop in the region to take advantage of the cheap power that comes from the dams along the Columbia.”
Mathew Ingram (Tech writer for the Globe and Mail) also has a good post about how California’s electricity problems, population, and climate are bringing down major sites:
“…power consumption of all kinds is an issue for the entire technology industry, and particularly for data-intensive companies such as Google, which is building giant new server farms on the shores of the Columbia River in Oregon to try and cope with the demands it faces.”
Winnipeg is well positioned to offer these firms a cost-effective solution.
For Winnipeg, the advantages of landing the presence of one or more tech giants are many:
Making it happen: The Mayor’s Office (political will and physical infrastructure), Manitoba Hydro (energy supply), MTS Allstream (infrastructure supply) should get together and start a dialog with the web’s major infrastructure users/providers: Google / Microsoft / Yahoo / Akamai / Limelight / Etc / Etc.
Added Bonus: Server farms don’t stink like hog operations.
Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!
